Quick Reply

This entry has no runnable specimen; the conversation content in the illustration is fictional. Before shipping, confirm the field names the recipient and prepare another way to report a failed send once the notification has collapsed.

{
  "states": [
    "collapsed",
    "composing",
    "sending",
    "sent",
    "failed"
  ],
  "a11y": [
    "The field has an accessible name saying which conversation is being replied to",
    "The send result is announced through a status message rather than only by the notification collapsing"
  ],
  "motion": "Expanding and collapsing may be instant, with no transition under a reduced-motion preference"
}

{
  "id": "quick-reply",
  "type": "micro",
  "name": {
    "zh": "快速回复",
    "en": "Quick Reply"
  },
  "aliases": [
    "Direct Reply",
    "Inline Reply",
    "直接回复",
    "通知内回复"
  ],
  "granularity": "state",
  "intents": [
    "inform",
    "reduce-interruption"
  ],
  "tags": [
    "notification",
    "reply",
    "in place",
    "text field",
    "no app switch"
  ],
  "definition": "Expanding a text field inside the notification itself so the user can reply without opening the application: once the reply is sent the notification collapses and the user stays in whatever they were doing.",
  "boundary": "The test for quick reply is completing one reply without leaving the current context, not that the notification has a button. It differs from preset phrase buttons on a notification, which can only send a fixed set of lines, while quick reply accepts free text. It is also not moving the whole conversation into the notification — a notification is narrow, carries no history, and may be dismissed by the system at any moment, so it suits only what one sentence can answer; where context, attachments, or several turns are needed, the user should be taken into the app. Handling a failed send matters most of all: once the notification collapses, people generally assume it went.",
  "signature": [
    "The field expands inside the notification without a jump to the app",
    "It accepts free text rather than only a few preset phrases",
    "After sending, the notification collapses and the user returns to what they were doing"
  ],
  "when": [
    "A message can usually be answered in one sentence with no need for context",
    "The user is in the middle of something and opening the app costs far more than the reply",
    "The reply involves no attachment, no formatting, and nothing that needs checking"
  ],
  "when_not": [
    "The reply requires seeing the earlier conversation or an attachment first",
    "A failed send produces no signal and the user assumes it went",
    "Replies that deserve care — confirming a payment, accepting terms — are made one-tap inside a notification"
  ],
  "tradeoff": "It removes an app switch and cuts the cost of replying to a few seconds; the cost is that during those seconds the user sees no context, is more likely to reply to the wrong thread or send something unconsidered — and once the notification collapses, even checking what was sent is awkward.",
  "comparison": {
    "focus": "Finishing one reply without leaving the current task",
    "mechanism": "A free-text field expanded inside the notification, collapsing after send",
    "cost": "There is no context, and neither a failure nor a misdirected reply is easy to notice"
  },
  "sources": [
    {
      "id": "quickreply-android-nougat",
      "title": "Wikipedia · Android Nougat",
      "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_Nougat",
      "claim": "The article lists support for inline replies to notifications among the principal new features of Android 7.0 Nougat, and its reception section quotes a reviewer noting that quick replies had become standard on the platform in that release. This entry takes the shape of the pattern and its rough date from it; the trade-offs and the guidance on failed sends are editorial.",
      "checkedAt": "2026-09-16",
      "archive": {
        "lookupUrl": "https://web.archive.org/web/20260916*/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_Nougat",
        "status": "unconfirmed",
        "checkedAt": "2026-09-16T17:37:50.828Z",
        "error": "status-request-failed",
        "jobId": "spn2-8767984558b5cdc706376c8074d170bfdf981430"
      }
    }
  ],
  "relations": [
    {
      "target": "notification-center",
      "kind": "composes_with",
      "condition": "The user wants to check what they just sent from a notification",
      "reason": "The notification leaves no trace once collapsed, so reviewing has to come from a readable list or the conversation in the app.",
      "basis": "editorial"
    },
    {
      "target": "optimistic-feedback",
      "kind": "conflicts_when",
      "condition": "The reply is treated as sent when the notification collapses although it may still fail",
      "reason": "Optimistic feedback requires a clear signal when it fails, and since the notification is gone that signal has to appear somewhere else.",
      "basis": "editorial"
    },
    {
      "target": "conversational-interface",
      "kind": "related",
      "condition": "A reply needs context or several turns",
      "reason": "A conversational interface supplies history and context, which quick reply deliberately omits; anything beyond one sentence belongs back in the former.",
      "basis": "editorial"
    },
    {
      "target": "error-prevention",
      "kind": "composes_with",
      "condition": "Several conversations share the notification area, or the reply cannot be taken back",
      "reason": "The field must make plain who is being replied to; without that, the speed is exactly what produces a misdirected reply.",
      "basis": "editorial"
    }
  ],
  "rules": [
    {
      "when": "A reply field is offered inside a notification",
      "instruction": "State plainly next to the field who and which conversation is being replied to, rather than showing only a caret.",
      "strength": "must",
      "basis": "editorial"
    },
    {
      "when": "A reply fails to send",
      "instruction": "Tell the user somewhere else, given that the notification has collapsed, and keep what they typed so it can be retried.",
      "strength": "must",
      "basis": "editorial"
    }
  ],
  "behavior": {
    "states": [
      "collapsed",
      "composing",
      "sending",
      "sent",
      "failed"
    ],
    "a11y": [
      "The field has an accessible name saying which conversation is being replied to",
      "The send result is announced through a status message rather than only by the notification collapsing"
    ],
    "motion": "Expanding and collapsing may be instant, with no transition under a reduced-motion preference"
  },
  "demo": null,
  "version": "0.1.0",
  "editorialStatus": "drafted",
  "requirements": [],
  "demoCapabilities": [],
  "implementationNote": "This entry has no runnable specimen; the conversation content in the illustration is fictional. Before shipping, confirm the field names the recipient and prepare another way to report a failed send once the notification has collapsed.",
  "image": {
    "src": "/images/quick-reply.webp",
    "alt": "A sketch: a fictional message notification expanded at the top of a screen, holding a text field with a caret and a send button, with a small line above the field naming the conversation being replied to; beneath it the original interface is dimmed, showing that the user has not left the current task."
  },
  "searchTerms": [
    "通知",
    "回复",
    "就地操作",
    "输入框",
    "不切换应用"
  ]
}