iOS 12 is an update of “finally”s. Other than the enhanced Do Not Disturb mode and screen time tracking feature, we now finally have grouped notifications again in iOS! And iOS 12 brings the feature back in its own way. How do the work? And how can you customize them? Read on to find out.
Must read: iOS 12: All the New and Hidden iOS 12 Features
How Grouped Notifications Work in iOS 12
When you get multiple notifications of the same kind, they’ll now show up in stacks. Notifications are grouped smartly based on conversations, threads, time, context and the app itself. By default, the grouping happens automatically based on iOS’s algorithms, but there is a way to take manual control over it (which we’ll get to below).
When you tap on a notification stack, it will expand to show all notifications. You can then 3D Touch a notification to expand it or swipe left for options or to clear it out. Tap on the X button on top clear all the notifications from the stack. Or to stack them again, tap on the Show Less button.
How to Customize Group Notifications in iOS 12
Now this feature is a huge improvement over what we’ve seen before but it’s not quite there yet. I’ve been using it for the past couple of weeks and I’ve seen multiple notification stacks coming from the same app or the same conversation. If you use WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger a lot, these can still pile up.
There’s a way to force this feature to only show one stack for an app. This would significantly reduce your notification clutter. Only thing is that you need to do it on a per-app basis.
Step 1: From Settings, go to Notifications.
Step 2: Select an app.
Step 3: Swipe all the way down and tap on Notification Grouping and select By App.
Now all the notifications from the app will show up as a single stack. Go and do this for all the apps which send you a lot of notifications. If for some reason you don’t want an app to group its notifications, you can turn off the Notification Grouping for an app as well.
How Do You Manage Notifications?
Do you think the new iOS 12 features will help you manage notifications better? Do you customize notifications based on apps? Do you use Do Not Disturb mode at night? Share with us in the comments below.
