Manage your iPhone notifications to minimise distractions

Getting a push notification is just as distracting as responding to a text or call, a 2015 study found. While some of us don’t have the luxury of silencing our phones during the workday, we can choose which alerts to receive and which to disable to keep distractions to the minimum.

For example, notifications from work chats might be important to keep on; updates from games, not so much. Here’s how to manage notifications on devices running iOS 12 and later.

From the Lock screen or Notification Centre

From the Lock screen, swipe left on a notification and tap Manage. If your phone is unlocked, swipe down from the top of your screen to access the Notification Centre. Choose one of these options (this will apply to all notifications from the app):

• Deliver Quietly: You won’t be alerted by notifications from this app, but they will show up in the Notification Centre.

• Turn Off: Disables all notifications for the app. If you change your mind, turn notifications back on in Settings > Notifications.

• Settings: Opens notification settings for that app.

From notification settings

1. Tap Settings > Notifications.

2. Tap Show Previews and choose when you would like to receive notifications: Always, When Unlocked, or Never. This will apply to notification previews from all apps.

3. Select a specific app under Notification Style to customize how it sends you notifications.

Settings you can change

• Alerts: where they’re shown.

• Banner style: temporary or persistent.

• Sounds and Badges: on or off.

• Previews: when they’re shown.

• Notification Grouping: by app, off, or automatic. Automatic allows for smarter notification stacking (e.g. by contacts).