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Pop-up messages from apps can be helpful, but constantly being pinged with reminders can quickly become overwhelming. If you spend too much time swiping away pointless alerts, it might be time to review your notification settings.
Whether you're using a smartphone or tablet, you can cut down your screen time with quick adjustments, silence specific apps or try Focus mode to take a complete break from your device.
Below, we explain how to do this and how to silence notifications from a specific app without uninstalling it – handy if you'd prefer it to work quietly in the background.
Jump to: Mute notifications on iPhone | on Android | on Samsung phones
At a glance: Swipe a notification left and choose Options.
The latest notifications you receive on your iPhone or iPad can be viewed directly from the Lock Screen. Simply tap a notification to open the related app. If you have multiple notifications from the same app, such as Messages, they will appear grouped together.
On iOS, you can also choose how you want notifications to appear on the Lock Screen. If you find that your phone is constantly flooded with messages, this could help reduce visual clutter.
To change notification style, head to Settings > Notifications and, under Display As, choose Count, Stack or List. Count shows the total number of notifications at the bottom of the screen, while Stack shows notifications stacked at the bottom of the screen. List displays notifications in a detailed, scrollable format.
Apple's Focus Mode is designed to minimise distractions by temporarily silencing all notifications or allowing only specific notifications. Head to Settings > Focus, then tap a profile. You can choose one of the presets (Do Not Disturb will silence all alerts) or tap the Plus icon to create your own.
At a glance: Long-press a notification, then choose Turn off or Settings to adjust alerts.
If you're using an Android smartphone, you can change notification settings for individual apps instead of muting your entire phone.
If you want to unsilence notifications from an app, just undo your changes from the App notifications screen.
Android's Digital Wellbeing tool can help you limit screen time and manage notifications. Go to Settings > Digital Wellbeing. From the overview screen, you'll see a breakdown of how many notifications you're receiving, sorted by app.
Tap Bedtime mode or Focus to pause distracting apps. You can also turn on Screen time reminders for a gentle nudge if you’ve been scrolling through social media for too long.
Our expert guide to the best smartphones reveals which models impressed in our tests, along with the advice you need to make an informed decision.
At a glance: Long-press a notification and choose Notification settings.
On a Samsung mobile, you can quickly view your notifications by swiping down from the top of your screen. Expanding a notification lets you take extra actions, like replying to a text message.
From the same screen, you can review all temporarily blocked apps. Tap the drop-down menu at the top of the screen and select Notifications turned off to view them.
To try the wellbeing app built into Samsung's One UI, go to Settings > Digital Wellbeing & Parental controls. Here you'll find a range of options available to monitor how much you've been using certain apps, set targets to cut down or impose timers to prevent you using them too often.
When browsing the web through your phone, websites will sometimes ask you for permission to send you notifications – for example, a news website that tells you about a recently-updated article.
If you're using Google Chrome on Android, tap the three dots, then visit Settings > Site settings > Notifications. You'll see a list of websites that have permission to ping your phone, along with blocked sites. A toggle at the top of the screen lets you decide if sites can ask to send you notifications at all.
For users on Safari, open Settings, then tap Notifications > Safari. You can toggle off Allow Notifications or manage permissions for specific websites under Websites.
While you're reviewing your smartphone settings, we also suggest making sure your data is secure – see 10 things every smartphone owner should do to keep their data safe.
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Android and Samsung smartphone images created using MockUPhone.
