Why do I get the same notification twice?
Getting the same notification multiple times on your smartphone can be annoying and disruptive. This issue seems to mostly affect Android devices, but can also occur on iPhones. The duplicates usually happen when you have the same app installed across multiple devices connected to the same account, or when your OS or apps have syncing issues after an update. Excess notifications can lead to distraction, missed important alerts, privacy concerns, and battery drain. The good news is that with the right troubleshooting, you can solve this problem and regain control over your notifications.
Common Causes
One common cause of getting duplicate notifications is bugs or glitches in the apps themselves. Apps may have coding issues that result in the same notification being pushed multiple times. This seems to be a particularly common problem with messaging and social media apps.
For example, many Reddit users have reported getting duplicate notifications from the Reddit app (source). Others have seen the issue in apps like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger. The apps essentially “hiccup” and re-send the same notification over and over.
These types of glitches tend to be resolved when the app developers issue a fix or update. So if you notice duplicate alerts coming from a particular app, checking for any available updates is a good first troubleshooting step. Restarting the phone can also help clear out any “stuck” notifications.
Common Causes
One of the most common causes of duplicate notifications is connection issues. This can happen when an app or service tries to send a notification, but the initial request fails due to a poor network connection. However, instead of realizing the notification failed, the app will try to send it again, resulting in duplicate notifications.
Specific connection issues that can lead to duplicate notifications include:
- Weak WiFi signal or cellular data coverage
- Switching between WiFi and cellular data
- VPN or proxy connectivity problems
- Intermittent network outages
Devices that struggle to maintain a consistent network connection are more prone to duplicate notifications. The issue typically arises when the device cannot confirm delivery of the initial notification. To prevent duplicate notifications, it helps to have a stable, reliable network connection.
Multiple Linked Devices
Receiving duplicate notifications on multiple linked devices like smartphones, tablets, and smart home devices is a common problem users face. This can occur when you have the same app installed across multiple devices logged into the same account. For example, getting duplicate Facebook notifications on both your iPhone and iPad after linking them. There are a few things that cause this:
Having the same app logged into the same account across multiple devices naturally leads to duplicate notifications. The app doesn’t know you received the alert on one device, so it sends it to all linked devices. You can disable notifications for that app on specific devices in the Settings to avoid duplicates. For example, turning off Facebook notifications on your iPad if you primarily use your iPhone (https://www.reddit.com/r/homeassistant/comments/14zykkl/linked_multidevice_notifications/).
Software and OS updates can sometimes reset notification settings and re-enable apps you had previously turned off alerts for. Check Settings -> Notifications after any major updates to make sure your preferences are still in place. For Samsung devices, make sure the device linked to your account matches the one you intend to get notifications on (https://www.googlenestcommunity.com/t5/Cameras-and-Doorbells/Duplicate-notifications-when-connected-with-more-than-1-account/m-p/228723).
App Settings
One common cause of duplicate notifications is the notification settings within the app itself. Many apps allow users to customize notification settings and enable or disable certain types of notifications. For example, in the iPhone Settings app, you can go to Notifications and adjust the notification settings for each individual app.
Within the notification settings for a specific app, look for any options related to the type of notification you are receiving duplicates of. For email apps, there may be toggles for new mail notifications, repeat notifications, sounds, badge icons, etc. Disable any unnecessary notification types. You may need to dig into the settings for each account connected to that app as well.
Additionally, some apps have their own internal notification settings. In the app’s own settings menu, look for options to fine-tune notifications. Turn off any extras you don’t need. For example, in Microsoft Teams you can adjust notifications per channel or chat.
Citing: Microsoft
Common Causes
One common cause of getting duplicate notifications is having background app refresh enabled. Background app refresh allows apps to refresh their content when they are not actively being used. This can result in duplicate notifications as the app may try to push a notification again when it refreshes (source).
Turning off background app refresh for specific apps can prevent duplicate notifications from those apps. However, it’s important to note that disabling background app refresh may also prevent you from receiving notifications from that app entirely (source).
Overall, background app refresh is a key setting to check if you notice an app sending duplicate notifications. Selectively disabling it for problem apps can potentially resolve the issue without losing notifications altogether.
OS Updates
Software updates for mobile operating systems like iOS and Android often include bug fixes and performance improvements that can resolve issues like duplicate notifications.
According to this article, the duplicate notifications problem on iPhones “has to be fixed via software updates.” So updating to the latest iOS version may provide a fix.
On Android devices, issues with recurring software update notifications popping up can sometimes be addressed by installing the latest OS update. For example, this YouTube video shows how updating a Samsung device to the newest Android version stopped an annoying recurring software update notification.
In summary, mobile OS developers like Apple and Google specifically target notification bugs and issues in software updates. So keeping devices updated to the latest iOS or Android version can often resolve duplicate or recurring notifications.
Network Settings
Network settings like WiFi, cellular data, and Bluetooth can sometimes cause duplicate notifications on mobile devices. For example, switching between WiFi and mobile data or enabling Bluetooth can trigger apps to resend notifications that were previously sent while connected to another network. According to Apple’s support forums, toggling notifications on and off for affected apps in your device settings can help resolve duplicated notifications resulting from network changes. Testing each network individually after changing notification settings can confirm if duplicate alerts persist.
Device Restarts
One potential cause of duplicate notifications is an issue during the restart process of your device. When powering your device off and back on, some notification settings may not reload properly, leading to duplicates.
According to discussions on the Apple Community forums, simply restarting your iPhone can help resolve duplicate notifications. This resets any notification bugs and reloads your settings from scratch.
Similarly, users on Reddit recommend rebooting your phone as one of the first steps to troubleshoot duplicate notifications on iOS. This clears out any glitches from the restart process that may be causing the duplicates.
Overall, a full power cycle of your device can reload notification settings properly and eliminate many cases of duplicate alerts. Before trying more complicated troubleshooting, simply powering your device off and back on again may fix notification issues.
Conclusion
In summary, the main causes of receiving duplicate notifications on your device are app settings, OS updates, network issues, and device restarts. Apps may have notification features enabled that result in duplicates. Operating system updates can sometimes reset notification settings. Network connectivity problems may cause notifications to re-send. And restarting your device can retrigger pending notifications. To resolve duplicate notifications, check your app settings and update or reconfigure them as needed. Make sure your OS is up-to-date. Troubleshoot any network issues. And understand that device restarts may re-send notifications until they are dismissed.
