Customize notifications on iPhone

Receive relevant and timely alerts whenever and wherever you want them

- DAVID CROOKES

REQUIRES

iOS 15 or later; iPhone 15 Pro/Pro Max or iPhone 16 series, iOS 18.4 or later for some features

YOU WILL LEARN

How to customize notifications

IT WILL TAKE

10 minutes

GENIUS TIP

Tap notifications to expand or launch an app. You can also touch and hold on some notifications, such as Screen Time, to perform a quick action.

NOTIFICATIONS ARE EITHER useful or a distraction. You could have a video doorbell notification alerting you of a potential intruder one day, and a video doorbell notification going off every minute because you’re coming in and out of the door to work on your yard. But with strong management and a good choice of settings, notifications can operate exactly as you’d want them to.

A recent addition is Priority Notifications, which uses Apple Intelligence to look for key information and work out how important or urgent an alert is likely to be. Although it won’t stop less essential alerts coming through, if a notification is considered to be a priority, then it will be prominently pushed to your iPhone’s Lock Screen, ready for your attention.

FOCUS YOUR NOTIFICATIONS

You can customize the Priority Notifications, just as you can tweak any notification to suit your needs. You will find these options in the Settings app and, in some cases, by swiping left on a notification.