As a deeply introverted individual, being always connected to the world is, let’s just say, exhausting. Imagine sitting on a coffee table, catching on some light reading (or the new Netflix series), and suddenly your phone goes bing! You reach out for your iPhone and start checking the notification. Bing! Another one pops up; right on top of the one you were trying to read. Bing! Another one! It’s getting out of hand! Here comes notification anxiety! So many notifications, so little time!
Sound familiar? Well, the good news is you can have your space without turning into a social media hermit! Instead of turning off the notifications, customize the way you get these alerts. Don’t be a slave to your app notifications. Make them work for you instead. Here’s how you can get this notification under control –
The ‘Show Previews’ Setting
Want pop up notifications but not a fan of peek-a-boo? Well, now you can have your cake and eat it too. The ‘Show Previews’ feature lets you choose when the content of notification should make an appearance. Your options are: Always, When Unlocked, or Never.
Time for that obvious but necessary explanation!
The ‘When Unlocked’ option would let you see the notification, but the content will only appear when you…unlock the phone. Duh!
The ‘Never’ option – the ultimate weapon to keep the nosy parkers at bay. When you switch your notification preference to ‘Never’, you will still get the notification, but you won’t be able to see the content, locked or unlocked.
Now, this is for those who got nothing to hide! (We all know there’s no such thing!) The ‘Always’ option lets you see the content of the notification even if the phone’s unlocked. Well, I know I won’t be using this option anytime soon!
Siri Suggestions
Question – Would you let an AI boss order you around? Answered yes? Welcome to the future!
Say hello to the bossy Siri.
‘Siri Suggestions’ lets the AI recommend actions that can be performed according to the app notification. For instance, if you missed a call from your mom, Siri would ‘suggest’ you to call her back.
To turn on the magic, tap ‘Siri Suggestions’, it will let you see the apps that allow you to suggest a shortcut and just toggle the switch on or off based on your preferences.
Notification Style
Old school big-boxed, pop-up alerts or a sleek and classy notification bar, whatever be your style, there’s an option for you. But that’s not all, the ‘Notification Style ‘ allows you to adjust how you receive notifications. All you gotta do is go to the Notifications setting, scroll through the list of apps, tap on the app you want to adjust and pick. You can pick the alert style, banner style, notification sound, badges and much more.
Yes, it’s a time taking process, but at least your phone won’t look like it’s from the ’80s. Well, not unless you want it to.
Nothing epitomizes our love-hate relationship with technology more than push notification. The sheer hatred of those screen covering badges, pop-ups, banners, and the little red dot constantly beeping has never been more visceral. But no more! Apple has finally blessed us with the gift of choice. Four years was a long time to wait for something as basic as the ability to use our own sounds for notifications, but at least the wait is finally over.