I have a simple rule. If I install an app and it shows me any notification I don’t want to see, I immediately block it from having permission to do that.
It’s time for a hard reset on notifications
Submitted 11 months ago by brisk@aussie.zone to technology@beehaw.org
https://www.theverge.com/24119076/ios-android-notifications-focus-modes-scheduled-summary
Comments
Blackmist@feddit.uk 11 months ago
interdimensionalmeme@lemmy.ml 11 months ago
Not everyone has figured you can do that by long pressing the offending notification
sphere_au@reddthat.com 11 months ago
Same… Have done for ages now. Don’t know how anyone puts up with the default behaviour.
realharo@lemm.ee 11 months ago
The default now is that apps have to first request notification permissions, on both iOS and Android.
M500@lemmy.ml 11 months ago
For me, apps do not get to notify me unless it’s time sensitive.
The problem is when my food delivery app, or LinkedIn sends me ads when I just want messages.
It’s annoying to not be able to only receive messages.
Godort@lemm.ee 11 months ago
Apps get a one strike rule. The minute I get a notification I don’t want, that app doesn’t get to send me notifications anymore
umami_wasbi@lemmy.ml 11 months ago
I use Tasker to filter out notifications
seathru@lemmy.sdf.org 11 months ago
Buzzkill is another good one.
jarfil@beehaw.org 11 months ago
LinkedIn has messages? Maybe I don’t use it much, but it seemed like it had ads, and self-promoting messages, or more ads.
PatMustard@feddit.uk 11 months ago
Aren’t messages the only point of LinkedIn? You create a profile which is basically your CV, set it to “looking for work”, and wait for recruiters to message you, right?
eveninghere@beehaw.org 11 months ago
Out of my 10000 notifications I ignore, I got one message… and that’s from the LinkedIn team.
M500@lemmy.ml 11 months ago
Yeah, I needed to have it on for a week for work stuff. And it kept giving me random notifications about news and stuff. I couldn’t figure it out.
Frogodendron@beehaw.org 11 months ago
Both on Android, and iOS, opting out of notifications solves most of the problems. You can do all on your own time without constant nagging, and leave notifications on for the communication channels you really need.
However, what I hate with passion are shopping and delivery apps that suffer with disabled notifications (I don’t know when things arrive, and that would ideally be good to know within seconds), but enabled notifications mean that there would be a lot of spam notifications about ordering and buying more.
princessnorah@lemmy.blahaj.zone 11 months ago
Yeah, no way to lose my trust faster than abusing your notification privileges to send me spam.
jarfil@beehaw.org 11 months ago
Some apps let you customize notifications, some let the OS customize them… some get muted, and some uninstalled.
For example, Amazon lets you keep the account and delivery notifications, but disable the promotional ones.
a1studmuffin@aussie.zone 11 months ago
AliExpress is the worst at this. Which category should I disable? AliExpress, aliexpress, Chat or message push? And even if I figured it out, there’s no way to stop store spammers from sending you useless messages constantly, detracting from actual sellers with questions.
Dymonika@beehaw.org 11 months ago
shopping and delivery apps
So don’t use 'em.
ryannathans@aussie.zone 11 months ago
On android long press a notification and it’ll show you which category of notification it is from that app, with the ability to disable just that one category if desired. E.g. advertisements and feedback reminders
jarfil@beehaw.org 11 months ago
Some apps don’t export the category, but still let you disable it from inside the app. In my book, they get a close pass.
UngodlyAudrey@beehaw.org 11 months ago
If something’s going to try to grab my attention, it had better be worth my while. I block as many notifications as I can, both on my phone and my computer. I also try to avoid using apps for things unless I have to.
Scrath@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 months ago
But don’t you want to open this website in our app so that we can better track you?
God I hate reddits mobile website, especially when you try to view an nsfw post
princessnorah@lemmy.blahaj.zone 11 months ago
Swap the “www” in the url for “old”. Desktop site but it doesn’t stop you viewing NSFW content.
pineapple_pizza@lemmy.dexlit.xyz 11 months ago
On Android you need to opt in to notifications for every app you install. Just opt out :)
Or, be like me and keep your phone on do not disturb(except calls from contacts). Doing this was one of the most significant quality of life improvements for me over the last few years.
neocamel@lemmy.studio 11 months ago
Yeah that’s what I’ve done. I’ve gotten very picky about which apps I allow to notify me of things. A week or two of turning off all the ones you don’t want and your phone gets quiet real quick.
