How to Customize Your iPhone Notification Center

Learn to customize your notifications on iPhone Lock screen, so you see what you want, when you want.

* This post is part of iPhone Life's Tip of the Day newsletter. . *

iPhone notifications and alerts can be really helpful, or they can be disruptive; luckily there's a way to change the way you receive Lock screen notifications on the iPhone, so you're not overwhelmed. A Lock screen notification is easy to customize without entering Settings. You have more options than ever before, so let's learn how to make your push notifications on your iPhone work exactly as you want.

Push notifications on your iPhone can clog up your Lock screen, but some are helpful and even necessary. Let's learn how to group notifications, how to hide notifications on your lock screen on your iPhone, how to turn off sounds and notifications entirely, and everything else you'll need to know to customize notifications on your Lock screen. For more tips on customizing your iPhone, check out our Tip of the Day.

You can access the Notification Center by swiping down from the center of your iPhone's display. Once you're in the Notification Center:

  1. Choose the Notification you'd like to manage; slowly swipe left on it.

  2. A menu will appear; tap Options.

  3. If you want to stop receiving notifications from this source, tap Turn Off.

  4. If you want to temporarily stop notifications from this source, tap Mute for 1 Hour or Mute for Today. These options may not be available for every source.

  5. If you want to add it to your Scheduled Summary, tap Add to Summary.

  6. If you want even more options, tap View Settings.

From here you can make lots of specific alterations to the way you get notifications from this source. You can:

  1. Choose whether or not to allow notifications from this source.

  2. Decide whether to deliver these notifications immediately or in your Scheduled Summary.

  3. Choose where the alert will appear under Alerts.

  4. Toggle on or off Sounds and Badges.

  5. Decide which Banner Style you'd like; Temporary or Persistent.

  6. Decide whether or not you'd like a preview of the notification.

  7. Decide how you'd like this type of notification to be grouped.

Related: How to Set Reminders on Your iPhone & iPad

What Is Notification Grouping?

Apple groups app notifications and email and message threads together in the Notification Center to help users see all their updates at a glance rather than sorting through them individually. If you don't like receiving these notification bundles, it's easy to ungroup some or all of your notifications. You can learn How to Ungroup Notifications for further customization options.

What Is a Scheduled Summary?

A Scheduled Summary is a feature new to iOS 15 that enables you to choose when some or all of your notifications are delivered once or twice a day. Instead of getting notifications every time they come up, you can get them all at once at, say, 6 p.m. so they don't distract your work day, or 9 a.m. so they don't bombard you as soon as you wake up, or any time of the day you desire.

And there you have it! In this same menu, you can also change notifications for a specific app to stay on the screen longer if you don't want to miss them.​

Top image credit: admin_design / Shutterstock.com

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Author Details

Leanne Hays's picture

Author Details

Leanne Hays

Leanne Hays is a Feature Writer at iPhone Life, and has written hundreds of in-depth how-to and troubleshooting articles. She's a former Associate Editor for iPhone Life magazine, and has written for the Iowa Source, as well as web content for education marketing. Leanne has an associate's degree in education, with a focus on curriculum development, as well as a bachelor's degree in science. She has over nine years of experience with SEO, social media management, and web development and writing. Despite years of web work, Leanne is by no means an early adapter; she's only owned a smartphone for five years, which makes her highly sympathetic to the learning curve of new iPhone owners. She enjoys making reader's lives easier and putting her education experience to work by walking them through the most practical ways to use Apple devices, step-by-step.

In off-work hours, Leanne is a mother of two, homesteader, audiobook fanatic, musician, and learning enthusiast.