Bug Report – Email notifications on Tasks are turned off on the back end.
By Holidays in Europe / November 27, 2025 / No Comments / Uncategorized
Investigation into Email Notification Discrepancies for Tasks in ChatGPT
Recent user reports have highlighted a persistent issue within ChatGPT’s task notification system: despite configuring settings to receive email notifications for scheduled tasks, users are only receiving push alerts, with email notifications conspicuously absent. This walkthrough aims to detail the problem, explore potential causes, and suggest avenues for resolution.
The Issue at a Glance
Users report that their notification settings correctly indicate that email alerts are enabled for tasks—illustrated by interface screenshots showing both toggles switched on. However, in practice, scheduled task reminders only trigger push notifications; email alerts are never delivered, regardless of task timing or frequency.
Key observations:
– Notification settings reflect email as active for tasks.
– Only push notifications are received upon task trigger.
– No email appears in inbox or spam folders.
– Attempts to toggle email notification preferences do not change outcomes.
– The behavior persists across multiple tasks.
Underlying System Behavior
From a backend perspective, the assistant’s interface and operational logic show that while the user interface indicates email notifications are enabled for tasks, there appears to be a disconnect at the system level. Notably:
– The assistant’s task creation process allows setting content and schedule but does not control notification channels.
– The system backend seems to treat email notifications for tasks as disabled, regardless of user interface settings.
– The notification pipeline may be selectively serving push alerts but bypassing email channels for tasks.
This divergence suggests possible backend configuration issues or incomplete synchronization between the user-facing settings and the notification delivery infrastructure.
Additional Observations
Apart from task notification issues, some users have reported not receiving standard product or feature announcement emails from OpenAI following recent updates, such as the 5.1 release. While it’s unclear if this is directly related, it raises questions about the overall email delivery subsystem and potential systemic disruptions.
Reproduction Steps for Troubleshooting
To verify and reproduce the issue, follow these steps:
1. Navigate to Settings → Notifications within ChatGPT.
2. Set the Tasks notification preferences to both Push and Email.
3. Ensure both toggles are active.
4. Create a task scheduled to prompt shortly (e.g., “Remind me in 5 minutes to check X”).
5. Wait for the task to trigger and observe notification delivery.
Expected outcome: Both an in-app push notification and an email alert.
Actual outcome: