How do I remove silent notifications?

What are silent notifications?

Silent notifications are a type of push notification that don’t make a sound or visibly alert the user when received. Instead of interrupting the user, silent notifications quietly deliver data to an app running in the background (Izooto).

Apps like Facebook, Gmail and WhatsApp use silent notifications to refresh data in the background. For example, WhatsApp may use a silent notification to check for new messages on its server without alerting the user. This allows the app to show an updated badge count or notify the user of new messages without constantly pinging them (Android Police).

The purpose of silent notifications is to allow apps to update small bits of data in a lightweight and efficient manner. By avoiding interrupting the user with sounds and banners, silent notifications provide a seamless experience while keeping apps up-to-date (Medium).

Why You Might Want To Disable Silent Notifications

Silent notifications can drain your battery life. Even though you don’t see them on your screen, silent notifications cause your phone to wake up and perform background tasks. This constant activity uses more battery power (cite).

Silent notifications also use mobile data in the background. When apps fetch new data or check for updates, they use data even if you can’t see the notifications. Disabling silent notifications reduces unnecessary data usage (cite).

Finally, silent notifications can be distracting or annoying. Even if you don’t see them, the subtle vibrations and flashes indicating a new silent notification encourage you to pick up and check your phone. Disabling them removes this temptation and interruption in your day.

Finding notification settings on iPhone

To find your notification settings on an iPhone:

1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
2. Scroll down and tap on “Notifications” (this may be called “Notifications & Focus” on newer iOS versions) to open your notification settings.
3. Here you can review and adjust the notification settings for each individual app installed on your iPhone. Tap on an app to view and change its notification settings.

For example, you can turn off badges, sounds, lock screen and notification center alerts for each app. You can also adjust notification frequency and urgency. These granular notification controls allow you to disable or silence certain app notifications while keeping others enabled.

To quickly silence most notifications, you can turn on Do Not Disturb mode on your iPhone. Open Settings, tap on “Focus”, and enable Do Not Disturb to suppress notifications and alerts for a set period of time or schedule.

Finding notification settings on Android

On Android devices, you can adjust notification settings for individual apps within the Settings application:

1. Open the Settings app.

2. Tap “Apps” or “Application Manager.”

3. Select the app you want to adjust notifications for.

4. Tap “Notifications” and adjust the notification settings as desired. For example, you can toggle notifications on or off, change the notification type to “Alerting” or “Silent”, customize notification sounds, and more.

To fully disable an app’s notifications, simply turn off “Show notifications” or “App notifications.” You can also long press a notification and select “Turn off notifications” to disable notifications for that specific type of alert.

For a more granular approach, tap into the app’s notification settings and customize notifications based on category, such as “General Updates,” “Promotions,” etc. Disable notification channels you don’t need.

These steps for adjusting notifications work on most Android devices running Android 9.0 and higher. You may need to navigate to “Apps & notifications” rather than just “Apps” on some Android versions.

For more information, see Control notifications on Android.

Disabling notifications for specific apps

If you find that certain apps are sending too many unnecessary notifications, you can disable notifications for just those problem apps. Here are the steps to turn off notifications for specific apps on iPhone:

1. Go to Settings > Notifications.
2. Select the app you want to disable notifications for.
3. Toggle off Allow Notifications.

This will stop that app from sending any notifications. You can repeat this for any apps that are bothering you with too many notifications. [1]

Note that if you turn off all notifications for an app, you won’t get any notifications from that app at all. As an alternative, you can customize the notification options for each app to control what types of notifications you receive.

Using do not disturb to limit notifications

Do Not Disturb is a feature on both iOS and Android that allows you to limit interruptions from notifications.

To enable Do Not Disturb on an iPhone running iOS 15 or later, open the Settings app and tap Focus. You can then select the Do Not Disturb focus to turn it on. This will silence calls, alerts and notifications. You can customize the Do Not Disturb settings to allow calls or messages from certain people. You can also set a schedule for Do Not Disturb so that it turns on automatically during certain times, like at night. See Apple Support for more details.

On Android, open the Settings app and go to Notifications > Do Not Disturb. Toggle on “Turn on now” to enable it. You can customize which notifications to silence and allow exceptions for certain contacts. There is also a scheduling option to set Do Not Disturb for certain times. Android also allows you to customize the visual interruptions when Do Not Disturb is on. See Google Support for Android Do Not Disturb settings.

Using Do Not Disturb is an easy way to limit notifications during specific times when you don’t want to be interrupted. Customize the settings to suit your needs.

Using airplane mode

Airplane mode disables all incoming calls, messages, app notifications, and data services on your device by turning off all wireless connectivity, including cellular, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS etc. This effectively silences all notifications.

To enable airplane mode on an iPhone, swipe down from the top right corner to open Control Center and tap the airplane icon. On Android, open the Quick Settings panel and tap the airplane mode icon to toggle it on. You can also enable it through the Settings app on both platforms.

The main consideration with airplane mode is that it disables all wireless functionality, so you won’t receive any calls, messages, app updates, or be able to access the internet until you disable it. It’s useful for short periods when you want to be completely disconnected, but may not be practical for longer durations if you need to stay reachable or connected.

Checking notification logs

Both iPhones and Android devices allow you to view a log of recent notifications, even ones you may have accidentally dismissed. This can help identify apps that are sending frequent or repetitive silent notifications.

On an iPhone, you can view notifications for the past 24 hours by going to Settings > Notifications > Notification History. This will show a list of all notifications from all apps during that time period.

On Android, open the notification shade and long press on an empty area. Tap “Notification history.” You’ll see your notification log for the past 24 hours. Tap “See full history” to expand the timeframe.

Android also has a Notification Log feature hidden in the system settings. Go to Settings > Apps & notifications > Notifications > Notification history. This shows your full notification history and allows you to filter by app.

Checking these logs periodically can help identify problematic apps sending too many silent or low priority notifications. You may choose to disable certain app’s notifications completely.

Sources:
https://www.androidpolice.com/check-android-notification-history-guide/

https://www.airdroid.com/parent-control/android-notification-history/

Additional notification control apps

In addition to the built-in notification settings on Android and iOS, there are third-party apps that give you more control over notifications.

Apps like FilterBox and NotifyBuddy use AI and automation to filter unimportant notifications and surface only the most relevant ones. You can customize filters based on app, content, contacts, and more. Some apps also allow you to set quiet hours or easily toggle notifications on/off.

Other notification manager apps like Notification Log give you a complete log of all notifications received, even past ones that you’ve dismissed. This helps identify unnecessary or disruptive notifications over time. You can also manually clean up and delete notifications from the log.

In general, third-party notification apps provide more granular control and personalization around managing notifications on your device. They utilize automation and AI to reduce notification overload and surface the most important notifications for your personalized needs.

Other notification management tips

Keep phones and apps updated to the latest versions. Developers often release updates with improvements to notification controls and settings. Check for system and app updates regularly.

If you find persistent issues with unwanted notifications, report the problems directly to the app developer. Many companies are receptive to user feedback and will work to improve notification options in future app updates.

Get familiar with all the notification settings available on your device. Both iOS and Android provide robust options for fine-tuning notifications on an app-by-app basis. Take the time to explore and tailor these settings for each app you use.

Both Apple and Google also provide system-level “Do Not Disturb” modes that can silence most notifications during designated times like bedtime. Enable these to take periodic breaks from notifications.

For more extreme measures, airplane mode will stop all notifications. Just remember to disable airplane mode when you want to resume normal notification behavior.

Finally, periodically review notification logs to audit settings and identify potential nuisance sources. Adjust app settings as needed to ensure notifications remain relevant and timely.