In short
- Four tools forward what Mac apps post to Notification Center: NotiFerry, Hermes, AhPushIt, and the notifwd script.
- They differ mainly in the access they need on the Mac, where your notifications are sent, and price.
- Pushover, ntfy, Bark, and Prowl are receivers: they need something on the Mac to send to them.
- Apple's own feature runs the other way, from the iPhone to the Mac.
How this comparison was made
NotiFerry is our product, so read this the way you would read any vendor's comparison: check the sources. Every statement about another tool comes from that tool's own website, documentation, repository, or App Store listing, as we found it on 2 October 2026, and is linked at the end of the page. We have not run the other tools side by side, so this page does not rank them or claim that one is more reliable than another.
If something here is wrong or out of date, write to us through the support page and we will correct it.
Tools that forward Notification Center
These four read the notifications that Mac apps post and pass them on, so they work for apps you cannot script.
| NotiFerry | Hermes | AhPushIt | notifwd | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | Paid menu-bar app | Mac app plus its own iPhone app, connected through the vendor’s cloud service | Free, open-source menu-bar app (MIT) | Open-source Python script (MIT) |
| Access on the Mac | Sandboxed; read-only access to the one Notification Center folder you select | Not stated in its setup guide | Full Disk Access | Reads the database from Terminal; on macOS 15 a user workaround grants Terminal Full Disk Access |
| Where alerts are sent | An ntfy topic on ntfy.sh or your own ntfy server | The vendor’s servers, then its iPhone app | ntfy, Pushover, Slack, Discord, Telegram, and other services | Prowl |
| Account | None | Required (email and password) | None for the app; depends on the service | Prowl API key |
| Filtering | Three preview levels for all apps; individual apps can be switched off | All or specific apps, parts of a notification, rules, only while the display sleeps | Include or exclude apps, schedules, message templates | None documented |
| Price | €9.99 once for 2 Macs, after a 7-day trial | Subscription: $0.49 a month, $2.49 for six months, or $3.99 a year (US App Store) | Free | Free; Prowl is a paid iPhone app |
| macOS | 15.0 or later | Not stated in its setup guide | 14 or later | Open issue on macOS 15; a fix is not merged |
| Latest release we found | 0.1.0, August 2026 | iPhone app 1.3, July 2024 | 1.4.2, June 2026 | March 2022 |
A few open-source projects take other routes, such as reading the notification banners through Accessibility and posting them to Bark or to a webhook. They are young and aimed at people who build from source, so they are not in the table.
Often suggested, but not forwarders
These come up whenever someone asks how to get Mac notifications on a phone. Each is useful, but none of them reads the notifications your Mac apps post.
- Apple's iPhone notifications on Mac. It works in the opposite direction, from the iPhone to the Mac, and needs macOS 15 with iOS 18. See does a Mac send notifications to an iPhone?
- Pushover. A notification service for messages you send through its API. Asked whether it can forward notifications between a phone and a Mac, Pushover's own support page answers no.
- ntfy, Bark, and Prowl by themselves. These are receivers with an API. Something on the Mac still has to send to them: your own script, or one of the forwarders above.
- Growl. The classic answer was Growl with Prowl. Growl describes itself as a retired project.
- Shortcuts. The automation triggers on a Mac do not include “when a notification arrives”, so a shortcut cannot react to another app's alert.
- iTerm2. It can send its own terminal alerts to a paired iPhone through a companion app. That covers the terminal, not other apps.
If everything you want to hear about comes from your own scripts, a service with an API is all you need. Sending a notification from your Mac to your iPhone has the commands.
How to choose
- You want it free and are comfortable granting Full Disk Access. Look at AhPushIt. It is open source and can send to many services, not only ntfy.
- You want a dedicated iPhone app and detailed filter rules. Look at Hermes. It needs an account and a small subscription, and your notifications pass through its vendor's servers.
- You want narrow permissions, no account, and a one-time price. That is what NotiFerry is built for: a sandboxed app with read-only access to a single folder, delivery through ntfy, and a trial that starts only once a test has reached your phone.
- You only need alerts from your own scripts. Skip all of these and call ntfy or Pushover directly.
What NotiFerry does not do
So that the comparison is fair in both directions:
- It has no iPhone app of its own. Alerts arrive in the ntfy app.
- It does not offer keyword rules, schedules, or message templates. You choose a preview level and switch apps off.
- It sends to ntfy only, not to Slack, Telegram, or other services.
- It keeps no history of forwarded notifications.
- It is not end-to-end encrypted, and it cannot forward while the Mac sleeps.
Sources
All checked on 2 October 2026.
- Hermes: product page, Mac setup guide, privacy policy, App Store listing
- AhPushIt: repository, releases
- notifwd: repository, macOS 15 issue
- Pushover: support article on forwarding
- Apple: iPhone notifications on Mac, Shortcuts automation triggers on Mac
- Growl: project page
- iTerm2: companion app documentation
Questions
Is there a free app that forwards Mac notifications to an iPhone?
Yes. AhPushIt is a free, open-source menu-bar app that forwards macOS Notification Center notifications to services including ntfy and Pushover. It requires macOS 14 or later and Full Disk Access. For alerts from your own scripts, ntfy with a one-line curl command is also free.
Does Pushover forward Mac notifications to an iPhone?
No. Pushover delivers messages that you send through its API. Its support site states that forwarding notifications between a phone and a Mac is not something Pushover does.
How is NotiFerry different from Hermes?
Hermes uses its own iPhone app and its vendor's cloud service, with an account and a subscription. NotiFerry has no account and no iPhone app of its own: it publishes to an ntfy topic, on ntfy.sh or your own server, and is sold as a one-time purchase. Hermes documents more filtering options, including rules.
Can Apple Shortcuts forward Mac notifications to an iPhone?
No. The automation triggers available on a Mac do not include the arrival of a notification, so a shortcut cannot react to another app's alert.
Is NotiFerry the only app that does this?
No. Hermes, AhPushIt, and script-based tools such as notifwd also forward Mac notifications. The differences are the access they need on the Mac, where the notifications are sent, and how they are priced.