We love having notifications buzzing from our smartphones. They remind us of the necessary things we need to do each day. Because of notifications, many people still have their jobs, are not late for class, or other important events, and make sure they safeguard action plans and execute them in a timely manner.
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On the other hand, notifications can be too demanding as one buzz after another on our smartphones. Even if notifications were a part of our world at one time, the situation may have changed, and we desire a quiet time. The painful thing is that most times when situations change from being noisy to quiet, we are still using the same device that notified us of the same events and chores. Desirable gets to be undesirable. We may decide or desire to silence most or all of the notifications.
If you’re one of those who have switched on many notifications from Android apps in the past but now desires to switch them off, here is the exact guide to help you do that.
Turn Notifications Off or Fine-Tune Them
In this guide, you will learn how to turn any notifications you want off on Android. In another manner, you may choose to select those notifications that you want and let the ones you want to continue working.
If you’re not able to find the instructions here on your smartphone, it means that probably, your Android device is a different version. However, this guide works for most modern Android versions.
Take note that depending on the type of notifications you need, you may change notification settings for some apps, or you could just change settings globally on your Android device.
Where Can I See Active Notifications on My Device?
If you have an Android smartphone, take note that notifications appear once you swipe down from the top of your screen. However, some notifications may also show when your device screen is locked and others may show on the home screen. It depends on the type of Android mobile device you have.
Options for Turning Notifications Off In Android
You need to understand that options can vary from phone to phone. Here is the option to make use of your device settings to turn notifications off for certain apps.
Option 1: Do this in your Settings App
- Open your phone general Settings app
- Tap apps and Notifications > Notifications
- Under “Recently sent”, find the apps that sent you notifications a while ago. If you’re not pleased with the list you see, tap on “See All”
- Tap on Advanced
- You have two choices here: turn off all notifications for the listed apps. However, you may decide to keep some notifications. In that case, select the app’s name.
In some cases, you may not see “Recently Sent” and that means you’re using an older Android version. What you can do in that case is tap App notifications and tap an app. In this way, you can turn notifications, notifications dots, and notification categories on or off. You can also look to see if an app has categories. Tap on the category for more options.
Option 2: You can do this on a Notification
- Swipe down from the top of your Android device to reveal some notifications
- Touch and hold the notification. Depending on the Android version you’re having, you will see “Stop notifications” or “Keep showing” as you place your finger on a recent notification. Tap “Stop notifications” to stop it from showing in the future
- For other smartphones, you will see the settings icon show. You can do any of the following three things. (1) Turn off all notifications. (2) Turn off or on the notifications you want. (3) To allow notification dots, tap Advanced, then turn them on
Option 3: This can be done on the App itself
Each app has its own settings, allowing you to control app notifications directly inside it. One beautiful feature here is that you can change the type of sound that comes to notify you. To make this change, you have to open the app itself and search for the settings menu.
Don’t Show Any Notifications
In this case, you could be on holiday in the Himalayas or in Belize, and you don’t want any notification to show at all on the Android device. Take the following steps to can and shut down all notifications from your smartphone.
- Open your phone Settings app
- Tap Apps & notifications > Notifications
- Under “Lock Screen” tap Notification on the lock screen
- Choose Don’t show notifications
How to Control Which Notifications Show On Device Screen
For this part too, settings can vary from Android versions. Here is what to do.
- Open your phone Settings app
- Tap App & notifications > Notifications
- Under “Lock screen” turn off Sensitive notifications
What this does is if you turn off this option, you can still restrict certain apps from showing notifications on your lock screen.
How to Customize Do Not Disturb on Android
Android gives the opportunity to use Do Not Disturb preferences through the Settings menu on your device, you may set it up to turn on automatically based calendar events or clock times.
- Go to Settings > Sound > Do Not Disturb
- Click on Notifications
- You have a choice to show Notifications Silently or hide Notifications
- Tap Custom and switch off all notifications
Take note also that the Do Not Disturb menu can be used to silent sounds and vibrations on your smartphone. That means you can silence all the sounds or vibrations that come from your phone at once. You can also choose to silence call vibrations or rings at once. Messages, events, and reminders can also be silenced all at once using the Do Not Disturb menu.
How Do I Clear Notifications?
Okay, so you have annoying notifications etched on your lock screen or you see them when you swipe down from the top of the screen. Notice that if you have in the past enabled notifications for media playback, file downloads, you may see bank alerts, SMS activities listed on your notification pane from time to time. Would you like to push them out of the way? It is possible to do that. Follow the next instruction to do that.
- To clear only one notification, swipe it right or left on your screen. It should disappear
- To clear all notifications, scroll to the bottom of the notifications, and you will see the icon to your right. Tap it to clear all notifications
Some notifications will not clear because the object is still in use. Let’s say you’re playing music on your phone. You will not be able to clear the notification until the music playback is done or until you stop the music.
Conclusion
Of course, there is a lot you can do with notifications on your Android mobile device. Is it too much for you now? Would you love to turn off all notifications? Or would you love to have some notifications turned off? Now, you know what to do.
