A notification badge conveys summary or status information concerning and specific to your app. They can be numeric (1-99) or one of a set of Windows-provided glyphs. Examples of information best conveyed through a badge include network connection status in an online game, user status in a messaging app, number of unread mails in a mail app, and number of new posts in a social media app. Badges can be displayed on both square and wide tiles and appear in the lower-right corner of the tile (lower-left corner on a computer set to a right-to-left (RTL) language).
The following image shows a tile with a numeric badge displaying the number 12 to indicate 12 unread mails.
Note The badge catalog is not extendable. Only the Windows-provided images listed in this topic can be used on a tile.
Defining a badge
A badge is defined as an XML document and its elements are defined in the badge schema.
Badge content options
Numeric badges
A badge can display any number from 1 to 99. Any value greater than 99 displays "99+" rather than the actual number. A value of 0 clears the badge from the tile.
| Value | Badge example | XML |
|---|---|---|
| A number from 1 to 99. A value of 0 is equivalent to the glyph value "none" and will clear the badge. |  | <badge value="1"/> |
| Any number greater than 99. |  | <badge value="100"/> |
Glyph badges
Alternately, a badge can display one of a non-extensible set of status glyphs. The available glyphs are shown here, together with their XML equivalent in the badge template:
| Status | Glyph | XML |
|---|---|---|
| none | No badge shown | <badge value="none"/> |
| activity |  | <badge value="activity"/> |
| alert |  | <badge value="alert"/> |
| available |  | <badge value="available"/> |
| away |  | <badge value="away"/> |
| busy |  | <badge value="busy"/> |
| newMessage |  | <badge value="newMessage"/> |
| paused |  | <badge value="paused"/> |
| playing |  | <badge value="playing"/> |
| unavailable |  | <badge value="unavailable"/> |
| error |  | <badge value="error"/> |
| attention |  | <badge value="attention"/> |
For more information on when and how to use a numeric badge versus a glyph badge, see Guidelines and checklist for tiles and badges.
Related topics
- App tiles and badges sample
- Badge XML schema
- How to send a glyph or numeric badge in a local notification
- How to clear a badge
- Guidelines and checklist for tiles and badges
Build date: 10/26/2012
