How to Take Control of Phone Notifications, App by App
Notifications are useful when they tell you something you need to know, and exhausting when every app demands attention all day. The fix is not to silence everything, but to decide, app by app, what deserves to interrupt you.
Follow these steps
- See which apps notify you most. On iPhone, go to Settings, then Notifications, and scroll the list: apps are shown with their current settings. On Android, go to Settings, then Notifications, then App notifications. Start with the apps you recognise as noisy, not with a full audit of every app.
- Turn off notifications for apps that do not need your attention. Tap an app in the list and switch its notifications off entirely if its alerts never matter to you in the moment, such as a game or a shopping app. You can still open the app whenever you want; you just will not be interrupted by it.
- Use categories to keep the useful alerts and silence the rest. Many apps split notifications into categories, such as messages versus promotions. On Android, tap an app in the notification settings to see its notification categories and switch off the noisy ones while keeping the important ones. On iPhone, apps that support it offer similar options inside the app's own settings.
- Choose how the alerts you keep are delivered. For apps you keep on, decide whether they may appear on the lock screen, play a sound, or show a badge. A silent banner you see when you pick up the phone is enough for most apps, and reserving sound for messages and calls cuts interruptions sharply.
- Use a summary or digest for the rest. On iPhone, turn on Scheduled Summary in Settings, then Notifications, and add the apps you want bundled: their notifications arrive together at times you choose. On Android, check whether your phone offers notification summaries or use Do Not Disturb schedules to batch quiet hours.
- Review once a month. New apps ask for notification permission when you install them, and old habits creep back. Spend two minutes once a month in the notification settings and switch off anything that has started interrupting you again.
What NOT to do
- Do not turn off all notifications at once. You will miss messages, reminders, and security alerts you actually need.
- Do not allow notifications during setup without thinking. The default is usually everything on, and that is how the noise starts.
- Do not rely on a third-party notification manager. Your phone's built-in settings already control every app.
If your phone feels calmer after this but you still miss something important, that app's category setting is the place to look: turn its important category back on and leave its promotional categories off. Control, not silence, is the goal.