Control notifications on Android

Based on the notifications you want, you can change settings for certain apps or for your whole phone. At the top of your screen, notifications show when you swipe down. Some notifications can also show on both your lock screen and home screen.

Important:

• Some of these steps work only on Android 10 and up. Learn how to check your Android version.
• Some of these steps require you to touch the screen.

Manage notifications on your phone

Notification history

Important: Some devices may not have notification history and the settings can vary slightly among devices. To check if your device has notification history, go to “Settings,” then go to “Notifications.”

You can use notification history to find:

• Snoozed notifications
• Recently dismissed notifications
• A history of the day’s notifications

You can also use notification history to manage your notifications. To manage your notifications: Tap and hold on a notification in “recently dismissed” or tap on a notification in “last 24 hours.”

Tip: If you can't individually dismiss a notification on the lock screen, unlock the device then dismiss the notification.

Clear notifications

• To dismiss one notification, swipe it left or right.
• To clear all notifications, scroll to the bottom of your notifications and tap Clear all.
• To clear all silent notifications, next to "Silent," tap Close .

Tip:

• You can clear some notifications only when they're done. For example, you can clear a music player notification after you stop the music.
• If you can’t dismiss a notification on your lock screen or through the "Clear all" option, individually dismiss it.

Snooze notifications

Turn on snoozing

1. Open your device's Settings app.
2. Tap Notifications.
3. Turn on Allow notification snoozing.

Snooze a notification 

To snooze a notification, tap the Down arrow and then tap Snooze . To change the snooze time, tap the Down arrow .

Expand, reply, or archive

To expand a notification:

1. Tap the Down arrow .
2. To act directly from a notification, tap an action, like Reply or Archive.

Learn about notification dots.

Manage alerts & tests

Important: Settings can vary by phone. For more info, contact your device manufacturer.

You can turn alert types on or off, find past alerts, and control sound and vibration.

1. On your phone, open the Settings app.
2. Tap Notifications  Wireless emergency alerts.
3. Choose how often you want to receive alerts and which settings you want to turn on.

You can use this setting to manage certain emergency messages, like disaster warnings, threat notifications, and AMBER alerts.

Turn Notification cooldown on or off

To help you manage a sudden influx of notifications, like when you turn off Airplane mode after a flight, use Notification cooldown.

When turned on:

• Your device minimizes sound interruptions and pop-ups on the screen when you get too many notifications within a short time span.

• Exceptions include calls, alarms, priority conversations, and emergency alerts.

1. Open your device’s Settings app.
2. Tap Notifications.
3. Under “General,” tap Notification cooldown.
4. Turn Use Notification cooldown on or off.

Change notification settings

Reduce number of notifications

Important: Settings can vary by phone. For more info, contact your device manufacturer.

1. Open your device's Settings app.
2. Tap Notifications Notifications on lock screen.
   • Choose your notification defaults:
     • Show conversation, default, and silent
     • Hide silent conversations and notifications
     • Don't show any notifications
   • To update more notification preferences, under "General," turn notifications on or off:
     • Hide silent notifications in status bar
     • Allow notification snoozing
     • Notification dot on app icon
     • Enhanced notifications

Turn notifications on or off for certain apps

Important: Settings can vary by phone. For more info, contact your device manufacturer.

Option 1: In your Settings app

1. Open your device's Settings app.
2. Tap Notifications App notifications.
3. Under "Most recent," find apps that recently sent you notifications.
   • To find more apps, in the dropdown menu, tap All apps.
4. Tap the app.
5. Turn the app's notifications on or off.
   • You can turn off all notifications for a listed app or choose from specific categories.

Tip: If you don't see "Recently sent," you're using an older Android version. Instead, tap App notifications and tap an app. You can turn notifications, notification dots, and notification categories on or off. If an app has categories, you can tap a category for more options.

Option 2: On a notification

1. To find your notifications, from the top of your screen, swipe down.
2. Touch and hold the notification, and then tap Settings .
3. Choose your settings:
   • To turn off all notifications, turn off All notifications.
   • Turn on or off notifications you want to receive.
   • To allow notification dots, turn on Allow notification dot.

Option 3: In the certain app

You can control many app notifications from a settings menu in the app. For example, an app could have a setting to choose the sound that app's notifications make. To make these changes, open the app and search for the settings menu. 

Turn notification dots on or off

Important: Settings can vary by phone. For more info, contact your device manufacturer.

1. Open your device's Settings app.
2. Tap Notifications.
3. Turn Notification dot on app icon on or off.

Choose if notifications interrupt you or stay silent

Important: Settings can vary by phone. For more info, contact your device manufacturer.

On some Android devices, you can choose what kind of notifications an app sends you:

• Alerting: You'll hear a sound, get a message on your lock screen, and find the app's icon in the status bar.
• Silent: Your phone won't make a sound or vibrate. But the notification will show up when you swipe down from the top of your screen.

Option 1: In your Settings app

1. Open your phone's Settings app.
2. Tap Apps & notifications  Notifications.
3. Under “Recently Sent,” tap an app. 
4. Tap a type of notification.
5. Choose your options:
   • Choose Alerting or Silent.
   • To see a banner for alerting notifications when your phone is unlocked, turn on Pop on screen.
   • If you chose “Silent,” you can turn Minimize on or off.

Option 2: On a notification 

1. After you swipe down from the top of your screen, drag the notification slightly right or left. Then tap Settings .
2. Tap Alerting or Silent  Apply.  

Control how notifications show on your phone's lock screen

Option 1: Don't show any notifications

Important: Settings can vary by phone. For more info, contact your device manufacturer.

1. Open your phone's Settings app.
2. Tap Apps & notifications  Notifications.
3. Under "Lock screen," tap Notifications on lock screen or On lock screen.
4. Choose Don't show notifications.

Important: If you pick this option as your default, the setting applies to all apps. To block notifications from certain apps only, learn how to change notifications by app.

Option 2: Show all notifications

Important: Settings can vary by phone. For more info, contact your device manufacturer.

1. Open your phone's Settings app.
2. Tap Apps & notifications  Notifications.
3. Under "Lock screen," tap Notifications on lock screen or On lock screen.
4. Choose Show alerting and silent notifications.
   • On some phones, choose Show all notification content.

Tip: If you pick this option as your default, you can still restrict certain apps on your lock screen. You can have certain apps "Hide sensitive notification content" or "Don't show notifications at all" on your lock screen. Learn how to change notifications by app. 

Option 3: Hide silent notifications on your lock screen

Important: Settings can vary by phone. For more info, contact your device manufacturer.

1. Open your device's Settings app.
2. Tap Notifications.
3. Under "Privacy," turn Sensitive notifications on or off.

Option 4: Hide sensitive content from notifications on your lock screen

Important: Settings can vary by phone. For more info, contact your device manufacturer.

1. Open your phone's Settings app.
2. Tap App & notifications  Notifications. 
3. Under "Lock screen," turn off Sensitive notifications.

Tip: If you turn off this option, you can still restrict certain apps to "Don't show notifications" on your lock screen. Learn how to change notifications by app.

Related resources

• Learn how to use lockdown
• Change volume, sound & vibrate settings
• Silence your phone with Do Not Disturb
• Find your chats and messages quickly