This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Working with Notifications
As you learned in Chapter 1, the iPhone’s notification system keeps you informed of activity in which you may be interested, such as new emails, events, app updates, and so on. There are a number of types of these notifications that you will experience. Visual notifications include banners and badges. Alert sounds can also let you know something has happened, and vibrations make you feel the new activity.
You can determine which types of notifications are used for specific activity on your iPhone. This might be one of the most important areas to configure because you want to make sure you are aware of activity that is important to you, but too many notifications can be disruptive and annoying. So, you want to strike a good balance between being aware and being annoyed.
Working with Visual Notifications
There are three types of visual notifications: badges, persistent banners, and temporary banners.
Badges appear on an app’s or a folder’s icon to let you know something has changed, such as when you have received new email.
Badges are purely informational, meaning you can’t take any action on these directly as you can with the other visual notifications. They inform you about an event so that you can take action, such as to download and install an update to your iPhone’s iOS software or read new text messages.
)
)
Banner notifications provide information for you, and you can take action related to the event that generated the notification. For example, you can respond to a text message directly from its notification.
There are two types of banner notifications. Persistent banner notifications remain on the screen until you take action on them, which can be closing them, responding to them, etc. Temporary banner notifications appear on the screen for a few seconds and if you don’t take action on them, they rotate off the screen to get out of your way.
When your iPhone is unlocked, banner notifications appear at the top of the screen. They provide a summary of the app and the activity that has taken place, such as a new email or text message. When a banner appears, you can view its information; if it is a temporary banner, it rotates off the screen after displaying for a few seconds; if it is a persistent banner, you need to do something to cause it to disappear. You can tap it to move into the app to take some action, such as to read an email. You can swipe up from the bottom of the banner to close it. For some apps, such as Email, you can press on the notification to open a menu of commands.
)
)
Banner notifications can also appear on the Lock screen, which is really convenient because you can read and take action on them directly from that screen. If your phone is asleep, the notifications appear briefly on the screen and then it goes dark again; you can press the Side button or the Touch/ID Home button or raise your phone to see your notifications without unlocking the iPhone. You can swipe up or down the screen to browse the notifications.
To respond to a notification or take other action on it, press it to open it (3D Touch iPhones) or swipe to the right on it (non-3D Touch iPhones) and then take action, such as replying to a message. In some cases, you might need to unlock your phone to complete an action associated with a notification. In those cases, you’re prompted to use Touch ID, Face ID, or your passcode to proceed.
If don’t want the banners to appear, you can disable them.
Working with Other Types of Notifications
Sounds are audible indicators that something has happened. For example, you can be alerted to a new email message by a specific sound. You can choose global sound notifications, such as a general ringtone, and specific ones, such as a special ringtone when someone in your contacts calls you.
Vibrations are a physical indicator that something has happened. Like sounds, you can configure general vibrations, and you can also configure an app’s vibration pattern for its notifications.
