diff --git a/NotificationService/NotificationService.swift b/NotificationService/NotificationService.swift
index e88c0a7e..06971bac 100644
--- a/NotificationService/NotificationService.swift
+++ b/NotificationService/NotificationService.swift
@@ -24,7 +24,8 @@ class NotificationService: UNNotificationServiceExtension {
             var notificationActions: [UNNotificationAction] = []
             let userInfo = bestAttemptContent.userInfo
             os_log("handleNotification userInfo %{PUBLIC}@", log: .default, type: .info, userInfo)
-
+            
+            //Check if the user has defined custom actions in the payload
             if let actionsArray = parseActions(userInfo), let category = parseCategory(userInfo) {
                 for actionDict in actionsArray {
                     if let action = actionDict["action"],
@@ -34,13 +35,11 @@ class NotificationService: UNNotificationServiceExtension {
                         if action.hasPrefix("navigate") {
                             options = [.foreground]
                         }
-
                         let notificationAction = UNNotificationAction(
                             identifier: action,
                             title: title,
                             options: options
                         )
-
                         notificationActions.append(notificationAction)
                     }
                 }
@@ -53,13 +52,22 @@ class NotificationService: UNNotificationServiceExtension {
                             intentIdentifiers: [],
                             options: .customDismissAction
                         )
-                    let notificationCategories: Set<UNNotificationCategory> = [notificationCategory]
-                    UNUserNotificationCenter.current().setNotificationCategories(notificationCategories)
+                    UNUserNotificationCenter.current().getNotificationCategories { (existingCategories) in
+                        // Check if the new category already exists, this is a hash of the actions string done by the cloud service
+                        let existingCategoryIdentifiers = existingCategories.map(\.identifier)
+                        if !existingCategoryIdentifiers.contains(category) {
+                            var updatedCategories = existingCategories
+                            os_log("handleNotification adding category %{PUBLIC}@", log: .default, type: .info, category)
+                            updatedCategories.insert(notificationCategory)
+                            UNUserNotificationCenter.current().setNotificationCategories(updatedCategories)
+                        }
+                    }
                 }
             }
-
+            
+            // check if there is an attachment to put on the notification
             // this should be last as we need to wait for media
-            // Retrieve the attachment URL from the payload
+            // TODO we should support relative paths and try the user's openHAB (local,remote) for content
             if let attachmentURLString = userInfo["attachment-url"] as? String, let attachmentURL = URL(string: attachmentURLString) {
                 os_log("handleNotification downloading %{PUBLIC}@", log: .default, type: .info, attachmentURLString)
                 downloadAndAttachMedia(url: attachmentURL) { attachment in
@@ -88,8 +96,7 @@ class NotificationService: UNNotificationServiceExtension {
 