Artyom@lemm.ee 11 months ago
My rule has always been people can notify me, but bots/apps cannot. If I see a notification not from a person, it gets disabled. If it’s something I can practically do on a website, I don’t download the app.
flashgnash@lemm.ee 11 months ago
This except for twitch streams
1rre@discuss.tchncs.de 11 months ago
That’s a human action anyway though… Not a “it’s been a while since you opened our app time to drag you back” notification
scytale@lemm.ee 11 months ago
If you’re on IOS, the Focus feature is great. I use it primarily for sleep to turn off all notifications except for calls (in case of emergencies). But you can basically configure multiple profiles with different notification settings. Also, whenever I install a new app on my phone, I turn notifications off unless it’s a time sensitive app like a messaging app.
520@kbin.social 11 months ago
Android's Do Not Disturb feature is also like this. You only get notifications from calls and apps you specifically allow.
Goopadrew@beehaw.org 11 months ago
My work phone is an iPhone and I love this feature. The moment it’s past work hours I no longer get buzzed for any notifications, and I only see direct messages on the home screen
remington@beehaw.org 11 months ago
That’s interesting and I’ve never heard of the focus feature (I don’t use my phone very much). Where do I find the focus feature?
DAMunzy@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 months ago
Install app. Start app. “Allow notifications?” No.
Does iOS not do this?
harsh3466@lemmy.ml 11 months ago
The article has some valid points about wanting certain kinds of notifications from an app, and hating the spam notifications those apps send.
However, iOS does indeed allow you to grant or deny an app notifications permission on first launch, and my default is to always deny.
The only apps I allow notifications for are phone, calendar, messages, my tasks, and my automations (shortcuts and some associated apps)
ArtVandalist@lemmus.org 11 months ago
iOS does that the first time you open the app. An app never opened can’t send notifications (it wouldn’t have registered).
Zworf@beehaw.org 11 months ago
I don’t really have any issues with it. Samsung has very fine-grained controls and most apps I simply don’t grant notification permissions at all.
cobra89@beehaw.org 11 months ago
Yeah I feel like they neglected to show how much more of a problem on iOS this is than Android.
On Android apps typically have their push notifications divided into different types and can almost always turn off the marketing notifications for an app while leaving the important ones on.
I dont see even half of these notifications on Android.
Zworf@beehaw.org 11 months ago
On Android apps typically have their push notifications divided into different types and can almost always turn off the marketing notifications for an app while leaving the important ones on.
Oh, iOS doesn’t have this? I didn’t realise. Android has had this for a good few releases now and I love that.
Andromxda@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 months ago
I turned off all notifications for every app except Signal
nossaquesapao@lemmy.eco.br 11 months ago
I do a similar thing, enabling only the apps I want notifications, and I run “adb shell settings put global heads_up_notifications_enabled 0” to stop those annoying popups interrupting me. This should have been an option available in the configs, imo.
Andromxda@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 months ago
I actually like these popups, but only if they’re coming from notifications that I actually want to see. But it’s really weird that the option to turn them off is only accessible via adb, even iOS has this feature.
eveninghere@beehaw.org 11 months ago
You guys still check notifications? I have Infinite Scroll of notifications I never care.
t0fr@lemmy.ca 11 months ago
That would be anxiety personified for me
flashgnash@lemm.ee 11 months ago
I used to do this but it ended up in me missing notifications I actually cared about
The best solution is as someone else mentioned, just mute apps that send obnoxious notifications when you see them
Different notification sounds for different kinds of notifications has been big as well, one for messages, a different one for twitch streams, and another for everything else that normally gets ignored
INHALE_VEGETABLES@aussie.zone 11 months ago
Tell me more!
eveninghere@beehaw.org 11 months ago
I wondered how I replied to my friends. Then I recalled that I don’t have one.
Deconceptualist@lemm.ee 11 months ago
exocrinous@startrek.website 11 months ago
This article seems strangely lacking in how it wants this goal to be achieved.
ChaoticNeutralCzech@lemmy.one 11 months ago
I wonder if there is a notification ad blocker with community-submittted sets of regex patterns that root users can use.
