Every hike has its own Chat tab — planning talk stays with the plan instead of drowning a group text. System messages (someone joined, dates locked in…) land there too, so the chat doubles as the hike's timeline.
Reading And Writing
Chat works like you'd expect. On desktop a docked chat panel can stay open while you work in other tabs. The header shows an unread indicator across all your hikes, so you know something's happening without opening each one.
You can even send messages offline — they queue on your device and deliver when you're back in reception, marked with a small "sent offline" note showing when you actually wrote them.
Email Digests
Prefer email? Turn on chat email notifications for a hike and you'll get a digest of messages you haven't read — never one email per message. Every digest has an unsubscribe link, and timestamps respect your profile timezone.
Push Notifications (Android App)
With the Android app installed, chat arrives as push notifications — tuned to be genuinely un-annoying:
- The notification names who messaged, never the message text — nothing sensitive on your lock screen.
- One notification per hike, updated in place — not a pile.
- Repeated messages from the same person stay quiet until you've read the chat; a different person chiming in will alert you again.
Tuning It
- Per hike: mute push or email for any hike from its chat.
- Defaults for new hikes: the Notifications page (user menu → Notifications) sets whether email and push start on or off whenever you create or join a hike — existing hikes keep their own settings.
Tip: The classic setup — push on, email off — works well once you have the app. Email digests shine for members who only use the website.