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Prove the whole chain works before you rely on it

From one phone, to your whole setup, to a real page answered by a real person.

This is for admins going live, and worth repeating after any big change to a rotation. It takes three passes, smallest first. When you're done, you'll have a recorded drill showing who answered and how long it took.

What you'll need

Everyone on a rotation with the Standby app installed and their phone enrolled.
At least one live rule, and a rotation it pages.
Admin access to the console.

1. Each person tests their own phone

In the app, go to Settings → Devices.
Under This phone, check it says Enrolled, and that Notifications says On.
Tap Send me a test notification. It goes to your own enrolled phones only, and says it's a test.

Didn't arrive, or arrived silently? Let Urgent incidents override Do Not Disturb and set Standby's battery use to Unrestricted. See Notifications and Troubleshooting.

2. Clear the readiness checks

In the console, go to Audit → Readiness. It says Ready, At risk or Not ready.
Open each check marked Fail or Warning. Each says what's wrong and how to fix it, such as someone with no app notifications or no mobile number.
If a finding is how you want things, choose Accept this. It stops counting, and comes back if it changes.

Readiness checks your setup. It can't tell you a phone actually rang, and nothing on it pages anyone. That's what the drill is for. Every check is listed in Readiness and practice drills.

3. Run a practice drill

A drill opens a real incident, marked as practice, and pages exactly who a real one would, the way the rule is set to: notifications, then phone calls if the rule places them, then the next person if nobody answers.

Go to Audit → Practice drill.
Under Drill the rule, choose the rule. If it watches every queue, choose the queue too.
Choose when: at least 2 minutes ahead, and at most 30 days. Pick a time the on-call person is expecting it, and tell them.
Check the preview. It lists each step, such as "At once: notify Sam" and "After 8 min: call Sam". If it would page nobody, you can't book it until that's fixed.
Choose Book drill. You can Cancel drill until it starts.

The notification says it's a practice drill and that nothing is wrong. Whoever is reached acknowledges it as they would a real incident: in the app, or by pressing 1 on the call.

Reading the result

Under Earlier drills you'll see who answered and how long it took, or that nobody acknowledged it within an hour, or that it paged nobody. The last two are what drills exist to find.

Try it safely first

A drill uses real notifications and real calls, so book it in working hours and warn the people on the rotation.
A drill follows the drilled rule's setting under When this fires. A Push only — no call, ever rule rings no phones; a Push, then call, even during quiet hours rule rings through quiet hours, so time it with care.

Variations

Prove the phone call, not just the app. Ask the on-call person to leave the notifications and answer the call at eight minutes, pressing 1. Their number then counts as proven under On-call → People.
Prove Standby's own alerts reach someone. Leave the rule as Workspace-wide (Standby’s own incidents) to test where incidents such as "figures stopped arriving" go. These drills page like Push, then call.
Make it a habit. Readiness flags it if no drill has run in the last 30 days.