ActivitySmith vs brrr.now
Looking for a brrr.now alternative? Here's how ActivitySmith compares.
Choose ActivitySmith if your team needs more than a simple push webhook. Live Activities, rich Push Notifications, team delivery, channels, and scoped API keys make it a better fit for deploys, jobs, incidents, and agent runs.
Why choose ActivitySmith over brrr.now
When you need real-time visibility into your backend or business, generic push notifications stop being enough. ActivitySmith keeps important work visible for your team while it's still happening.
Live Activities
A push notification tells you something happened. A Live Activity shows you something is happening. ActivitySmith keeps progress visible in real time on your lock screen until the work is done.
Actionable push notifications
ActivitySmith turns a push notification into a real action surface. Preview the result, tap the push notification to open a URL, or long-press to reveal more actions, including URLs and webhook triggers.
Built for teams, not just your own devices
brrr.now gives you a shared webhook for all of your own devices and a separate webhook for each device. ActivitySmith adds team members, paired devices, channels, and scoped API keys so the right updates reach the right people without sharing one broad webhook everywhere.
ActivitySmith and brrr.now Comparison
In this table we compare ActivitySmith and brrr.now feature by feature so you can decide which one is the right fit for your team.
| Feature |  ActivitySmith | brrr.now |
|---|---|---|
| Push notifications | Yes | Yes |
| Live activities | Yes | No |
| Rich media in notifications | Image, audio, and video | Image |
| Actions | Tap to open URL + long-press actions for URL or webhook | Tap to open URL |
| Notification history | Full history browsing | Recent notifications on-device |
| Platform coverage | iPhone and iPad | iPhone, iPad, and Mac |
| Team members | Yes | No |
| Channels | Yes | No |
| Scoped API keys | Yes | No |
| Device-specific targeting | Yes | Yes |
| Shared send to multiple devices | Across paired team devices | Across your own devices |
| Dashboard | Yes | No |
| Official SDKs | Node.js, Python, Go, PHP, Ruby, CLI | No |
| Integration guides | Yes | Yes |
What is brrr.now?
brrr.now is a notification tool that lets you send push notifications to your own Apple devices through a shared webhook or a device-specific webhook. It is built around simple personal delivery on iPhone, iPad, and Mac, rather than shared team workflow visibility.
The key features of brrr.now
- 1. Shared and device-specific webhooks
brrr.now gives you one webhook that can notify all of your devices and separate webhooks for individual devices when you want more control over where a notification lands.
- 2. Apple device coverage
It is designed for iPhone, iPad, and Mac, so one simple setup can cover your own Apple devices without adding extra client apps or dashboards.
- 3. Minimal setup and recent on-device history
brrr.now keeps the product intentionally small. There is no dashboard, and recent notifications are shown on-device instead of through a shared team workspace.
Disadvantages of brrr.now for engineering teams
brrr.now can be a good fit when one person wants a very simple push notification tool, but there are clear reasons teams start looking for an alternative once notifications need to support shared operational work.
- 1. No Live Activities for in-progress work
brrr.now can send a push notification when something happened. It does not keep a deploy, migration, or long-running job visible on the lock screen while the work is still running.
- 2. No team delivery model
The product is centered on your own devices. It does not give teams shared delivery, channels, or scoped API keys for routing different backend signals to different internal audiences.
- 3. Less workflow depth for backend integrations
brrr.now is intentionally minimal. That simplicity is useful for personal notifications, but it gives teams less room when they need official SDKs, richer notification actions, or a shared place to manage delivery.
As you can see, considering brrr.now alternatives becomes more important when a simple personal push webhook is no longer enough and the workflow needs to stay visible for a team.
What is ActivitySmith?
ActivitySmith is a tool that can be seen as an alternative to brrr.now. It helps you and your team keep track of what's happening in your backend on your lock screen.
The key features of ActivitySmith
- 1. Push Notifications
ActivitySmith can also send push notifications to your devices with a simple API call. You can add image, audio, and video to the notification payload.
- 2. Live Activities for long-running work
brrr.now can notify you when work starts or ends. ActivitySmith can keep that work visible in real time while it is running on your lock screen with Live Activities. find out more about ActivitySmith Live Activities here.
- 3. Actions
Both Push Notifications and Live Activities can have actions. Open a URL from the notification, or expose long-press actions and Live Activity buttons that open a URL or trigger a webhook.
- 4. Route updates to the right users and devices
Use channels to target Push Notifications and Live Activities to the people who should see them, then use scoped API keys to keep each workflow in the right delivery lane.
- 5. Official SDKs and integrations
Use official SDKs for Node.js, Python, Go, PHP, Ruby, and CLI, plus integrations like GitHub Action, Zapier, and the ActivitySmith skill. That makes it easier to wire notifications into the systems your team already runs.
- 6. Predictable paid usage
Every paid plan includes unlimited Push Notifications and Live Activity updates. When operational traffic grows, you do not have to keep doing quota math before sending more signal through the system.
Key takeaways
Both ActivitySmith and brrr.now deliver push notifications to your devices. The choice between the two will depend on your specific needs. Here are key takeaways from this comparison that may help you make a final choice.
brrr.now
brrr.now is a lightweight tool for sending Push Notifications to your own devices, but it doesn't support Live Activities or a team delivery model.
ActivitySmith
ActivitySmith is the stronger choice for internal engineering and operations teams that want shared visibility, channels, official SDKs, and Live Activities for backend workflows.
If you are searching for a brrr.now alternative, try ActivitySmith for free.
Frequently asked questions
Which is better, ActivitySmith or brrr.now?
ActivitySmith is the better choice when notifications need to become real-time team visibility. Live Activities, rich Push Notifications, channels, and scoped API keys keep important work visible while it happens.
Is ActivitySmith or brrr.now easier to set up?
ActivitySmith is straightforward to set up and gives teams a solid foundation from the start. Official SDKs, integrations, channels, and scoped API keys make it easy to begin simple and grow into richer workflows.
Can brrr.now send Live Activities?
No. ActivitySmith supports Live Activities, so you can track the progress of any long-running processes on your lock screen.
Which is better for teams, brrr.now or ActivitySmith?
ActivitySmith is built for internal technical teams with paired devices, channels, team members, and scoped API keys. That gives you cleaner routing, better visibility, and much less guesswork about who should see what.
Can I try ActivitySmith for free?
Yes. ActivitySmith has a 100-event free trial with no credit card required. You can send Push Notifications and Live Activity updates, connect a workflow, and see if it fits before moving to a paid plan.
What does an ActivitySmith subscription include?
Every paid plan includes unlimited Push Notifications and Live Activity updates, paired iOS devices, team members, channels, scoped API keys, and all official SDKs and integrations. Plans scale by team size and start with a 100-event free trial with no credit card required.
Ready to make your backend or business visible in real time?
100 events free, no credit card required. If your team is iOS-first and you're tired of flying blind between notifications, ActivitySmith is worth ten minutes to find out.
