the notifications are currently getting redone… there are a lot of issues with them hopefully most of which will be fixed… you can share your ideas at https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/notifications-on-inaturalist-please-share-your-ideas/374 .
Using the website from the phone definitely doesn’t work well. If you don’t have access to a laptop it’s true you may be better off using the app, just keep a close eye on comments people make in case someone has a question for ID help.