What are app notifications?
What's coming up?
Notifications are one way your smartphone or tablet communicates with you.
In this activity, you will learn ways to control when and how you receive notifications from your mobile devices. Our examples demonstrate how to do this on a smartphone, but the steps will be similar on a tablet.
Start activityWhat is a notification?
Your mobile device will display notifications when an app has something to tell you.
A notification may signal the arrival of an email or other message, remind you about a calendar event, let you know you've nearly used all your data allowance or alert you to a low battery.
Often, your device will also make a sound to let you know you’ve received a notification.
Where to find notifications
You can view notifications on an iPhone or Android phone by swiping down from the top of the screen.
Android phones may also show notifications at the top of the screen, with icons indicating the type of notifications awaiting attention.
eSafety tip
Some app notifications are important but others aren’t.
Important notifications include system alerts that might warn you about an app draining your battery, or that you’re approaching your mobile data limit.
Less important ones might be from games, indicating a new daily challenge is available.
What to do with notifications
When you see a notification, you can start up the app to see the email, SMS, WhatsApp message, news story or whatever it is the app wants to tell you about.
You can also tap on the notification to go directly to the item within the app.
Deleting notifications
You can declutter the notifications screen on your device by deleting notifications.
On an iPhone, swipe the notification to the left and tap Clear.
On an Android phone, swipe the notification left or right to clear it.
Stop notifications on Apple devices
You can control the notifications you receive from apps - and the sounds they make – from the Settings menu on your device. The video on the next slide will show you how this is done on an Apple iPhone.
On the next slide, click the play button on the video to watch it. You can also click anywhere on the video to pause or restart it.
How to stop notifications on an iPhone or iPad
This demonstration video is approximately 2 minutes and 39 seconds in duration. It demonstrates how to manage notifications on an iPhone. There is text and animation on stage throughout the video.
Once the video starts, the intro panel fades and we see the screen is split into two parts. On the left-hand side is an animation of an iPhone. On the right-hand side, there is text displayed, which is the script for the voiceover track.
Voiceover: "You can tailor how often you'd like to be notified by apps. To control notifications on an iPhone, we use the Settings app."
The left-hand panel zooms in to the iPhone's Home screen and highlights the Settings app with a green circle.
Voiceover: "From the Home Screen, tap on the Settings icon to open it."
The left-hand panel shows the Settings app icon being tapped, and the Settings options appear on the screen.
Voiceover: "Scroll down to Notifications, then tap on it."
The left-hand panel shows the Notifications option highlighted with a green circle. We see it being tapped to open the Notifications options page.
Voiceover: "From the options that appear, tap on Show Previews."
The left-hand panel highlights the Show Previews option, which is at the very top of the list. We watch it being tapped, and three options appear in a new panel. The options are 'Always', 'When Unlocked' and 'Never'. Currently 'Never' is ticked to indicate it's selected.
Voiceover: "Here you can control when and how much information will be shown in the notifications preview. Choose Never to hide all previews of items, like emails."
The left-hand panel shows the Never option highlighted. We then see the option When Unlocked being highlighted.
Voiceover: "Choose When Unlocked to only see previews when you're using your device."
The left-hand panel shows the Always option being highlighted.
Voiceover: "And choose Always to see all notification previews, even when your device is locked."
The left-hand panel shows the Always option being tapped to select it. A small tick appears on the Always option to indicate it has been selected.
Voiceover: "Tap the Back arrow to return to the previous screen."
The left-hand panel shows the Back arrow being tapped and we return to the previous page.
Voiceover: "Underneath Notification Style is a long list of apps. Let's tap one of the apps to see the next steps."
The left-hand panel shows the App Store app being highlighted and tapped to open its notifications settings page.
Voiceover: "Tap the switch to turn notifications on for that app."
The left-hand panel shows the switch alongside the Allow notifications option is currently grey, indicating it is off. We see it tapped to switch it on, and it turns green. A new list of options also appears.
Voiceover: "A menu with many notification control options will appear, so you can control how and where the notifications are shown on your device. Some apps also have an option called Badge. This lets you see if an app has any new messages or updates waiting for you."
The left-hand panel shows the Home screen being displayed and we zoom in and highlight the App Store icon showing a small red circle with the number 3 inside.
Voiceover: "The unread information appears as a little number in the corner of the app icon on the Home page."
The left-hand panel returns to the Notifications options and highlights the switch next to Badges This switch is currently green, indicating the Badges option is switched on.
Voiceover: "When Badges is switched off, that little number doesn't appear."
We watch as the switch next to Badges is tapped and it turns grey. This means Badges switched off. We then go back to the Home Screen and note that the App Store app icon no longer has the little red circle and number displaying in the corner.
Video ends.
Stop notifications on an Android device
Are all the notifications that apps give important to you? Or do they just clutter up your mobile device?
The video on the next slide will show you how to control notifications on an Android phone.
On the next slide, click the play button on the video to watch it. You can also click anywhere on the video to pause or restart it.
How to stop notifications on an Android smartphone or tablet
This demonstration video is approximately 1 minute and 23 seconds in duration. It demonstrates how to manage notifications on an Android smart device. There is text and animation on stage throughout the video.
Once the video starts, the intro panel fades and we see the screen is split into two parts. On the left-hand side is an animation of a typical Android smartphone, such as a Samsung. On the right-hand side, there is text displayed, which is the script for the voiceover track.
Voiceover: "The steps to control notifications may vary between Android models, but most will be similar to the following example. To start, tap on the 'Settings' app icon to open it."
The left-hand panel zooms in and highlights the Settings app icon. We see the Settings app icon being tapped and the Settings page opens. We scroll down the list of options.
Voiceover: "Scroll down to 'Apps & notifications' and tap on it."
The left-hand panel shows the Apps & notifications option being tapped to open that page.
Voiceover: "Here, you can control notifications for all apps. Tap an icon to see the options."
The left-hand panel zooms in and highlights the Google app. We watch as it is tapped and opens a new page specifically about the permissions for the Google app.
Voiceover: "Next tap 'App notifications'."
The left-hand panel shows the App notifications option being tapped to show a new page with some switches next to options.
Voiceover: "Tap the first switch to turn notifications on or off."
The left-hand panel shows that the Google app currently has notifications switched on. This switch is the master switch for the whole list of options below it.
Voiceover: "This applies to all notifications for that app. If you keep notifications switched on, you can scroll down to see the list of all notifications, and individually switch off any you don't want to see."
The left-hand panel scrolls down the page to show the many different types of notifications the Google app can send, and each option has a switch that can be tapped to turn it off individually.
Video ends.
Well done
You’ve completed the What are notifications? activity. You've learned that you have plenty of control over what notifications you will receive.
Next up, we'll learn how to manage what you spend on apps in the Managing your app costs activity.
