Notifications in iOS 15
Notifications are still an important part of the iPhone and iPad. This way you stay informed of messages from friends and family, the latest breaking news and much more. In iPadOS 15 and iOS 15, notifications get all kinds of improvements. Also in watchOS 8 and macOS Monterey, the push notifications get almost the same new possibilities. With the improvements, Apple aims to reduce distractions and make a clearer distinction between important and less important notifications.
- New Look
- Contact Photos
- Daily summary
- Mute
- Time sensitive
- Other apps
#1 New look for notifications
The first thing you notice is that the notifications have been given a new look. The app icon is now on the far right and is a lot larger, so that you can see more clearly where the notification comes from. Push notifications are also a lot more compact, so you can see more of them on the screen at the same time, without having to scroll down. In addition, you do not always see the name of the app anymore. While some apps display the name, other apps can put their own text in push messages (such as a contact's name in a messaging app).
#2 Contact photos in notifications
Speaking of messaging apps, they can now immediately show contact photos in a notification. In notifications from iMessage, for example, instead of just the app icon, you see the contact photo of the person in question with the logo of the Messages app in small. So you can see better from the photo who the message comes from. This is also useful on the Apple Watch, so first the contact photo is displayed and then the message.
#3 Daily summary for less important apps
Apple is also coming out with a new feature called Scheduled Overview. This is a kind of summary in which push notifications from less important apps all appear together in one overview at a fixed time of the day. Think, for example, of the more advertising-oriented notifications from Netflix that your new favorite series is online or a shopping app that promotes special promotions. Such notifications are never really important and do not always require immediate action. In addition, they disrupt the other notifications that are important.
In iOS 15 you can therefore make a daily summary, in which you indicate which apps should be included. You can even designate several times during the day where these kinds of summaries should appear. For example, you can set a summary for the morning and for the beginning of the evening. This way you stay informed, without such notifications disrupting your day.
#4 More options for mute
In iOS 14 there are already options to change some settings directly from a notification. You can choose to have notifications delivered only silently by forwarding them directly to the message center or you can turn them off for an app right away. In iOS 15, more options will be added. You can immediately indicate from a notification that the notifications of that app should be kept silent for an hour or for the rest of the day, or you can turn them off immediately. You'll also find a shortcut to the app's notification settings here.
#5 Time sensitive notifications
#5A new type of notifications has also been added, namely the so-called time-sensitive notifications. These are notifications that always come through, for example from Reminders. Such notifications are also clearly marked so that you can easily distinguish them from other push notifications. In addition to the Reminders app, the Home app also offers time-sensitive notifications, for example if your camera changes status.
#6 Improvements also for other apps
The good news is that not only Apple's own apps can take advantage of the new capabilities. For third-party apps, a new Notification API is available, a tool for developers to customize their apps for the new capabilities. For example, other messaging apps such as WhatsApp can show contact photos and, for example, parcel apps can send important time-sensitive notifications. So keep in mind that the apps first have to be adjusted with an app update before these new possibilities can be used.
More about iOS 15
iOS 15 is the major update for the iPhone and iPod touch. If you want to know whether your iPhone is suitable for iOS 15, you will find the answer in our article. We expect the official iOS 15 release in September/October 2021. Find out what else was announced during the keynote in our WWDC 2021 recap!