This article has been updated. Originally published on October 18, 2017.

Smartphones help us stay in touch with the world, but the more apps we download, the more notifications we receive, and the flood of reminders will make it difficult for us to filter out information we really care about, and even focus on working outside of our phones. matter. To strike a balance between staying in touch and being in control of the big picture, it is crucial to manage these swarming notifications.

Luckily, our phones can help. No matter which operating system you use, you can set Do Not Disturb Time, control which applications can interrupt you, and more. We will guide you through the settings in Android, iOS, and various applications, and then recommend some third-party programs to control the information flow.

Android system notification settings

For years, Google has been adding options to manage notifications on its mobile operating systems. Now you have sufficient control over which Android apps and events can send you prompts and how these messages appear on the screen.

To start configuring these controls, open Settings, go to Applications and Notifications, and click Notifications. If your phone is running an older version of the system (any version before Android Oreo), just navigate directly from Settings to Notifications . You may see a list of recently reminded apps (under Recently Sent ), or you may prefer to click to see all to manage every program on your phone. From there, click Advanced to close all notifications for the application, or click the program name to customize its notifications. Decide whether it can catch your attention, what the sounds of these reminders are, and whether they will appear on the lock screen.

You can also pause notifications: When the reminder appears, drag it to the left or right, and a

clock icon will appear. Click the icon and you can tell the notification to disappear temporarily and then reappear at the set date and time.

Android also allows you to segment reminders for apps by category, so you can receive prompts for certain activities, not for others. For example, in Gmail, you can set notifications to only appear when emails enter your work address, not your personal address (and vice versa). For this feature to work, individual applications must support it – all Google applications support it.

Do not disturb mode is another good way to control notifications. When this mode is active, it can prevent reminders from making any sound or not appearing at all. Enable this mode manually by swiping down from the top of the screen and clicking the

Do Not Disturb Mode icon (minus sign).

You can also customize the Do Not Disturb mode for Android by accessing Settings, selecting Sound and Vibration and clicking Do Not Disturb Mode . In this configuration page, you can choose to enable the mode automatically for a specific time—maybe you don't want to be bothered during sleep, working hours, or weekends. You can also allow certain notifications (such as alarms or incoming calls from important people) to catch your attention even when Do Not Disturb mode is active.

Notification settings for iOS system

On iOS, Apple also allows you to have full control over your notifications. In the Settings app, open the Notifications panel to find all the options you need. You can turn notification previews on or off (each reminder shows a brief snippet of information) and configure each installed application separately.

Click an application from the Notifications settings page to set whether the program can display reminders. You can also decide whether the app icon on the home screen displays those small badges that show the number of unread messages. For example, the badge on the mail app will show how many more emails you need to open.

[Related: Best New Features in iOS 15]

You can also choose whether the app's notifications appear on the lock screen and if so, whether they will appear as a banner that shows the top temporary or permanent. For example, you might want to keep notifications from the most important apps at the top of the screen so that random Facebook updates don't distract you from handling important work emails.

For each app, you can also keep notifications but disable their sound – it has nothing to do with the phone's main volume settings. It allows you to grasp your message while avoiding distracting reminders from applications that don't actually matter.

Like Android, iOS also has Do Not Disturb mode, which you can access from the Focus entry in the Settings app. Click Do not disturb mode to enable this mode manually or set an automatic schedule for it. If you are not using iOS 15 yet, you will find a separate Do Not Disturb Mode entry in the Settings app. Once you enter the menu, you can mute all reminders, or just mute the reminders that appear when your phone is locked. As before, you can also allow your favorite contacts to go beyond the Do Not Disturb mode rules. Starting with iOS 11, the iPhone can automatically start Do Not Disturb mode when it detects you are driving. If you do not see this option on the Focus Settings page, click the plus sign in the upper right corner and find Driving to get started.

How to customize notifications for individual applications

In addition to these system-wide settings, many applications on your phone have their own notification settings. For the most important apps, take the time to browse your options and adjust them to your preferences.

While we can't cover every application here, we'll review a few examples. Take Twitter as an example: Click on the avatar in the upper left corner, click Settings and Privacy, and then click Notification. In this menu, you can configure which activities will alert and which activities will not. You can turn off notifications such as notifications that people like your tweets, but keep notifications of reply.

Meanwhile, in Gmail, click the menu button (three horizontal lines in the upper left corner), then click Set , and then click your email address to adjust the notification. Your options will vary depending on whether you use the app on Android or iOS. On both platforms, you can choose to receive reminders only of messages marked as important by Gmail. On Android, you can additionally enable or disable reminders for all other Gmail tags.

Not every app will give you so much control over notifications. Some applications don't allow you to customize reminders at all. Other apps will just mute your notification sounds, making it less annoying, or control the number of reminders you can see at once.

Many messaging apps such as WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger also allow you to mute specific conversations. For example, in WhatsApp, open a conversation thread that you don't want to hear for the moment, click the chat name at the top of the screen, and select Mute . A dialog box will pop up, providing options to block all reminders of threads for 8 hours, a week, or permanent.

How to manage notifications for third-party applications

Given that there are so many notification settings available on Android and iOS, plus the actual app itself, third-party app developers don't have to do much. However, you can still find some useful tools.

[Related: Annoying pop-up notifications for controlling computers]

For example, Freedom for iOS allows you to fully control all iOS devices and reminders on your computer. You can set quiet times, block specific applications, and more. Prices start from $7 per month, but you can try the app for free.

On Android, the free Notification Blocker provides a more basic but still effective service to block reminders. For example, you can prevent reminders from appearing all the time at the top of the screen. Instead, you can batch view all the missed reminders at the end of the day.

We cannot provide a solution for all situations to manage your notifications. Instead, you need to try all the options we mentioned to see what works best for you. With so many potential customization options, you should be able to find at least a few ways to control your notifications and limit your phone’s monopoly on your attention.

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