How to Control Annoying Notifications on Your iPhone
MUO
How to Control Annoying Notifications on Your iPhone
Learn how to filter, stack, disable, and silence any notification on your iPhone or iPad. Apple has worked notifications into almost every corner of iOS—from the Lock Screen to a dedicated Notification Center that's accessible with a simple swipe. Although this seems great in theory, in practice it can lead to desensitization from notification overload. Too many notifications can also heavily drain your battery through unnecessary screen activation and vibrations. The good news is those iPhone notifications are incredibly customizable. Let's look at what you can do to make iOS notifications useful again. Adjust Notifications Within Apps
3 Images Before delving into the iOS notification settings, you should have a look at the individual settings inside your apps. The images above show the notification options available in Instagram's settings. When you download a new app, have a scroll through the list of settings. Apps like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, often let you adjust individual types of notifications. This means you can opt in to notifications about your fiancé's posts but opt out of annoying group notifications from your Mommy and Me classes. About the Notification Center
You can access the Notification Center by swiping down from the top of the screen at any time. You can also swipe right to the Today tab to peruse any widgets you have enabled. 3 Images Notifications you receive while your phone is locked will always display chronologically with the most recent at the top of the list. Notification Center gives you a little more control over how things are displayed. You can choose Group by App, with the option of sorting things manually if you'd rather see certain items at the top of the list. The appearance and options in the Notification Center can be changed in the Settings app. Using Disabling and Customizing Grouped Notifications
Instead of seeing 20 notifications from the same WhatsApp thread, iOS only shows you one grouped notification stack. Tap and hold or swipe left on a notification to take action on an individual notification or the whole stack. Notifications are grouped automatically, based on the location, app, or threads. By default, you don't have control over how a particular app groups notifications together. However, you can change the settings on a per-app basis. To do this, go to Settings > Notifications > [App Name] > Notification Grouping. 3 Images The default is the Automatic option. To force iOS to group all notifications from an app into one neat stack, tap on the By App option. If you want to turn off grouping altogether, select the Off option. Customizing Notifications in Settings
You can head to Settings > Notifications to see an app's notification status. Tap an app and toggle Allow Notifications to grant or revoke permission and make further changes to the way the app can notify you. If you grant notification access to a given app, you can choose between three different alert types: None: Choosing this option will still allow iOS to display notifications on the Lock Screen and in the Notification Center, but you won't get an alert of any incoming notifications while using your device. Banners: These appear at the top of the screen. Some apps, such as Messages, allow you to pull down on the banner to perform an action without launching the app and leaving what you're doing. Alerts: This option will interrupt what you're doing and require an action from you to dismiss the notification, which is what happens when your alarm or timer alerts you while using your device. About Notification Badges
Badges are small red circles that usually indicate the number of missed notifications, and they're not always necessary or helpful. Some weather apps use badges to display the current temperature. 3 Images If you find badges to be more of a nuisance than anything else, head to Settings > Notifications > [App Name] and disable the Badges toggle. Disable Notifications From the Lock Screen
Finally, you can disable notifications for an annoying app directly from the Lock Screen—there's no need to go to the Settings app. When you get a notification from an app you'd rather not see, swipe left on the notification and tap the Manage button. This brings up a notification management menu. From here, simply tap the Turn Off option. Now the app won't bother you anymore. 2 Images Deliver Quietly Disabling Lock Screen Notifications
Swipe left on a notification from the Lock Screen, and tap the Manage button to find a Deliver Quietly option. When you tap the Deliver Quietly button, iOS stops the app from showing up on the Lock Screen. It also disables notification sounds, banners, and badges from that app. But the notification will remain available in the Notification Center. 3 Images Reversing the effect is quite easy. If the notification is still visible in the Notification Center, go to the Manage option again; the Deliver Quietly option will have been replaced by Deliver Prominently. Tap it to go back to the default behavior. If the notification has disappeared, go to the Notifications section in Settings and find the app. It will show Deliver Quietly as the current status. Go in and enable the Sounds, Badges, or Lock Screen and Banners alerts. 3 Images You're now back to the default behavior. If you still can't stand the sound of the notification alarm, try for a visual notification cue instead. Enhanced Do Not Disturb Mode
From Control Center, long-press the Do Not Disturb toggle. You'll now see a pallet with a variety of options for enabling Do Not Disturb: For 1 hour, Until this evening, Until I leave this location, or Until the end of this event. The last two options are really useful if you work in an office environment and you keep your meetings synced with the Calendar app. From Information Overload to Notification Silence
It may seem tempting to completely shut off all notifications after a busy day. With an iPhone screen filled with calendar, social media, and recipe reminders, you can quickly become a slave to notifications. Luckily with developments to iOS, as our lives continue to get increasingly busy, the iPhone is there to help us read—or ignore—those constant alarms. With so much dependence on the iPhone, it can be a real concern when you start missing messages. If you're sick of missing the memo, check out some iPhone fixes for missing notifications.