Apple has worked notifications into almost every corner of iOS—from the Lock Screen to a dedicated Notification Center that's accessible with a simple swipe. Although this seems great in theory, it can lead to desensitization from notification overload in practice.

Too many notifications can also heavily drain your iPhone's battery through unnecessary screen activation and vibrations. The good news is those iPhone notifications are incredibly customizable. So, let's look at what you can do to make iOS notifications useful again.

Adjust Notifications Within Apps

Before delving into the iOS notification settings, you should have a look at the individual settings inside your apps. The images above show the notification options available in Instagram's settings.

When you download a new app, take your time to scroll through the list of settings. Apps like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter often let you adjust individual types of notifications. This means you can opt-in to notifications about your fiancé's posts but opt out of annoying group notifications from your Mommy and Me classes.

You can control iPhone message notifications in WhatsApp, Slack, and more in a similar way, so you won't get bombarded with endless memes and GIFs from group chats or bugged by work messages after exiting the office.

About the Notification Center

You can access the Notification Center by swiping down from the top of the screen at any time. You can also swipe right to the Today tab to peruse any widgets you have enabled.

Notifications you receive while your phone is locked will always display chronologically, with the most recent at the top of the list.

Your iPhone's Lock Screen and Notification Center give you some control over how things are displayed, which we'll explain below.

Display Notifications as a Number, Stack, or List

Once you update your iPhone to iOS 16 or later, you can choose to have notifications displayed in three different styles on your Lock Screen: Count, Stack, and List. Go to Settings > Notifications, and tap to select the style you want:

  • Count: Displays the number of notifications you have at the bottom of the screen. Tap the number to view your notifications. This style is more low-profile, providing a clean, minimalist look if you don't like having blocks of app notifications obscuring your Lock Screen wallpaper.
  • Stack: As the name suggests, it displays your notifications as a stack at the bottom. This style allows you to take a quick, convenient glance at the Lock Screen for the latest notification without having the other unread ones filling up the screen.
  • List: Each notification is conventionally displayed one after another on your Lock Screen, with the latest taking the top spot. With this style, it's easy to read multiple notifications at once without tapping anything on your screen.
iphone notification display: count, stack, and list

Using, Disabling, and Customizing Grouped Notifications

Besides the three notification styles, another way to organize your notifications is to group them by apps. Therefore, instead of seeing 20 notifications from the same WhatsApp thread, iOS only shows you one grouped notification stack. Tap and hold or swipe left on a notification to take action on an individual notification or the whole stack.

Notifications are grouped automatically based on the location, app, or threads. By default, you don't have control over how a particular app groups notifications together. However, you can change the settings on a per-app basis.

To do this, go to Settings > Notifications > [App Name] > Notification Grouping.

The default is the Automatic option. To force iOS to group all notifications from an app into one neat stack, tap on the By App option. If you want to turn off grouping altogether, select the Off option.

Receive a Scheduled Summary of Notifications

Most alerts (such as those from social media) don't necessarily warrant our immediate attention, yet those are often the biggest source of notifications.

To maintain control over your notifications, you can choose to receive them all at a particular time instead of having your phone buzz every other minute from a like, comment, or casual story reply.

Go to Settings > Notifications > Scheduled Summary. Turn on Scheduled Summary, set the time, and toggle on the apps you want to receive scheduled notifications from.

Customizing Notification Alerts in Settings

You can head to Settings > Notifications to see an app's notification status. Tap an app and toggle Allow Notifications to grant or revoke permission and make further changes to the way the app can notify you.

If you grant notification access to a given app, you can choose from three iPhone notification alert types: Lock Screen, Notification Center, and Banners:

  • Lock Screen and Notification Center: Choosing this option will still allow iOS to display notifications on the Lock Screen and/or the Notification Center, but you won't get an alert of any incoming notifications while using your device.
  • Banners: They appear at the top of the screen the moment you receive a notification. Some apps, such as Messages, allow you to pull down on the banner to perform an action without launching the app and leaving what you're doing.
iphone notification alert types

About Notification Badges

Badges are small red circles that usually indicate the number of missed notifications, and they're not always necessary or helpful. Some weather apps use badges to display the current temperature.

If you find badges to be more of a nuisance than anything else, head to Settings > Notifications > [App Name] and disable the Badges toggle.

iphone notification badges settings

Disable Notifications From the Lock Screen

Finally, you can disable notifications for an annoying app directly from the Lock Screen—there's no need to go to the Settings app. When you get a notification from an app you'd rather not see, swipe left on the notification and tap the Options button.

This brings up a notification management menu. From here, simply tap the Turn Off option. Now the app won't bother you anymore.

Deliver Quietly: Disabling Lock Screen Notifications

In the past, there was a Deliver Quietly option you could use to stop app notifications from showing up on the Lock Screen. The feature disables notification sounds, banners, and badges from that app. But the notification will remain available in the Notification Center.

This is helpful when you want to check on new texts and replies periodically but remain focused when using your iPhone. Thankfully, it's easy to replicate Deliver Quietly by tweaking your notification settings.

Go to Settings > Notifications > [App Name]. Toggle on Allow Notifications, but deselect Lock Screen, Banners, Sounds, and Badges; only leave Notification Center selected.

When you go back to the list of apps, you'll now see Deliver Quietly as the current status under the app name.

If you still can't stand the sound of the notification alarm, try enabling LED Flash for alerts for a visual notification cue instead, or create custom vibration alerts on your iPhone.

Advanced Focus Mode Options

From Control Center, long-press the Focus toggle and tap the ellipsis icon next to the Focus mode you use. For instance, if you tap on the ellipsis icon next to Do Not Disturb mode, you'll see multiple options for enabling Do Not Disturb: For 1 hour, Until this evening, Until I leave this location, or Until the end of this event.

iphone do not disturb

The last two options are handy if you work in an office environment and keep your meetings synced with the Calendar app. Additionally, you can set up custom Focus modes to allow notifications from specific people and apps to come through but silence all others.

From Information Overload to Notification Silence

It may seem tempting to completely shut off all notifications after a busy day. With an iPhone screen filled with calendar notifications, social media alerts, and recipe reminders, you can quickly become a slave to notifications.

Luckily with developments to iOS, as our lives continue to get increasingly busy, the iPhone is there to help us read—or ignore—those constant alarms.

With so much dependence on the iPhone, it can be a genuine concern when you start missing messages. If you're sick of missing the memo, check out some fixes for missing notifications.