FAQ

Everything about the alerts you set up yourself — how often seats get checked, why one did or didn't fire, and what the limits are.

How often do you check for seats?

We don't publish exact numbers, but it's on the order of every few minutes, around the clock, for as long as your alert is active. You don't need to keep the app open — monitoring runs on our servers, not on your phone.

A seat opened up but I never got a notification. Why?

Usually one of these:

• The seat was never taken to begin with. SeatDrop notifies on a change from taken to available. A seat that's been free the whole time isn't a change, so it doesn't fire.
• It wasn't one of your seats. Only the seats you selected are watched. If you monitored row G and someone cancelled in row K, that's not your alert.
• It's a group alert and the opening didn't qualify. An alert asking for 3 seats together stays quiet when a single isolated seat opens. See Monitor for adjacent seats.
• The seat opened and was rebooked quickly. Popular showings move fast, and a seat that's free only briefly can be gone again by the next check.
• The notification didn't reach your phone. If you suspect this one, work through Troubleshooting notifications.

Someone got the seat before me. Will you tell me if it opens again?

Yes. An alert doesn't stop after it fires — it keeps monitoring right up until the showtime, and it will notify you again the next time one of your seats opens up. Getting beaten to a seat costs you nothing but the seat.

The only thing we hold back is a repeat of the same opening in quick succession, so a seat flickering in and out of a theatre's system doesn't spam you.

I booked my seats. Do I need to do anything?

Tapping I booked it records the win and stops the confirmation prompt from reappearing — but it doesn't stop the alert.

Please cancel alerts you no longer need once you've booked. It keeps your list honest, stops notifications you no longer care about, and frees the slot for something you do want.

How many alerts and seats can I have?

100 active alerts at once, and up to 500 seats in any single alert. That's per account, not per device — the same limits apply whether you set alerts up on your phone or your laptop.

Only alerts that are currently active count toward the 100. Once an alert expires or you cancel it, the slot is free again.

When does my alert expire?

By itself, shortly after the showtime starts — about half an hour in, once the film is underway and there's nothing left to monitor. It drops off the Monitoring tab on its own.

You never have to clean up expired alerts by hand. Cancelling is only for alerts you've finished with early, like the one you just booked.

Anything an alert actually notified you about stays in the Alert History tab, with the booking link, whether or not the alert itself has since expired.