Android has always handled notifications better than the iPhone. You get organized alerts, quick updates, and a system that mostly works on its own. However, as you install more and more apps on your phone, it can quickly become a notification junkyard.
It gets to a point where you just start ignoring the notifications you receive on your phone without even thinking about whether they might contain something important. And this usually happens because most of us never touch any notification settings after setting up the phone.
Quickly manage notifications from the notification shade
The easiest way to manage notifications on an Android smartphone is directly through the notification shade, since most of the important and useful controls are available right there. Here's how you can do it:
1. Open the Notification shade
To manage notifications, you first need to check what's filling up your notification shade.
For that, open the notification tray on your phone by swiping down on the home screen. On some Android phones, you may need to swipe down from the top left of the screen to open the notification tray.
2. Tap and hold the notification you want to manage
Now find the notification from the app you don't want to receive or actively see in the notification shade.
Tap and hold that notification.
You'll now see options to directly turn off notifications for that particular app. On a Google Pixel or OnePlus smartphone, simply tap the Turn off button to disable notifications from that app. On a Samsung Galaxy smartphone, tap the crossed bell icon to disable notifications from that app.
In addition to disabling them, you can also switch these notifications to Silent so they still enter the notification tray and you don't miss them, but they won't make a sound or vibration.
Disable notifications from apps you don't need
If you want to disable notifications for multiple apps at once, you can do it through the Notification settings in the Settings app. Here's how:
1. Open the Settings app
To manage notifications for multiple apps, you need to use the Settings app.
Open the app drawer on your phone, or scroll to the relevant home screen, and tap the Settings app.
2. Go to App notifications
Now you need to enter the section where you can see and manage notifications for all apps on your phone.
Open Notifications and then select App notifications.
On OnePlus smartphones, you'll need to go to Notifications and Quick Settings and then scroll down to see the apps that are sending notifications.
3. Toggle off notifications for the apps you don't need
Go through the list of apps that are actively sending you notifications and disable the toggle for the ones you don't need alerts from.
Use notification categories for better control
It often happens that you only need a particular set of notifications from a specific Android app. For example, from a food delivery app I regularly use, I only want updates about the order I've placed, not offers or promotions.
Android offers granular control over which types of notifications you receive, and you can manage that easily. Here's how:
1. Open the Settings app
To manage the type of notifications an app can send, you need to use the Settings app.
Open the app drawer on your phone and head to the Settings app.
2. Enable notification categories for apps
Now you need to allow Android to separate and treat each notification as different so it can categorize them properly. This feature is enabled on OnePlus and Google Pixel smartphones by default, but you have to turn it on manually on Samsung phones.
To enable it, go to Notifications and then tap Advanced settings. Now turn on the toggle for Manage notification categories for each app.
3. Open app notifications and manage categories
You can now manage notification categories for different apps. Go back to Notification settings and select App notifications.
Now individually select each app you want to manage. Under the Notification categories section, tap Other and enable or disable the categories you want or do not want. To see all categories for that app, tap Show unused categories.
For example, in the Netflix app, I've enabled notifications for Downloads, Cast, and Playback, while categories like Help and News remain disabled.
Manage lock screen notifications the right way
More often than not, you don't want sensitive information displayed on the lock screen. Notifications from apps like Messages and WhatsApp can contain private conversations or even one-time passcodes that you don’t want visible to everyone.
Thankfully, Android offers an easy way to control what appears on the lock screen.
1. Open the Settings app
To manage notifications that show up on the lock screen, first open the Settings app on your Android phone.
2. Open lock screen notification settings
Next, head to the section where you can manage lock screen notifications. Go to Notifications in the Settings app and then look for Notifications on lock screen.
On OnePlus smartphones, you'll find this under Notifications & Quick Settings and then in the By location section.
3. Manage what you want to show on the lock screen
Here you can control how and if notifications appear on the lock screen. You can directly toggle Show on lock screen on or off to enable or disable notifications entirely.
If you do want notifications on your lock screen, you can then choose how they appear. You can select Compact view so they take up less space, and you can also individually enable or disable which apps are allowed to show notifications on the lock screen.
Set priority for important conversations
One of the reasons we need to manually manage notifications on Android is that we often miss important alerts that should (ideally) show up at the top.
It is easy to miss messages from close contacts, but Android offers a way to make sure that even if you receive hundreds of notifications in a day, the ones from your most important conversations always appear at the top of the notification shade.
1. Open the Settings app
First, open the Settings app on your phone.
2. Look for Conversation notifications
In Settings, go to Notifications and then look for the Conversations section. Now tap Conversations again.
3. Set priority for your most important conversations
In the Conversations settings, you will see your recent conversations listed. Tap any conversation and set it as Priority. This ensures that notifications from that conversation, whether in Google Messages or WhatsApp, always appear at the top of the notification shade.
If a conversation is not important, you can also set it to Silent so it still shows up in the notification tray, but does not make a sound or vibration.
Use Do Not Disturb or Focus mode wisely
Another overlooked way of managing notifications, especially when they become overwhelming, is by using Do Not Disturb or Focus Mode. These tools help you stay focused on your tasks while still allowing important notifications to get through so you can review the rest later.
1. Open the Settings app
To set Focus Mode on your phone, open the Settings app.
2. Select Modes
On Google Pixel devices, head to the Modes section in Settings.
On OnePlus smartphones, Android's Focus Modes are not available, so you will have to rely on Do Not Disturb instead. You can find Do Not Disturb under Sounds & Vibrations and then Do Not Disturb.
On Samsung Galaxy phones, you will find it under Modes and Routines.
3. Create or use a Mode
In the Modes section, you can either use a preset Mode created by Google or create your own Focus Mode by tapping Create your own mode and selecting Custom.
After selecting an icon for your Focus Mode, you can set options like schedules, allowed contacts, and allowed apps. This is especially useful for work-related focus modes where you may only want notifications from apps like Gmail or Slack and specific people.
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