# Communication Notifications

Communication Notifications help Cakeday birthday reminders feel more personal. When possible, Cakeday attaches the friend's avatar and sender-style information so iOS can present the notification like a message from that person.

## What You See

When a friend has an avatar, the notification banner and Notification Center can show that image next to the reminder. This makes it easier to recognize whose birthday it is without opening the app.

If the system cannot prepare a Communication Notification, Cakeday falls back to a regular notification.

## Requirements

Communication Notifications require normal notification permission:

- **Settings > Cakeday > Notifications** must be on.
- Alerts must be allowed if you want banners or Lock Screen notifications.
- The friend needs an avatar for the visual benefit.

The reminder still works without an avatar. It just appears as a standard Cakeday notification.

## Privacy

Cakeday uses the friend data already stored on your device. It does not send birthday records or avatars to a Cakeday server to create the notification.

## App Badge

The Cakeday app icon badge shows how many friends have a birthday today. It is not a count of unread reminders, upcoming birthdays, or all scheduled notifications.

If the badge looks stale, open Cakeday once. The app refreshes notification schedules and badge state when it can.

## Troubleshooting

**The notification does not show an avatar**

Confirm the friend has an avatar and that notification permission is enabled. iOS may still choose a compact presentation depending on the device state and notification settings.

**The badge count is not what I expected**

The badge represents today's birthdays. It does not count tomorrow's reminders or older notifications still visible in Notification Center.