iOS 15 — Control Your Notifications

With the launch of iOS 15, notifications received a brand-new look. Larger icons and contact photos make the notifications more visually appealing and new features make them more functional.

Customizing your notification settings allows you to be the boss of when and how you are notified and how you respond to notifications.

Let’s start by opening your notification center.

From the Lock Screen, swipe up from the middle of the screen. If your iPhone is unlocked, then you can swipe down from the top center. To close the Notification Center, swipe up from the bottom of the screen. This action will also unlock your iPhone if you were on the lock screen.

Notifications are grouped by app and if you have multiple notifications from one source they will be layered. That means that instead of seeing five different notifications, one above the next, you will only see the most recent notification and the others will be “hidden” below it. 

Just tap the top notification to see all the notifications for that app and to open the app, just tap a single notification. Or if you can tap “Show Less” and they will stack up again.

Starting with the iPhone 12 models, Apple introduced “Smart Reply.” That means that for some notifications, like text alerts, you can respond directly from the notification menu without having to open an app. Just touch and hold the notification to respond.

A feature that I am quite excited about it the “Scheduled Summary.” This allows you to receive notifications when you want them instead of when the apps determine it is time. If it is your first time setting this up, then there will be a walk through for you. Here’s how you set it up from the “Settings” menu and if you want to make changes to the Summary going forward.

Step 1. From the “Settings” app go the “Notifications” menu. 

Step 2. Then open “Scheduled Summary.”

Step 3. Toggle “Scheduled Summary” to On.

Step 4. Choose a time to receive your summary. If you want to receive another summary, tap “Add Summary.” If you want to delete a summary, tap the red button to the left of the scheduled summary.

Step 5. Toggle “Show Next Summary” on or off if you want to see the next scheduled summary in the notification center before it is scheduled to pop up.

Step 6. Select the apps that you want to be part of the summary. You can do that under the “Daily Notification Avg.” tab or the “A to Z” tab.

When you do get a notification there are several different ways you can handle them. Ignoring them is not included on this list! 

When you receive a notification while using another app just pull the notification down to view it, then swipe up when you’re done.

Also available when you swipe left is an “Options” button. Depending on the app different options will be available but there should be standard options available: Mute for 1 Hour, Mute for Today, View Settings, or Turn Off. If you have your Summary Schedule turned on, then that option will be available to you as well.

If you mute the notifications, they are sent directly to Notification Center and will not appear on the Lock Screen. They also will not play a sound, light up the screen, or present a banner. I guess there is an Ignore option after all!

To see and hear these notifications again, swipe left on the notification in Notification Center, tap Options again, then tap Unmute.

If you tap “View Settings” from the “Options” menu it will take you directly to that apps notification settings and you can make further adjustments from there.

There are a few different ways to clear the notifications from your screen too. You can clear a single notification or a group of by swiping left until they disappear or by swiping left until the “Clear” option appears. Once you see that you can tap the button to clear the single notification. 

If you want to remove all notifications for an app then go to the Notification Center, tap the X icon and then tap “Clear” and they will disappear. 

If you want to clear all notifications for all apps the process is the same. Just tap the X icon beside “Notification Center” and then select “Clear” when the option appears.

You can silence all notifications by turning on “Do Not Disturb” in the control center. While in DND mode your iPhone will group all notifications under one banner no matter what app they came from. 

Check out our article iOS15 Helps You Focus Using Your iPhone for more information on using your iPhone to help you focus.

Now you are in control of your notifications! You can change and update these settings at any time to customize your iPhone into the perfect assistant. 

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