Notes by service

Every service on the list works the same way in most respects. This page covers what’s different about each one. For how they’re checked while asleep, see Sleep and memory.

Gmail

• Red and green. Mail in the Primary tab gets a red badge. Mail only in your other inbox tabs, such as Promotions or Updates, gets a green dot.
• Checked every minute, asleep or awake, on macOS 14 or later.
• Signing in with your Google account works.
• Dark mode doesn’t change it. Gmail has no dark theme that follows the system, so it looks the same in every display mode.
• For another Google account, add Gmail again.

Slack

• Sign in with your email address, or have Slack email you a sign-in link. “Sign in with Google” doesn’t work inside Labaro.
• Red and green. Mentions and direct messages get a red badge. Other unread channels get a green dot, apart from muted ones, as in Slack itself.
• Checked every minute, asleep or awake, on macOS 14 or later.
• Your workspace’s icon replaces Slack’s in the sidebar once Labaro finds it.
• For another workspace, add Slack again, so each has its own icon and badge. Adding a workspace’s own address as a custom URL, such as https://yourteam.slack.com, sets it up as Slack too.

WhatsApp

• Link it to your phone. In WhatsApp on your phone, go to Linked devices, tap Link a device, and scan the code Labaro shows.
• Turn notifications on with the blue button at the bottom right. WhatsApp’s own banner about notifications gives instructions for a browser’s address bar, which don’t apply in Labaro.
• It’s told it’s talking to Chrome. WhatsApp Web doesn’t load properly when it sees Safari, so its user agent’s Auto setting is Chrome. Leave it on Auto.
• Dark mode works, and follows the display mode straight away.
• If it stops loading or shows an error about its storage, reset it and link it again. See Troubleshooting.

X

• Opens on your messages.
• Red and green. Messages get a red badge. Notifications get a green dot.
• Checked every minute, asleep or awake, on macOS 14 or later. On older versions, X only shows a count while it’s the service on screen.

Instagram

• Opens on your direct messages.
• Red and green. Direct messages get a red badge. Activity since you last opened your notifications gets a green dot.
• Checked every minute, asleep or awake, on macOS 14 or later.

LinkedIn

• Opens on Messaging.
• Red and green. Messages get a red badge. Other notifications get a green dot.
• Signing in with Google may need one more step. If it sends you to your browser, Google is using your country’s sign-in site, such as accounts.google.nl. Add that under Advanced → Allowed hosts in LinkedIn’s Edit window. See Links and signing in.

Mastodon

• It’s for mastodon.social. For an account on another server, add it with Custom URL and your server’s address, such as https://fosstodon.org/home. A Mastodon added that way can’t notify, and isn’t checked while asleep.

Bluesky, Discord, Facebook Messenger, Steam Chat and Zoom

Nothing particular to know. Turn on notifications to have them checked every 5 minutes while they sleep. Everything unread shows as a red badge.

Google Drive, Google Meet and Google Sheets

• No notifications. They never have anything unread, so they aren’t checked while asleep either.
• Google Sheets is told it’s talking to Firefox. When it sees Safari, it draws its text blurry, so its user agent’s Auto setting is Firefox. Leave it on Auto.