What's New in Notifications on iOS 15?

This guide covers all the changes Apple made to notifications in the iOS and iPadOS 15 updates.

New look for notifications

Notifications from apps now show larger icons to make it easier to see what's on at a glance. When you receive a message from someone from an app like Messages, that message includes their contact photo to help you easily identify who's messaging you.

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This feature works with pre-installed Apple apps and third-party apps thanks to the Notifications API, so third-party apps like WhatsApp, Messenger, WeChat, and more will also be able to display photos. contact in the notice.

Notification Summary

Notification Summary is an opt-in feature that allows you to control when notifications from non-critical apps are sent. In the Notifications section of the Settings app, tapping Notification Summary will guide you through the initial setup process.

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For Notification Summary, you can choose a specific time to send notifications and decide which app notifications should be included in the Notification Summary. You can select only a handful of your apps or all of your apps.

The apps need to be selected one by one, but iPhone will suggest the apps that send the most notifications. You can set the Notification Summary to be sent multiple times per day.

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By default, recaps will be set at 8 a.m. and 6 p.m., but times are subject to change and additional delivery times are added. Notification Summary also shows up on ‌iPhone‌ in a dedicated section before those times, so you never miss any notifications, even those that don't matter.

Mute notifications

Apps that send notifications or message threads can be muted temporarily, for the next 1 hour or for the whole day.

If you're part of an active messaging thread but aren't in, ‌iPhone‌ will send a message suggesting to mute it so you won't be disturbed.

Time Sensitive Notification (time sensitive notification)

With Notification Summary, time-sensitive notifications (urgent notifications) need to be delivered immediately. So, if you're waiting for food delivery, catching a car or getting a fraud alert from your bank, you'll know it immediately and won't miss it in the Notification Summary.

Apple developed the Time Sensitive notification API for developers, targeting apps that need to send notifications as soon as possible, so starting this fall, apps will Time Sensitive notification feature can be used.

Above are some of the changes to the Notifications section that Apple has applied on iOS 15. Overall, these other improvements are useful for users. What do you think about them? 

Kareem Winters

Update 04 October 2021