Unreliable notifications

Following a recent iOS upgrade, notifications on my and my wife’s iPhones have changed. When a message arrives, we normally get a tone and vibration, but once we’ve replied, subsequent incoming messages don’t result in either. We don’t appear to have changed any settings, so how can we correct this?

So many people have experienced this after recent updates that it’s hard to know whether it’s intentional or a common bug. There certainly doesn’t seem to be an option to control it, unless it occurs only when Do Not Disturb is switched on. In that case, go to Settings > Do Not Disturb and check that Repeated Calls is switched on, so that a second call or message from the same person within three minutes still should result in an audible notification.

This problem gets worse when you have multiple devices, such as Macs and iPads, all using the same Apple ID. In theory, all should tell you about incoming messages, but you may be notified only on an inappropriate device you aren’t using, such as your home Mac when you’re at work.

Some people have found that a “soft” reset of their iPhone restores normal behavior. To do that, hold down the Sleep/Wake and Home buttons at the same time (on iPhone 7, use the volume down button in Home’s place), for at least 10 seconds, until you see the Apple logo appear.

Apple Watch seems to be the most reliable Apple device for notifications right now, but it’s a high price to pay just to work around this.