You’re missing ALL your friends’ birthdays because Facebook just stopped sending you notifications 🙁
And now you’re that friend who never remembers to wish anyone happy birthday, which makes you look like an asshole even though it’s Facebook’s fault…
This is so annoying!
I’m not gonna lie, birthday notifications are one of the ONLY useful features Facebook has left. Without them, you’re supposed to just magically remember everyone’s birthday? Yeah right. So when they stop working, it’s actually a problem, deadass. Let me show you how to fix this mess before you miss another one.
Why Your Notifications Stopped
Facebook’s notification system breaks for a bunch of different reasons, and of course they never TELL you what’s wrong, no cap.
Here’s what’s probably screwing you:
- Settings got turned off somehow during an app update or you accidentally toggled them
- Do Not Disturb is blocking everything on your phone and you forgot it was on
- App permissions are messed up and Facebook can’t send notifications anymore
- Your friends made their birthdays private so you literally CAN’T see them
- Cache corruption in the app is breaking the notification system
Facebook never explains which one it is!
Check Your Facebook Settings First
Open Facebook and tap your profile picture in the top right. Go to Settings & Privacy > Settings > Notifications. Scroll down until you see Birthdays and make sure that toggle is turned ON.
Deadass, this is off for SO many people and they don’t even know it.
You can also choose HOW you get notified here. Push notifications? Email? SMS? Pick whatever works for you. I’d recommend at least enabling push notifications so you actually see them when you’re scrolling.
Just turn it on already…
Check Facebook’s notification settings guide for more details on customizing what you see.
Friends Making Birthdays Private
Sometimes the problem isn’t YOUR settings at all.
If your friends have their birthdays set to private or “Only Me,” you won’t get notifications PERIOD. There’s nothing you can do about that except ask them to change their privacy settings.
Which is awkward as hell but whatever…
Fix Your Phone’s Notification Settings
On iPhone: Go to Settings > Notifications > Facebook and make sure Allow Notifications is turned ON. Also check that Banners and Sounds are enabled so you actually notice when they come through.
On Android: Settings > Apps > Facebook > Notifications and turn on Show Notifications. Make sure ALL the notification categories are enabled, not just some of them, IYKYK.
And here’s something people forget all the time: check if Do Not Disturb or Focus Mode is blocking Facebook notifications.
On iPhone it’s in Settings > Focus, on Android just swipe down and look for the moon icon in your quick settings. Turn that shit OFF or at least exclude Facebook from being silenced.
Do Not Disturb kills EVERYTHING!
Clear Cache and Update the App
Corrupted cache files can break notifications without you realizing it.
On Android, go to Settings > Apps > Facebook > Storage > Clear Cache. This won’t delete your data, just clears out the junk that might be causing problems, no cap.
On iPhone you can’t clear cache directly, so just delete the app and reinstall it. Yeah it’s annoying to log back in, but it fixes most glitches including notification issues. Lowkey this solves like 60% of app problems.
Also make SURE you’re running the latest version of Facebook. Go to the App Store or Google Play, search for Facebook, and hit Update if there’s one available.
Old versions have bugs that get fixed in newer releases!
When It’s Facebook’s Problem
Sometimes it’s not you at all. Facebook’s notification system just breaks on their end and there’s NOTHING you can do except wait for them to fix it, fr fr.
Check Twitter or forums to see if other people are complaining about the same issue at the same time.
The platform is so glitchy…
You can also try logging out completely and logging back in. This refreshes your connection to Facebook’s servers and sometimes kicks the notification system back into gear. Worth a shot if nothing else is working, IYKYK.
Alternative: Export Birthday Calendar
If you’re sick of relying on Facebook’s broken notifications, you can export your friends’ birthdays to your phone’s calendar app.
On Facebook, search for “Birthdays” in the search bar. Click the gear icon and look for options to sync with your calendar or export the birthday data.
This creates a backup system that works even when Facebook’s notifications are being trash. Your phone’s calendar app will remind you instead, which is honestly more reliable anyway…
Notification Delay Issues
Sometimes birthday notifications DO work but they arrive HOURS late or the day AFTER the birthday already passed!
What the hell Facebook?!
This is usually caused by your phone’s battery optimization settings killing background processes. On Android, go to Settings > Apps > Facebook > Battery and set it to Unrestricted or Don’t Optimize. This lets Facebook run in the background and send timely notifications, lowkey.
On iPhone, make sure Low Power Mode isn’t enabled because that delays notifications to save battery. Go to Settings > Battery and turn off Low Power Mode if it’s on, fr fr.
What Actually Works
Here’s what fixes this most often:
1. Go to Facebook notification settings and turn on the Birthday toggle if it’s off
2. Check your phone’s system settings to make sure Facebook has notification permissions
3. Turn off Do Not Disturb or Focus Mode that’s blocking alerts
4. Clear app cache on Android or reinstall on iPhone
5. Update to the latest version of Facebook
Try these in order and one of them will probably solve it. If NONE of them work, it’s likely a server-side issue on Facebook’s end and you just gotta wait it out. Or set up that calendar export so you’re not dependent on Facebook’s garbage notification system.
Stop Missing Birthdays
Look, Facebook birthday notifications SHOULD just work automatically but they don’t because the platform is held together with duct tape at this point, deadass.
Settings get changed without warning, updates break things, permissions get revoked randomly.
It’s ridiculous how complicated this is…
But at least now you know how to fix it. Check your notification settings in Facebook AND on your phone, clear that cache, update the app, and make sure Do Not Disturb isn’t silencing everything. One of these will get your birthday notifications working again so you can stop looking like the friend who never remembers 😉
If this saved you from missing another birthday, share it with friends who probably have the same broken notifications!
