Notifications are a loan against a user's attention, and most apps default on it. Ask for the permission on the launch screen and a large share of users say no forever.

Timing is everything. The right moment to ask is just after the user has done something a notification would obviously improve: placed an order, followed a thread, set a reminder. Now the permission makes sense, and acceptance rates climb.

Content matters just as much. A notification that says something happened, without saying what, trains people to ignore you. One that carries the actual update earns the next open.

The apps people never mute are the ones that treated every message as if the mute button were one tap away, because it is.