# Why can’t I read my Facebook notifications? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 19, 2019, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-can-t-i-read-my-facebook-notifications/838870 "2019-08-19T04:31:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2019, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-can-t-i-read-my-facebook-notifications/838870/1 "2019-08-19T04:31:35Z")
Haven’t been on Facebook in ages, and now I’m forgetting how it all works. I have several notifications waiting, so I click on the little bell, and… nothing. The little wheel is turning, forever. So I click on “See all” and still nothing. Now they want me to enter my password. I do so, and get an “Oops” message that something went wrong. Meanwhile, I’ve lost all my notifications. I assume one of my settings is wrong, but which one? ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2019, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-can-t-i-read-my-facebook-notifications/838870/2 "2019-08-20T05:07:29Z")
Bump. Doesn’t anyone know about this? ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2019, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-can-t-i-read-my-facebook-notifications/838870/3 "2019-08-20T13:40:23Z")
Via app or desktop? ---
**Author:** ![BrianDime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ad7895/32.png) [@BrianDime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrianDime)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2019, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-can-t-i-read-my-facebook-notifications/838870/4 "2019-08-20T13:54:55Z")
I’ve had something like that happen in the android app before, and it usually meant there was an app update pending and would work properly once I had updated the app. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2019, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-can-t-i-read-my-facebook-notifications/838870/5 "2019-08-20T20:08:23Z")
Desktop. ---
**Author:** ![PoppaSan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/poppasan/32/189_2.png) [@PoppaSan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoppaSan)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2019, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-can-t-i-read-my-facebook-notifications/838870/6 "2019-08-22T01:58:36Z")
Your desktop is smarter than you and is protecting you from yourself? How many times have you logged in to try? Completely log out and log back in. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2019, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-can-t-i-read-my-facebook-notifications/838870/7 "2019-08-22T08:11:37Z")
That’s weird, for a desktop. I hate to suggest it, but have you tried logging into FB through a different browser? Or maybe Incognito view in Chrome? To be honest, I don’t remember the last time I hit up FB on a “real” computer. That shit’s for phones, yo. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2019, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-can-t-i-read-my-facebook-notifications/838870/8 "2019-08-22T09:32:51Z")
Logged in through a different browser. Same problem. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2019, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-can-t-i-read-my-facebook-notifications/838870/9 "2019-08-22T13:45:00Z")
I’ve had these symptoms often. If you wait long enough, 75% of the time it will _eventually_ pop down and display the relevant activity. And when it doesn’t, refreshing the entire window will generally do it (even if the bell no longer shows the red number, the recent activity incidents will still be in there). Facebook’s page code must be bloody awful. I suspect it has something to do with trying to make everything update in real time. Might also be adv versus adblocker wars. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2019, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-can-t-i-read-my-facebook-notifications/838870/10 "2019-08-22T15:17:33Z")
I had the exact same problem but it was on Android. If you click real fast between home and notifications; that will sometimes fix it.