     private func parseActions(_ userInfo: [AnyHashable: Any]) -> [[String: String]]? {
         // Extract actions and convert it from JSON string to an array of dictionaries
-        if let actionsString = userInfo["actions"] as? String,
-           let actionsData = actionsString.data(using: .utf8) {
+        if let actionsString = userInfo["actions"] as? String, let actionsData = actionsString.data(using: .utf8) {
             do {
                 if let actionsArray = try JSONSerialization.jsonObject(with: actionsData, options: []) as? [[String: String]] {
                     return actionsArray
@@ -109,7 +116,7 @@ class NotificationService: UNNotificationServiceExtension {
         }
         return nil
     }
-    
+
     private func downloadAndAttachMedia(url: URL, completion: @escaping (UNNotificationAttachment?) -> Void) {
         let task = URLSession.shared.downloadTask(with: url) { localURL, response, error in
             guard let localURL else {
diff --git a/openHAB/AppDelegate.swift b/openHAB/AppDelegate.swift
index e574523d..81a3934a 100644
--- a/openHAB/AppDelegate.swift
+++ b/openHAB/AppDelegate.swift
@@ -170,7 +170,7 @@ class AppDelegate: UIResponder, UIApplicationDelegate, UNUserNotificationCenterD
         if actionIdentifier == UNNotificationDefaultActionIdentifier {
             notifyNotificationListeners(userInfo)
         } else if actionIdentifier == UNNotificationDismissActionIdentifier {
-            // Handle the dismissal action
+            // Handle the dismissal action, nothing
         } else {
             userInfo["actionIdentifier"] = actionIdentifier
             notifyNotificationListeners(userInfo)
diff --git a/openHAB/OpenHABRootViewController.swift b/openHAB/OpenHABRootViewController.swift
index e1d83a85..15dfa920 100644
--- a/openHAB/OpenHABRootViewController.swift
+++ b/openHAB/OpenHABRootViewController.swift
@@ -163,22 +163,23 @@ class OpenHABRootViewController: UIViewController {
         let theData = note?.userInfo
         if theData != nil {
             let prefsURL = Preferences.remoteUrl
-            if prefsURL.contains("openhab.org") {
-                guard let deviceId = theData?["deviceId"] as? String, let deviceToken = theData?["deviceToken"] as? String, let deviceName = theData?["deviceName"] as? String else { return }
-                os_log("Registering notifications with %{PUBLIC}@", log: .notifications, type: .info, prefsURL)
-                NetworkConnection.register(prefsURL: prefsURL, deviceToken: deviceToken, deviceId: deviceId, deviceName: deviceName) { response in
-                    switch response.result {
-                    case .success:
-                        os_log("my.openHAB registration sent", log: .notifications, type: .info)
-                    case let .failure(error):
-                        os_log("my.openHAB registration failed %{PUBLIC}@ %d", log: .notifications, type: .error, error.localizedDescription, response.response?.statusCode ?? 0)
-                    }
+             if prefsURL.contains("openhab.org") {
+            guard let deviceId = theData?["deviceId"] as? String, let deviceToken = theData?["deviceToken"] as? String, let deviceName = theData?["deviceName"] as? String else { return }
+            os_log("Registering notifications with %{PUBLIC}@", log: .notifications, type: .info, prefsURL)
+            NetworkConnection.register(prefsURL: prefsURL, deviceToken: deviceToken, deviceId: deviceId, deviceName: deviceName) { response in
+                switch response.result {
+                case .success:
+                    os_log("my.openHAB registration sent", log: .notifications, type: .info)
+                case let .failure(error):
+                    os_log("my.openHAB registration failed %{PUBLIC}@ %d", log: .notifications, type: .error, error.localizedDescription, response.response?.statusCode ?? 0)
                 }
             }
+             }
         }
     }
 
     @objc func handleApnsMessage(notification: Notification) {
+        //actionIdentifier is the result of a action button being pressed
         if let action = notification.userInfo?["actionIdentifier"] as? String {
             if action.hasPrefix("navigate") {
                 navigateCommandAction(action)
@@ -187,12 +188,13 @@ class OpenHABRootViewController: UIViewController {
                 sendCommandAction(action)
             }
         } else if let navigate = notification.userInfo?["navigate"] as? String {
+            //the user simply clicked on the notification, but indicated a navigation in the payload
             navigateCommandAction(navigate)
         }
     }
 
-    func navigateCommandAction(_ navigate: String) {
-        os_log("handleApnsMessage navigation:  %{PUBLIC}@", log: .notifications, type: .info, navigate)
+    private func navigateCommandAction(_ navigate: String) {
+        os_log("navigateCommandAction:  %{PUBLIC}@", log: .notifications, type: .info, navigate)
         if let index = navigate.firstIndex(of: ":") {
             let type = String(navigate[..<index])
             let path = String(navigate[navigate.index(after: index)...])
@@ -210,7 +212,7 @@ class OpenHABRootViewController: UIViewController {
         }
     }
 
-    func sendCommandAction(_ action: String) {
+    private func sendCommandAction(_ action: String) {
         let components = action.split(separator: ":")
         if components.count == 3 {
             let itemName = String(components[1])