Notifications are great for staying informed, but they can quickly spiral out of control. With so many alerts coming in from different apps, checking the notification center can feel like wading through a sea of information. Luckily, Android makes it easy to manage the chaos and keep things organized.
1
Mute or Disable Notifications for Less Important Apps
There are dozens of apps installed on my phone, but not all of them are equally important. One of the things I do to tame notifications on my Android phone is to disable alerts from unnecessary apps. This alone makes a huge difference in reducing the clutter.
For example, I always disable notifications from shopping apps that constantly send alerts about promotions or deals. Similarly, I turn off notifications from casual apps like Candy Crush, which often send updates or reminders every few hours.
For apps where I’m unsure—like a news app—I take a more subtle approach and mute the notification sound. This way, I can still receive updates if I choose to check, but without the alert sound buzzing in my ear.
Since Android makes it easy to mute or disable notifications for specific apps, doing this doesn’t take long at all. With just a few taps, my phone no longer overwhelms me with unnecessary notifications.
2
Manage Notification Categories for Key Apps
For my social media, messaging, and email apps, I don’t like to turn off alerts completely. However, I do want more control over what notifications I receive. Fortunately, Android lets me customize notifications by category, so I can choose which types I want receive.
Since I rely on WhatsApp for communication, muting or disabling notifications entirely isn’t practical. Instead, I silence group chat notifications, as they can get noisy, and I don’t need an alert every time someone messages in a non-urgent chat.
Similarly, for Instagram, I keep notifications for DMs and calls enabled but disable alerts for comments, likes, new followers, and first posts. I do this for all the app alerts that are not urgent enough to require my immediate attention.
To do all of this, go to Settings > Apps > [App Name] > Notifications > Notification categories. From there, you can view all the different types of alerts the app can show and manage them as needed. Sure, doing this for several apps takes time, but in my opinion, it’s well worth it.
Since notification categories are disabled by default on Samsung Galaxy phones, I first had to navigate to Settings > Notifications > Advanced settings and enable the Manage notification categories for each app toggle.
3
Snooze Important Alerts
This happens to me all the time—an alert comes through that I don’t want to ignore completely, but I’m just not ready to deal with it right away. That’s where the snooze notification feature on Android comes in handy. Instead of feeling pressured to respond immediately or letting it pile up in the notification drawer, I can temporarily dismiss it until I’m better positioned to handle it.
When an important alert comes in—whether a reminder for a meeting, a message I need to reply to, or a task I need to address—I tap the snooze icon (a bell with a clock on top), choose a snooze duration between 15 minutes and 2 hours, and hit Save. It’s quick, intuitive, and perfect for times when I need to focus on something else.
The notification then disappears for a while and reappears after the set duration, giving me time to attend to it. This approach not only keeps the notification drawer tidy but also ensures I don’t miss anything important.
4
Use Do Not Disturb
Another way I manage notification overload on Android is by using Do Not Disturb mode. It’s a simple yet effective way to regain control over when my phone interrupts me.
Android’s Do Not Disturb settings menu lets me customize the hours, frequency, and conditions under which it activates. I’ve scheduled Do Not Disturb to automatically activate every night at 10 p.m. and last until the next morning. This ensures I get uninterrupted sleep without my phone buzzing with notifications. It’s such a relief to wind down at night without worrying about constant alerts.
I also manually enable Do Not Disturb when I’m working on something important and don’t want to be interrupted by notifications. However, to be on the safe side, I set up exceptions for my family and close friends, just in case something urgent comes up. This way, if they call or message, I’ll still be notified, but everything else—like app updates, social media alerts, or random pings—remains silent.
5
Set Up Priority Conversations
Since I receive a lot of texts as well as WhatsApp messages throughout the day, my notification center can get a bit chaotic at times. That’s where Android’s ability to set up priority conversations helps me.
With priority conversations, I can flag certain contacts or threads to ensure their notifications always appear at the top, no matter what. Additionally, these priority messages open in floating bubbles, which makes them super easy to spot and respond to right away. This means that when a message comes in from someone I’ve marked as a priority, it won’t get lost in the shuffle of less important notifications.
For instance, I’ve set up messages from family members and work as priority conversations. This ensures I don’t miss an important message when someone I care about or a colleague reaches out.
These are some of the hacks I use every day to manage notification overload. By customizing my notification settings, muting unnecessary alerts, and prioritizing the ones that matter, I’ve significantly reduced the chaos in my notification center.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed by constant alerts, try these strategies—your Android notification center will feel much calmer and more manageable! And if you’re still dissatisfied, you can always use a notification manager app on your Android phone to gain even more control. These apps provide additional features and fine-tuning options to help you stay on top of notifications.