Ilandar@aussie.zone 11 months ago
How do people struggle with notifications? This is even weirder than the ad-blocking thing, because at least you are required to find and install a third party app to solve that. Every app ever has notification settings built-in. Just take 20 seconds out of your day to setup the app correctly when you first install it and you will likely never have to worry about it again.
14th_cylon@lemm.ee 11 months ago
You might have found out if you bothered to read the discussion before sharing your opinion.
doostein@beehaw.org 11 months ago
For Android users Buzzkill is also great for apps that don’t have granular enough notification settings. You can set up rules to make it automatically dismiss the notifications you don’t want to see.
Templa@beehaw.org 11 months ago
I realized at somepoint I was ignoring everything on my phone because of the number of notifications. Now I disable EVERYTHING and only leave important stuff. I wish this was the default.
CaptKoala@lemmy.ml 11 months ago
I did the same many months ago, though I suspect I may need to redo as I’ve been getting some really long notification piles when I don’t check my phone for a day…
Daxtron2@startrek.website 11 months ago
Just turn them off? That’s what I do, my phone never annoys me.
intensely_human@lemm.ee 11 months ago
The Amazon app, which for many years has faithfully executed its legitimate role as an app that helps me order stuff and track those orders, recently sent me a notification to let me know it thinks I might like some JBL headphones.
It made me furious. How dare they?
flashgnash@lemm.ee 11 months ago
At least they normally let you selectively disable promotions
intensely_human@lemm.ee 11 months ago
Really? That’s handy. Is that an Amazon config option or an iOS config option?
shortwavesurfer@monero.town 11 months ago
Install Graphene OS or Lineage OS as notifications for the majority of apps require Google Play Services and completely are killed without them.
autotldr@lemmings.world [bot] 11 months ago
🤖 I’m a bot that provides automatic summaries for articles:
Click here to see the summary
Android offers better controls and mercifully shunts some offenders to a “silent” inbox, but it’s not totally off the hook, either. On both platforms, notifications have been and continue to be a constant distraction, a plague upon our already razor-thin attention spans. Every app has to show you an example of the kind of notification it wants to send you, and you get to swipe left or right to opt in or out. This would save us the trouble of going into the settings in two hundred different apps and ticking two thousand little “opt out” buttons. Or you can opt in to them if you desperately want to hear from the Starbucks app every single day, but you should have to go out of your way to do that and should not be the default behavior when you choose “allow notifications.” Just an idea! However it happens, I think it’s time that power over notifications be returned to the people, not the app developers who want us to check out these Deals! — Saved 67% of original text.
ulkesh@beehaw.org 11 months ago
So the author both wants notifications and doesn’t want notifications.
Got it.
Sure sounds like a problem of their own making. And I find iOS’s notification taming rather simple to use. So I use it, and amazingly I have less notifications because of it!
Areldyb@beehaw.org 11 months ago
The author calls out the Starbucks app here, but doesn’t mention how blatantly dark-patterned its notifications really are. Android allows apps to set up multiple notification channels, so you can selectively prioritize (or, more often, mute or block) notifications based on their content. Starbucks uses this feature… to create a single channel called “Promotions & order status”. You wanted to know when your order’s ready? Fuck you and your concentration, get double stars today!
I appreciate the notification controls Android gives me, and I use them aggressively. If an app pushes a notification that doesn’t actually require my attention, I block that channel, and if it does it again, I block notifications for the whole app. I agree with the author, though: I shouldn’t need to do that.
dhtseany@lemmy.ml 11 months ago
The use of a single channel should be against the rules for commerce apps.
BenGFHC@kbin.social 11 months ago
They'd probably get around that by having a 'Promotions and Order status' channel and a random / unused one like an 'App update available' channel
LaggyKar@programming.dev 11 months ago
Why do you feel the need to install an app for a coffee shop?
u_u@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 months ago
Not OP but I often get 50% off promo for any beverage from Starbucks app.
jkibble@lemmy.ca 11 months ago
Because I don’t want to be guilted into the tip button
brie@beehaw.org 11 months ago
Email subscriptions also sometimes have that, with bonus points for several vague and similar sounding categories, and emails not mentioning what category they’re in.
Summzashi@lemmy.one 11 months ago
Just don’t visit Starbucks lmao what the fuck is even the issue here