diff --git a/changelog.d/11912.misc b/changelog.d/11912.misc
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..805588c2e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog.d/11912.misc
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Various refactors to the application service notifier code.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/synapse/storage/databases/main/devices.py b/synapse/storage/databases/main/devices.py
index b2a5cd9a6..8d845fe95 100644
--- a/synapse/storage/databases/main/devices.py
+++ b/synapse/storage/databases/main/devices.py
@@ -1496,13 +1496,23 @@ class DeviceStore(DeviceWorkerStore, DeviceBackgroundUpdateStore):
         )
 
     async def add_device_change_to_streams(
-        self, user_id: str, device_ids: Collection[str], hosts: List[str]
-    ) -> int:
+        self, user_id: str, device_ids: Collection[str], hosts: Collection[str]
+    ) -> Optional[int]:
         """Persist that a user's devices have been updated, and which hosts
         (if any) should be poked.
+
+        Args:
+            user_id: The ID of the user whose device changed.
+            device_ids: The IDs of any changed devices. If empty, this function will
+                return None.
+            hosts: The remote destinations that should be notified of the change.
+
+        Returns:
+            The maximum stream ID of device list updates that were added to the database, or
+            None if no updates were added.
         """
         if not device_ids:
-            return
+            return None
 
         async with self._device_list_id_gen.get_next_mult(
             len(device_ids)
@@ -1573,11 +1583,11 @@ class DeviceStore(DeviceWorkerStore, DeviceBackgroundUpdateStore):
         self,
         txn: LoggingTransaction,
         user_id: str,
-        device_ids: Collection[str],
-        hosts: List[str],
+        device_ids: Iterable[str],
+        hosts: Collection[str],
         stream_ids: List[str],
         context: Dict[str, str],
-    ):
+    ) -> None:
         for host in hosts:
             txn.call_after(
                 self._device_list_federation_stream_cache.entity_has_changed,