diff --git a/src/utils/proxy/validate-widget-data.js b/src/utils/proxy/validate-widget-data.js
index b38ef4f79..24c8e8287 100644
--- a/src/utils/proxy/validate-widget-data.js
+++ b/src/utils/proxy/validate-widget-data.js
@@ -8,6 +8,13 @@ export default function validateWidgetData(widget, endpoint, data) {
   let dataParsed = data;
   let error;
   let mapping;
+  const mappings = widgets[widget.type]?.mappings;
+  if (mappings) {
+    mapping = Object.values(mappings).find((m) => m.endpoint === endpoint);
+  }
+
+  if (mapping?.allowEmpty && Buffer.isBuffer(data) && data.length === 0) return true;
+
   if (Buffer.isBuffer(data)) {
     try {
       dataParsed = JSON.parse(data);
@@ -23,15 +30,11 @@ export default function validateWidgetData(widget, endpoint, data) {
   }
 
   if (dataParsed && Object.entries(dataParsed).length) {
-    const mappings = widgets[widget.type]?.mappings;
-    if (mappings) {
-      mapping = Object.values(mappings).find((m) => m.endpoint === endpoint);
-      mapping?.validate?.forEach((key) => {
-        if (dataParsed[key] === undefined) {
-          valid = false;
-        }
-      });
-    }
+    mapping?.validate?.forEach((key) => {
+      if (dataParsed[key] === undefined) {
+        valid = false;
+      }
+    });
   }
 
   if (!valid) {
diff --git a/src/utils/proxy/validate-widget-data.test.js b/src/utils/proxy/validate-widget-data.test.js
index 307b5fd5b..c2fb139e1 100644
--- a/src/utils/proxy/validate-widget-data.test.js
+++ b/src/utils/proxy/validate-widget-data.test.js
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { describe, expect, it, vi } from "vitest";
+import { beforeEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from "vitest";
 
 const { loggerError } = vi.hoisted(() => ({
   loggerError: vi.fn(),
@@ -18,6 +18,10 @@ vi.mock("widgets/widgets", () => ({
           endpoint: "foo",
           validate: ["a", "b"],
         },
+        empty: {
+          endpoint: "empty",
+          allowEmpty: true,
+        },
       },
     },
   },
@@ -26,6 +30,10 @@ vi.mock("widgets/widgets", () => ({
 import validateWidgetData from "./validate-widget-data";
 
 describe("utils/proxy/validate-widget-data", () => {
+  beforeEach(() => {
+    vi.clearAllMocks();
+  });
+
   it("returns false when buffer JSON cannot be parsed", () => {
     expect(validateWidgetData({ type: "test" }, "foo", Buffer.from("not json"))).toBe(false);
     expect(loggerError).toHaveBeenCalled();
@@ -41,4 +49,9 @@ describe("utils/proxy/validate-widget-data", () => {
     expect(validateWidgetData({ type: "test" }, "foo", Buffer.from(JSON.stringify({ a: 1 })))).toBe(false);
     expect(loggerError).toHaveBeenCalled();
   });
+
+  it("allows empty buffer responses for mappings that explicitly allow them", () => {
+    expect(validateWidgetData({ type: "test" }, "empty", Buffer.from(""))).toBe(true);
+    expect(loggerError).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+  });
 });
diff --git a/src/widgets/ntfy/widget.js b/src/widgets/ntfy/widget.js
index 577e124a7..a11f379d6 100644
--- a/src/widgets/ntfy/widget.js
+++ b/src/widgets/ntfy/widget.js
@@ -1,5 +1,14 @@
+import { asJson } from "utils/proxy/api-helpers";
 import credentialedProxyHandler from "utils/proxy/handlers/credentialed";
 
+const noMessages = {
+  title: null,
+  message: null,
+  priority: 3,
+  time: null,
+  tags: [],
+};
+
 const widget = {
   api: "{url}/{endpoint}",
   proxyHandler: credentialedProxyHandler,
@@ -7,6 +16,14 @@ const widget = {
   mappings: {
     messages: {
       endpoint: "{topic}/json?poll=1&since=latest",
+      allowEmpty: true,
+      map: (data) => {
+        if (Buffer.isBuffer(data) && data.length === 0) {
+          return noMessages;
+        }
+
+        return asJson(data);
+      },
     },
   },
 };
diff --git a/src/widgets/ntfy/widget.test.js b/src/widgets/ntfy/widget.test.js
index 4827c60b2..4025ce741 100644
--- a/src/widgets/ntfy/widget.test.js
+++ b/src/widgets/ntfy/widget.test.js
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { describe, it } from "vitest";
+import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
 
 import { expectWidgetConfigShape } from "test-utils/widget-config";
 
@@ -8,4 +8,18 @@ describe("ntfy widget config", () => {
   it("exports a valid widget config", () => {
     expectWidgetConfigShape(widget);
   });
+
+  it("maps an empty latest message response to the no messages state", () => {
+    expect(widget.mappings.messages.map(Buffer.from(""))).toEqual({
+      title: null,
+      message: null,
+      priority: 3,
+      time: null,
+      tags: [],
+    });
+  });
+
+  it("parses latest message responses", () => {
+    expect(widget.mappings.messages.map(Buffer.from('{"message":"hello"}'))).toEqual({ message: "hello" });
+  });
 });