How do I get fewer notifications?
How to cut notification volume to what's actually useful, using the settings both platforms provide but few people configure.
- Difficulty
- beginner
- Time
- 30 min
- Read
- 2 min
Short answer
Turn off notifications for everything, then re-enable only for actual people and genuinely time-critical alerts. Most notifications are marketing dressed as information — the default is 'everything on', and almost nobody changes it.
Every app asks for notification permission and most are granted it once and never reviewed. The result is a phone that interrupts constantly for things that could have waited. Resetting to off and adding back deliberately takes fifteen minutes and changes how a phone feels to own.
Step by step
- Open the notification settings and look at the full list of apps.iPhone: Settings → Notifications. Android: Settings → Notifications → App settings. The list is usually longer than expected.
- Turn notifications off for everything that isn't a person or genuinely urgent.Be aggressive. You can always turn one back on; you'll rarely miss what you disabled.
- Keep on: messages from people, calls, calendar, and anything safety-related.The test is whether it needs your attention within the hour.
- For borderline apps, allow notifications but disable the badge and sound.You'll see them when you look at the phone without being interrupted.
- Turn off notification previews on the lock screen for anything private.Message content on a lock screen is visible to anyone near the phone.
- Set up a focus mode or Do Not Disturb schedule.Both platforms allow different notification rules by time or activity — work hours, evenings, sleep.
- Use notification summaries where available for the non-urgent ones.They batch low-priority notifications into a scheduled digest rather than interrupting.
- Review again in a month.New apps ask on install, and it's easy to drift back.
Tips
- Email is the biggest single source for many people. Turning off push email and checking at set times is one of the highest-impact changes available.
- Group chats are the second biggest. Muting a busy group rather than leaving it keeps the peace and the quiet.
- Deny notification permission when an app first asks, by default. Grant it later only if you find you need it.
- Notification badges create a pull even without sound. Turning off badges is underrated.
Common mistakes
- Granting notification permission by reflex — Every app asks, and most don't need it. The default answer should be no.
- Turning off notifications app by app — Slow and incomplete. Turn everything off and add back the few you want.
- Leaving message previews on the lock screen — Anyone who can see the phone can read your messages.
- Never reviewing — New installs re-ask, so it drifts back within months.
Questions people ask
Will I miss something important?
Genuinely urgent things — calls, messages from people, calendar alerts — stay on. Almost everything else can wait until you next pick the phone up.
What's the single biggest source of notifications?
For most people, email and group chats. Turning off push email and muting busy groups usually removes the majority.