Activity Feeds vs In-App Notifications: What’s the Difference?

If your app doesn't engage users where they already are, you risk losing them.

That's why most successful apps use both activity feeds and in-app notifications, yet teams can blur how each should be used. It's common to see overlap in implementations for both features, such as surfacing every new comment or update twice. This results in duplicate alerts and cluttered interfaces.

Your activity feeds and in-app notifications should largely serve different roles but share a common purpose: keeping users engaged without interrupting their flow.

In this article, we'll break down how they differ, where they overlap, and how the best apps use both. You'll also see how combining them strategically can boost engagement metrics, like session duration and user retention, without overwhelming users.

What Are Activity Feeds?

An activity feed is a running log of what's happening inside your app, like new posts, comments, mentions, or other actions that keep users aware of recent activity. It gives users a single place to see user-generated content (UGC) and meaningful updates instead of manually checking multiple screens or conversations.

You'll see this clearly in Instagram's social feed: every scroll updates users on what's new and what others are engaging with. It connects them with UGC from accounts they follow and suggested ones, as well as advertiser-created content and more.

Instagram provides another example with their notifications tab, a different type of feed that displays a log of collected notifications, such as:

• User-to-user interactions

• Recommended actions

• System updates

Social, notification, and other kinds of activity feeds are widely used in social media applications, but they're also a common component of other software, including collaboration tools, digital marketplaces, and video games.

What Are In-App Notifications?

In-app notifications are messages that appear while a user is actively using your app. They surface timely information, like a new feature, offer, interaction, reminder, or request. They either alert, inform, or prompt users to take action without breaking their flow.

Let's look at another example from Instagram: a banner notification that asks its users about how often they see a certain type of ad.

This kind of prompt appears while users are actively engaging with content. It's contextual, short-lived, and guides behavior without requiring users to leave the screen.

These notifications take many forms, but some of the most common types are:

• Banners or bars: Small messages for quick updates at the top or bottom of the screen.

• Modals or pop-ups: Boxes that pause the flow and require interaction.

• Full-screen messages: Large notices used for big announcements, promos, or anything that needs the user's full attention.

When executed well, they keep users active by reducing drop-off during onboarding, improving feature adoption, and creating smoother paths through the app. When done poorly, they can lead to notification fatigue, particularly when they overlap heavily with the information displayed in your app's activity feeds.

Key Differences Between Feeds and Notifications

Using Both Together for a Cohesive UX

Activity feeds and in-app notifications typically solve different problems. When paired effectively, you cover both discovery and action inside the same session.

Let's examine how they differ and how their use cases sometimes blur.

They Hold Attention Differently

In-app notifications capture attention in the moment, surfacing a specific event or action that requires a response.

Activity feeds are discovery engines that don't demand action; they sustain attention by keeping users aware of new content or relevant updates as they move through the app.

Together, they create a balance: one keeps users oriented, the other keeps them moving.

They (Mostly) Support Different Content

Feeds and in-app notifications serve different communication purposes.

Some information should pop up and vanish right away, while other items are better suited for browsing and revisiting.

Feeds are great for receiving ongoing, contextual updates, such as community posts, new listings, progress logs, or shared content. Feed items are usually persistent, so users can return to them whenever they want.

In-app notifications work better for urgent or time-sensitive messages that need immediate acknowledgment or action, like a fraud alert or a limited-time offer. They disappear after a set amount of time or after the user dismisses them.

Within the same app, they help you deliver each message in the format that best fits its intent.

Where They Overlap

While you don't want to constantly flood screens with duplicate content, sometimes your in-app notifications and activity feeds need to handle the same event, such as when a social platform's official account announces an upcoming in-app survey and a modal pops up to ask users to take it.

The most common area of overlap is the notification feed. While many notifications should be ephemeral, some will need to be collected in a dedicated space, as seen in the Instagram example earlier. 

Best Practices for Integrating Together 

Here's how to design your activity feeds and in-app notifications so they complement, not compete.

Define Clear Roles for Each

Start by drawing a line between what belongs in the feed and what warrants an in-app notification. As stated already:

• Feeds keep users informed. They surface updates people can explore on their own time.

• Notifications prompt action. They appear when something needs the user's attention right now.

When roles are clear, the message doesn't clash. A new feature announcement belongs in the feed, but a prompt asking users to try that feature belongs in a notification.

Set Smart Trigger Rules

The biggest risk when incorporating both is duplication and frequency of the alerts. If every new feed update also triggers a notification, users quickly tune out. Smart trigger rules help you prevent that.

For instance, in a dating app:

• Send in-app notifications only for immediate actions, like a new match.

• Set updates like profile visits or general activity flow into the main feed.

