New in Notifications

Cut down on unwanted noise more easily than ever

Many of the distractions you encounter each day come from notifications — that is, unless you take time to meticulously configure them in Settings > Notifications. Let’s face it: it’s likely you’ll be annoyed but quickly move on, only making changes if the interruptions are frequent.

Even if your notification settings are just right, Notification Center and the Lock screen can become overcrowded. iOS 12 addresses these weaknesses to help you keep this invaluable but often irritating feature under control.

Grouped Notifications

We’ve all had it: a Lock screen that’s filled with so many notifications that it’s hard to know where to begin. Things are a little neater and easier to deal with now, as iOS 12 groups notifications, stacking them up by app in a smaller space so you can quickly see which installed apps need attention.

Notification Grouping is a per–app setting and it’s turned on by default. You only have to tap on a group to spread it out and read all its items, but if there are any apps for which you don’t want this, find them in Settings > Notifications and adjust the setting.

Instant Tuning

Got an app that’s throwing up a steady stream of notifications? Previously it was all too easy to just ignore and hope the app would quieten down, as otherwise you’d have to switch to the Settings app and dig down to find and amend the app’s behavior.

Now, though, you can deal with it right there and then, on the Lock screen, in Notification Center, or the banner at the top of the screen. Hold a finger on the banner or swipe left in either of the other two places and choose Manage.

Deliver quietly

You’ll see the new Instant Tuning interface, which offers two options that ought to help to reduce your annoyance. If you tap Deliver Quietly, notifications from the corresponding app will no longer appear on the Lock screen, or as banners at the top of the screen, no numbered badge will be displayed on the app’s icon, and no sounds will play. Alerts are still displayed in Notification Center, though.

Turn off entirely

The Turn Off option is helpful at those times when you install a new app and, during its first run, accidentally allow it to display notifications. Choose this to turn off all notifications from the app.

If neither the Deliver Quietly nor Turn Off features offers the exact behavior you want in an app — perhaps you don’t want to hide number badges on an app’s icon, for example — tap Settings to go to the app’s page there and fine–tune its alerts in a little more depth. It may take time, but doing so will see notifications adhere to your preferences.