Facebook Marketplace alerts on iPhone

To get Facebook Marketplace alerts on an iPhone, open the Facebook app, search Marketplace for the item, set your distance and price, and tap Notify Me (or Save search) under the search bar. Then turn on Saved searches in Marketplace's notification settings, and in the iPhone's own Settings → Notifications → Facebook, make sure notifications are allowed and Facebook isn't stuck in Scheduled Summary or blocked by a Focus. That's free and takes five minutes. What it won't do is get you there first: in our use Facebook's alerts land hours to days after the listing, filter loosely, and turn themselves off. Every step is below, plus the iPhone settings for an app that watches for you.

Step 1: save the search in the Facebook app

1. Open the Facebook app and tap Marketplace (the shop icon in the bottom bar, or under the menu).
2. Tap the search bar and name the item. "Milwaukee M18 drill," not "drill." "2015 F-150," not "truck." The more specific the words, the less junk you'll get.
3. Set the filters first: your location and radius, a price range, condition. The alert only uses what's set when you save.
4. Tap Notify Me, the bell, or Save search near the top of the results. The name changes between app versions; it's the same button.
5. To see or delete it later: Marketplace → your profile (the person icon) → Saved searches or Alerts.

Step 2: turn on Marketplace's own notification switch

Saving the search doesn't turn on the notification. A separate switch does.

1. In Marketplace, tap your profile icon, then Settings (the gear).
2. Tap Notifications and switch on Saved searches. Leave Marketplace notifications on in Facebook's main notification settings too: Menu → Settings & privacy → Settings → Notifications → Marketplace, with Push on.

If you skip this, the search saves fine and never says a word.

Step 3: the iPhone settings that decide whether it buzzes

This is where most iPhone alerts die. Facebook sends the notification and iOS holds it, hides it or batches it.

• Allow Notifications. Settings → Notifications → Facebook: Allow Notifications on, with Lock Screen, Notification Center and Banners checked. Sounds on if you want to hear it in your pocket.
• Scheduled Summary. Settings → Notifications → Scheduled Summary. If Facebook is in the summary, every Facebook notification waits for the summary time, maybe 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. Take Facebook out of it. This is the one that makes people say alerts "stopped" after an iOS update.
• Focus. Settings → Focus. Each Focus (Do Not Disturb, Sleep, Work, Driving) silences every app not on its allowed list. Open the ones you use, go to Allowed Notifications → Apps, and add Facebook. A Sleep Focus on a bedtime schedule is the one people forget.
• Time Sensitive. In Settings → Notifications → Facebook, leave Time Sensitive Notifications on so Facebook can break through a Focus when it marks something urgent.
• Background App Refresh and Low Power Mode. Settings → General → Background App Refresh → Facebook on. Low Power Mode cuts background refresh, which can make alerts later.

Still nothing after all that? Work through Facebook Marketplace notifications not working on iPhone, which goes switch by switch, including sign-out and reinstall.

What to expect once it's all on

Every iPhone setting above can be right and you'll still see this:

• Late. Facebook doesn't say how often it re-checks a saved search. In our use the alert comes hours after the listing, sometimes a day or more.
• Loose. A search for "PS5" buzzes for controllers, games and "PS5 wanted" posts. There are no negative keywords and no real low price limit to keep them out.
• They turn themselves off. A search that worked last week goes quiet with no warning. Re-saving it sometimes brings it back for a while. More on saved search notifications not working.
• Facebook only. The same mower or couch is often on OfferUp and Craigslist the same day, from the same seller. Facebook won't tell you.
• Meta AI isn't a watch. Meta AI's shopping mode and the Muse agent will search when you ask. It's a chat, not a watch. Nothing stands guard between your questions.

Facebook alerts vs an alert app on iPhone

The other alert apps with an iPhone app, each price checked on its own site, are on the best Facebook Marketplace alert apps for iPhone.

Setting up Deal Scanner on an iPhone

Deal Scanner is on the App Store and works the same on iPad. Set one search: the item, your town, how far you'd drive, and a low and high price. Close the app. It watches Facebook Marketplace, OfferUp and Craigslist from our servers around the clock, drops most of the accessories and lookalikes, and buzzes your iPhone when a matching listing is posted. Every alert shows when it found the listing and a Deal Score for how far under the typical price near you it sits. If a listing it already showed you drops at least 5%, you get a "was $X, now $Y" alert too. It never asks for your Facebook login.

The iPhone side takes a minute:

1. When the app asks to send notifications, tap Allow. Missed it? Settings → Notifications → Deal Scanner → Allow Notifications.
2. Keep Deal Scanner out of Scheduled Summary, same as Facebook above.
3. Add Deal Scanner to the allowed apps in any Focus you use during the day.
4. Want a quiet night? Use Deal Scanner's own quiet hours and daily digest in the app's Settings instead of a Focus, so daytime alerts still come through.

The watching runs on our servers, not your phone, so the watching keeps going with the app closed and doesn't chew through battery. Tapping an alert opens the listing in the marketplace's own app so you message the seller as yourself.

Three searches are $3.99 a month, billed through your Apple ID, cancel anytime in Settings → your name → Subscriptions. A lot of people only need it for one thing: the kid's first car, a four-wheeler, a snowblower before the first storm. Pay for the month you're looking. Cancel when you've got it. If you check Marketplace every day, whether flipping is your side thing, your whole job, or not the point at all, there are 6 searches for $9.99 and 12 for $19.99.

More on each marketplace: Facebook Marketplace alerts, OfferUp alerts, Craigslist alerts. On Android instead? See Facebook Marketplace alerts on Android.

FAQ

How do I turn on Facebook Marketplace alerts on my iPhone?

Search Marketplace for the item, set your filters, tap Notify Me or Save search, then turn on Saved searches in Marketplace → profile → Settings → Notifications. On the iPhone, check Settings → Notifications → Facebook is allowed and not in Scheduled Summary.

Why don't I get Marketplace notifications on my iPhone?

Usually Scheduled Summary holding them, a Focus silencing Facebook, or the Saved searches switch off inside Marketplace. Check those three before anything else.

Does Scheduled Summary delay Facebook Marketplace alerts?

Yes. Any app in Scheduled Summary has its notifications held until the summary time. Remove Facebook (and any alert app) from the summary in Settings → Notifications → Scheduled Summary.

Can I get Facebook Marketplace alerts on iPhone without the Facebook app?

Yes. Deal Scanner watches Facebook Marketplace, OfferUp and Craigslist and sends its own push alert. It doesn't need your Facebook login or Facebook's notifications.

Do Facebook Marketplace alerts work on iPad?

Facebook's saved-search alerts work in the Facebook app on iPad with the same settings. Deal Scanner also runs on iPad.

How much do Marketplace alerts cost on iPhone?

Facebook's are free. Deal Scanner is $3.99 a month for three searches, billed through your Apple ID, cancel anytime in your phone's subscription settings.

Sources checked

Apple Support's "Change notification settings on iPhone," "Use Focus on iPhone" and "Use Scheduled Summary on iPhone"; Facebook Help Center on Marketplace notifications and saved searches; Alphr's and uCompares' Marketplace alert setup guides; CarSnipe's iPhone vs Android alerts guide; our own notifications not working on iPhone page. Checked November 1, 2026.