diff --git a/src/notificationdb.js b/src/notificationdb.js
index 94d01e56f..5904f53f8 100644
--- a/src/notificationdb.js
+++ b/src/notificationdb.js
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 exports = module.exports = {
     get: get,
     add: add,
+    upsert: upsert,
     update: update,
     del: del,
     listByUserIdPaged: listByUserIdPaged
@@ -37,6 +38,30 @@ function add(notification, callback) {
     });
 }
 
+// will clear the ack flag
+// matches by userId and title
+function upsert(notification, callback) {
+    assert.strictEqual(typeof notification, 'object');
+    assert.strictEqual(typeof callback, 'function');
+
+    database.query('SELECT * from notifications WHERE userId = ? AND title = ?', [ notification.userId, notification.title ], function (error, result) {
+        if (error) return callback(new DatabaseError(DatabaseError.INTERNAL_ERROR, error));
+        if (result.length === 0) return add(notification, callback);
+
+        postProcess(result[0]);
+
+        var data = {
+            acknowledged: false,
+            eventId: notification.eventId,
+            message: notification.message,
+            action: notification.action,
+            creationTime: new Date()
+        };
+
+        update(result[0].id, data, callback);
+    });
+}
+
 function update(id, data, callback) {
     assert.strictEqual(typeof id, 'string');
     assert.strictEqual(typeof data, 'object');
@@ -54,7 +79,7 @@ function update(id, data, callback) {
         if (error) return callback(new DatabaseError(DatabaseError.INTERNAL_ERROR, error));
         if (result.affectedRows !== 1) return callback(new DatabaseError(DatabaseError.NOT_FOUND));
 
-        return callback(null);
+        return callback(null, id);
     });
 }
 
diff --git a/src/test/database-test.js b/src/test/database-test.js
index 9455c6715..0ac060118 100644
--- a/src/test/database-test.js
+++ b/src/test/database-test.js
@@ -256,10 +256,10 @@ describe('database', function () {
         });
 
         it('update succeeds', function (done) {
-            notificationdb.update(NOTIFICATION_1.id, { acknowledged: true }, function (error) {
+            notificationdb.update(NOTIFICATION_1.id, { acknowledged: true }, function (error, result) {
                 expect(error).to.equal(null);
 
-                notificationdb.get(NOTIFICATION_1.id, function (error, result) {
+                notificationdb.get(result, function (error, result) {
                     expect(error).to.equal(null);
                     expect(result.id).to.equal(NOTIFICATION_1.id);
                     expect(result.title).to.equal(NOTIFICATION_1.title);
@@ -296,12 +296,49 @@ describe('database', function () {
         });
 
         it('can add notification without eventId', function (done) {
-            notificationdb.add(NOTIFICATION_3, function (error) {
+            notificationdb.add(NOTIFICATION_3, function (error, result) {
                 expect(error).to.equal(null);
+                expect(result).to.be.a('string');
+
+                // stash for further use
+                NOTIFICATION_3.id = result;
 
                 done();
             });
         });
+
+        it('can upsert acked notification without eventId', function (done) {
+            notificationdb.update(NOTIFICATION_3.id, { acknowledged: true }, function (error, result) {
+                expect(error).to.equal(null);
+                expect(result).to.be.a('string');
+
+                // check message also gets updated
+                NOTIFICATION_3.message = 'new message';
+
+                notificationdb.get(NOTIFICATION_3.id, function (error, result) {
+                    expect(error).to.equal(null);
+
+                    var oldCreationTime = result.creationTime;
+
+                    // wait to verify the creationTime update
+                    setTimeout(function () {
+                        notificationdb.upsert(NOTIFICATION_3, function (error, result) {
+                            expect(error).to.equal(null);
+                            expect(result).to.equal(NOTIFICATION_3.id);
+
+                            notificationdb.get(NOTIFICATION_3.id, function (error, result) {
+                                expect(error).to.equal(null);
+                                expect(result.acknowledged).to.equal(false);
+                                expect(result.message).to.equal(NOTIFICATION_3.message);
+                                expect(result.creationTime).to.be.greaterThan(oldCreationTime);
+
+                                done();
+                            });
+                        });
+                    }, 1000);
+                });
+            });
+        });
     });
 
     describe('domains', function () {