4 Easy Ways to Get Rid of Annoying iPhone Notifications

iPhones have become ever-present companions and personal assistants for almost all of their owners. They continue to grow in their indispensability as the iOS ecosystem churns out more apps to satisfy needs and solve problems. But the downside to all of these apps is that they turn your lockscreen into a mess of alerts and headlines, distract you with unnecessary push notifications, and subject you to a constant barrage of buzzes and ringtones. Continue reading to learn four ways to reduce the clutter and kill unnecessary notifications.

4 Offload Unused Apps

Most people don’t know that their iPhones come with a nifty decluttering tool called ‘Offload Unused Apps’. It’s especially helpful for those who habitually download new “must-have” apps only to discover that they are pretty worthless. Then they sit there on your phone pushing notifications to you and hogging storage space that could be put to better use.

The ‘Offload Unused Apps’ feature automatically removes those apps that you don’t use after a certain period of time, but keeps all documents and data. If you change your mind and re-download an offloaded app, all your data will be put back in place.

To activate this feature, go to..

1. Settings.
2. iTunes and App Store.
3. Toggle ‘Offload Unused Apps’ to On.

3 Manage Which Apps Can Send You Notifications

Maybe you don’t need your fitness app pestering you for information about your diet and workout routine multiple times a day, or you’ve grown tired of all the breathless headlines streaming tirelessly out of your New York Times app. To make sure you’re only met with notifications you absolutely need, go to..

1. Settings.
2. Notifications. From there you can manage the apps that send you notifications.
3. To completely stop an app from annoying you, simply tap on it and toggle Allow Notifications to off.

2 Turn Off Badge Notifications

More often than not, those small, numbered red dots at the top-right corner of your app icons pester you to do something unnecessary or inform you of something you didn’t really need to know (e.g. that some bot has requested to follow you on Instagram). If you want to reduce some, but not all of the notifications coming out of an app, you have the option of turning off those red badge icons.

1. Go to Settings.
2. Notifications.
3. Select an App.
4. Toggle ‘Badge App Icon’ to Off.

1 Do Not Disturb

If you want to stop all notifications from making noises or waking your phone up, you can turn on ‘Do Not Disturb’, which lets your iPhone log all of your notifications but stops them from distracting you. To do this..

1. Simply swipe up from the bottom of your screen to access the Control Center.
2. Tap the crescent moon icon.

To customize what ‘Do Not Disturb’ does, go to..

1. Settings.
2. Do Not Disturb, and toggle the various settings.

For instance, you can set ‘Do Not Disturb’ to go into effect during specific times, such as at night when you’re asleep.