• Group similar events in the notification feed, so users see "You have 5 new likes" instead of five separate alerts.

This setup keeps notifications meaningful while ensuring the feed stays active without feeling noisy.

Connect Notifications Back to the Feed

Treat notifications as entry points instead of isolated messages.

In-app notifications should link to their related feed item or context view. If a user is notified that someone replied to their comment, the tap or click should take them directly there.

For product teams, this also creates a clear flow that holds user engagement from notification to feed.

Personalize Across Both Channels

Segmentation helps decide what each user sees on their feed based on their behavior or role. But the same logic should extend to in-app notifications, too, so only the most relevant updates reach the user at the right time.

Use the same user attributes, like activity level, interests, and geography, to decide which updates appear in the feed and which escalate to notifications.

For example, in a healthcare app, active users might see feed-only updates with new articles, patient stories, or wellness insights tailored to their condition.

In-app notifications can prompt users to complete quick surveys, update their health goals, or log daily progress. This will help product teams refine segmentation and personalize future content.

Keep Control and Clarity in the Experience

Good UX should provide users with options without imposing obligations. Always let them dismiss a notification or skip an action with a single, visible exit (like an "X" or swipe).

Clarity also applies to language: short, plain sentences perform better when users are engaged mid-task.

The same principle extends to the feed. Limit it to essential interactions — like, comment, and share — so the interface stays focused. If you must add more options, tuck them into a simple menu.

A clear layout, minimal controls, and concise copy make both feeds and notifications feel intuitive, rather than demanding.

Lastly, whenever possible, give users a choice over which items to allow into their feed or to appear as in-app or push notifications.

Real-World Examples

Let's consider how two popular, real-world apps use activity feeds and in-app notifications.

Duolingo

Duolingo uses activity feeds and in-app notifications to keep learners coming back without feeling pushed. The app is built around quick actions, streaks, and small wins, so both systems work together to engage learners through each session.

Its activity feed works like a small social timeline. It shows streak milestones, friend activity, and system-driven updates like "You watched a learning tip" or "Your friend reached a new streak." These posts don't demand any action from the user, aside from optional reactions and comments.

They build small social loops by helping users track their progress and that of their friends.

Duolingo's in-app notifications appear when the app wants the user to notice something right away, such as quests, streak reminders, new features, or rewards. They're short, direct, and appear only when the user is active, so they feel like part of the learning session instead of a random interruption.

For example, Duolingo collaborated with the team behind the game Genshin Impact. Users could accept an optional, time-limited quest to receive items for the game via an in-app modal notification. 

Tripadvisor

Tripadvisor serves as a model for other apps by keeping its travelers updated without overwhelming them.

The app's feed shows a steady stream of recommendations based on what a user has searched, viewed, or saved. The "You might like" section updates on its own and helps users discover personalized destinations, tours, or hotels.

It offers new options for the user to scroll through on their own time, without interrupting them as they manage existing bookings, write reviews, or engage with the app in other ways.

Tripadvisor uses in-app notifications to encourage quick actions, like rating the app, joining a Trip Cash contest, or finishing a saved trip. These prompts appear only when the user is already active in the app, so the message lands at the right time.

Integrating Feeds and In-App Notifications with Stream

Even with clear roles and rules in place, teams often struggle to manage both systems effectively. That's why many land on the buy side of the build vs. buy dilemma.

Building, maintaining, and scaling both an activity feed and an in-app notification system internally is rarely worth the engineering and infrastructure cost. Each requires separate logic for real-time delivery, batching, and user preferences, as well as UI parity across platforms.

To address this, Stream provides APIs and SDKs for both features, allowing teams to handle continuous updates and event-driven alerts on the same infrastructure.

With Stream's Activity Feeds, teams can power personalized, ranked feeds that aggregate activity in a variety of formats, including personalized For-You feeds, ranked news feeds, and Reddit-style forum feeds.

Additionally, Stream's Chat SDK includes built-in methods for in-app notifications (like toast messages and pop-ups) triggered by feed or user events.

These integrations give product teams three main benefits:

• Unified infrastructure: Trigger feeds and notifications from the same event while avoiding duplication.

• Faster iteration: SDKs for React, React Native, Android, iOS, Flutter, and more offer prebuilt components for state management, delivery, and UI, so updates don't require backend rebuilds.

• Scalability and reliability: Stream's global edge network ensures low latency, real-time sync, and fault tolerance, even with millions of concurrent users.

Conclusion

Activity feeds and in-app notifications are both important for strengthening the user experience. Feeds help users find what's new; notifications help them act on it.

Whether you build in-house or use third-party integrations, adhere to best practices like defining clear roles and personalizing both components. Doing so will prevent notification fatigue, as well as drive retention, session time, and satisfaction.