Craigslist alerts on your phone within minutes
Craigslist's own alerts are email digests tied to a saved search, sent on a schedule Craigslist sets from how busy the search is. For each new Craigslist post on your phone within minutes of it going up, Pouncify watches your search from your own computer, needs no Craigslist account, and alerts the free phone app, Telegram, email or Discord.
Does Craigslist have alerts?
Yes, by email. Log in to a Craigslist account, run a search, save it, then open the searches tab in your account and tick the box in the alert column. Craigslist then emails you whenever the saved search has new results. The rules are on Craigslist's help page on search alerts: how often it checks a search depends on how many results the last alert had (fewer results, more frequent checks), each email shows at most 20 posts, newest first, and renewed, reposted and edited posts are included when they match. A saved search cannot be edited, only replaced (Craigslist help: saved searches).
Two consequences for you: a busy search in a big city is the one checked least, and a seller's deleted-and-relisted post shows up in the digest as a fresh one. A saved search also belongs to one city site; a post filed on the neighboring site is in it only if you set a “miles from ZIP” distance before saving. If the emails never arrived or have stopped, the checklist is on Craigslist alerts not working.
Does Craigslist have push or SMS notifications?
No. Craigslist's search alert is an email digest of up to 20 posts, and its help page describes nothing else. For a new post as a notification you can tap, Pouncify watches the search from your own computer and sends it.
Is there a Craigslist alerts app?
Pouncify is a free Windows and macOS app that watches Craigslist for you and sends each new post that matches your search to your phone within minutes of it going live, with the photo, the price and where it is. The watching happens on your own computer; the alert lands on the free Pouncify app for iPhone and Android, or on Telegram, email or Discord.
Craigslist publishes the exact time of every post and, for most posts, map coordinates. Pouncify uses both: it knows to the minute how new a post is, and it measures the distance from your location to the post itself, so a 10-mile radius means 10 miles.
- Reposts recognized. A post that is deleted and re-listed is matched to the original, so a lower price shows as a price change, not as a new deal.
- Edit in place. Change the words, the price cap or the radius on a search and the next check uses the new version.
- One search, four marketplaces. The same search also watches Facebook Marketplace, plus OfferUp in the United States and Kijiji in Canada, with the same alert channels.
- Free to start. The free plan watches one search per marketplace, with no account and no card.
How to set up Craigslist alerts with Pouncify
- Install Pouncify on Windows or macOS from the download page.
- Add a search: the words a seller would write (“couch” as well as “sofa”), a price range, and your location as a city, neighborhood or ZIP code. Pouncify picks the Craigslist site that serves that location.
- Set the radius. It is measured from your location to each post's coordinates, in miles in the United States and kilometers in Canada, and posts from a neighboring site count when the circle reaches into its area.
- Pick where alerts go: the Pouncify phone app (pair it by scanning a QR code), Telegram, email or Discord. Choose how often to check and during which hours, then turn the schedule on.
Craigslist is offered everywhere Craigslist operates, and a price drop on a post you are watching pings you too.
Craigslist's own email alert vs Pouncify
Craigslist's alert is a digest of what matched since the last email; Pouncify sends one alert per new post, as it appears. The Craigslist column comes from its help pages linked above.
| Craigslist's email alert | Pouncify | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it arrives | Your email inbox | The Pouncify phone app, Telegram, email or Discord |
| How often | No fixed interval; set by how many results the last alert had. Observed: a digest two to three times a day, 20 postings at most | On the schedule you choose; each new post on the next check after it goes live |
| Posts per alert | Up to 20, newest first, renewed and reposted ones included | One post per alert, with photo, price, distance and posting time |
| Edit a search? | No; create a new one and delete the old one | Yes, in place |
| Account needed? | A Craigslist account | None: no Craigslist login and no account with us |
| Radius | The city site the search was saved on, plus a distance filter if you set one before saving | A radius you set, measured from your location to each post's own coordinates |
Questions about Craigslist alerts
Does Craigslist have alerts for new posts?
Yes, by email. Save a search in a Craigslist account, open the searches tab and tick the alert column. Each email lists up to 20 new posts, on a schedule Craigslist sets from how many results the last email had.
Does Craigslist have push or SMS notifications?
No. Craigslist's search alert is email only. Pouncify sends each new post to your phone as a notification, from your own computer.
Can I edit a saved search on Craigslist?
No. Craigslist's help says saved searches cannot be edited; you create a new one and delete the old one. In Pouncify you edit the words, the price or the radius in place and the next check uses the new version.
Do I need a Craigslist account to use Pouncify?
No. Craigslist search results and posts are public, so Pouncify reads them without a login, and you create no account with us either.
Which Craigslist site does Pouncify watch?
The one that serves the location on your search. A radius that crosses into a neighboring site's area brings in that site's posts too, with distances measured from the coordinates Craigslist posts carry.
Download Pouncify Free to start · no account · Windows and macOS
Other guides: Facebook Marketplace alerts · OfferUp alerts · Kijiji alerts · Craigslist alerts not working · All guides.