ChatPager
Google Chat notifications for multiple accounts on a Mac
If you work across several Google accounts, say your own company's, a client's or two, and a personal Gmail, you've probably missed a Google Chat message because it went to an account you didn't have open. Here's why that happens, and what you can do about it.
Why you only hear from the account you have open
On a computer, Google Chat notifications come from one of three places: Google Chat open at chat.google.com, Chat inside Gmail, or the Google Chat desktop app. All three run inside Chrome, and Google notes the desktop app needs Chrome to be open.
Most people with several accounts keep each one in its own Chrome profile, so their sign-ins, bookmarks and tabs stay apart. Each profile runs its own tabs and apps. When a profile's windows are closed, its Chat tab or Chat app isn't running, so nothing in that profile can notify you. Only the profiles you have open can alert you.
Ways around it
- Keep every profile open. Leave a window with Chat open in each Chrome profile, all day. It works, but it's a lot of windows, and closing the wrong one silently stops that account's alerts.
- Add all your accounts to one profile. Google lets you sign in to several accounts in one Chrome profile and switch between them. You'd still need a Chat tab open for each account, and you lose the separation that made separate profiles worth having.
- Use your phone. The Google Chat app on iPhone and Android can sign in to several accounts. Google notes that while the mobile app is open, you won't get notifications on your computer, and the phone isn't where you're working.
- Use an app that watches all of them. That's what ChatPager does; see below.
Get alerts for every account with ChatPager
ChatPager is a small Mac app that fixes this. You sign in to each Google account once, and it watches Google Chat for all of them from the menu bar, whether or not their Chrome profiles are open. When a message arrives it shows a Mac notification, and clicking it opens the conversation in the right Chrome profile. If a profile is already open, ChatPager stays quiet and lets Chrome alert you, so you don't get told twice.
It reads messages directly from Google on your Mac; nothing passes through us. It's US$19, once, with a 14-day free trial. Join the beta list to hear when it's ready to download.