Larry Magid: Turning off notifications and opting out of text chats
Setting up priorities on your phone can cut back on endless ringing and dinging.
Does your smartphone keep you up at night? A lot of people lose sleep because of unwanted notifications or text messages that could easily wait till morning. Even during waking hours, frequent beeps from your phone can be annoying and unnecessary.
Some of the main culprits are apps that take it upon themselves to notify you when they have something to say to you. Just as I was writing this, I got a beep on my phone from the app associated with my blood pressure monitor, reminding me to use it. My blood pressure is stable, thank you very much. I turned off those reminders.
I’m a news junkie, so I have apps from numerous news organizations. I love that I can get an update anytime I want, but what I don’t need is an audible sound every time a news organization publishes a story it thinks I should read. It’s rare for a news story to be so urgent that it needs to interrupt what I’m doing so I turned off notifications for all of those apps. I also turned off notifications from Gmail. I get a lot of emails and most of it can wait. When people close to me need my immediate attention, they’ll text or call me and those notifications are on at least during waking hours.
What really bugs me are notifications that are essentially advertisements, such as an ecommerce app promoting a sale or letting me know about a product it thinks I might want to buy. No thank you. I’ve turned off notifications on all my e-commerce apps.
I do have some apps that I let notify me such as the one from my home security system, the ones that let me know if my space heaters have tipped over and the one that tells me if my air fryer is done with its cooking and the one that tells me if my car is ready for a software update.
Controlling notifications on apps
Both iOS and Android allow you to control individual notifications and set up a “do not disturb” time when all but certain notifications (like phone calls from contacts or alarms) are silenced.
On iOS, you go to Settings and then Notifications where you will see each of your apps listed. But, if you’re using the latest version of iOS (15), check out Scheduled Summary, which allows you to schedule when you want to hear from specific apps. You set certain times of the day and then toggle which apps you want to hear from during those times. That way, they inform you on your schedule, not theirs.
iOS and Android both allow you to turn notifications off for specific apps. By default, they’re usually on and usually notify you immediately if the app has something to say to you. I go through each app and turn them off unless it really is an app that I want to hear from in real time. In iOS, go to notifications, and scroll down to each app where it will say either “immediate,” “scheduled” or “off.” Click on the app and change it to how (or if) you want to be notified.
On Android, go to Settings and then Notifications. You can click on App Settings and turn notifications on or off for each app. At the top it will show you recent apps, so you know which ones have recently alerted you — a simple way to turn off the notifications or apps that have recently interrupted you.
Silencing group text notifications
It’s increasingly common to be part of group text conversations — my family has them all the time. But sometimes people text too much or respond to each other with information that you just don’t need or want to be interrupted by. In iOS, you can mute notifications for a conversation by bringing up the Messages list and then touch and hold a conversation and tap Hide Alerts.
In recent versions of Android, go to the message, click on the 3 dots in the upper right corner, select Details, then select Notifications and then choose Priority, Default or Silent.
Do not disturb mode
Regardless of how you get specific notifications, there are certain times — mostly when you’re trying to sleep — when you don’t want any notifications except emergency calls from family or close friends.
In iOS, go to Settings and tap Focus and then Do Not Disturb. Toggle it on and then select People to allow exceptions if there are people you wish to hear from even when Do Not Disturb is on. You can do the same with apps. Another way to do this is to go to Settings/Focus and then tap Sleep and follow the prompts that will lead you to the Health App that will allow you to set your sleep schedule with additional options.
On Android, go to Settings and then Sound and Vibration. Click Do Not Disturb where you can turn it on or off now or set schedules for when you want it on or off. You can customize its behavior. For example, you can accept text messages only from starred (favorite) contacts and you can select specific callers who can get through even if Do Not Disturb is on. One option is to allow repeat calls, which could be a way to let someone reach you in an emergency (by calling back within 15 minutes) but not if they just try calling you once. A common setting is to accept calls from contacts or starred contacts which — at the very least — eliminates telemarketing calls like one I recently got from overseas in the middle of the night.
Larry Magid is a tech journalist and internet safety activist.