Need No Interruptions? Customize Notifications For Your Schedule
Getting annoyed from hearing the notifications on your phone, especially when you’re busy? Try these tips to set your phone to silent mode.
What to Do to Stop Notifications on Your Phone
Phone Notifications Definition: Phone notifications are messages that pop up on a mobile device, notifying the mobile user of new messages or alerts from apps.
Step 1: Enable the “Do Not Disturb” Mode
Enabling the “Do not disturb” button on your phone allows your mobile to go into silent mode quickly so you won’t get distracted. This is especially useful when you’re at work, school, or simply need some quiet time.
To enable this setup, go to “Settings” and select “Sound.” Enable “Do not disturb.”
Under the “Do not disturb” option, you can allow notifications to appear silently on the status bar without the need to turn on the screen or block notifications completely. In “Advanced Settings,” you’ll be given options to customize alerts such as “Alarms only,” “Allow only priority interruptions,” and “Don’t interrupt.”
If you’ll select “Allow only priority interruptions,” you need to go to “Define priority interruptions” to set which alerts you would like to hear. You can also activate this mode faster by tapping “Turn on now.”
Want to configure this mode on your phone for only a couple of hours? Choose “Turn on automatically.” This will be handy during weekday mornings or when you’re at work or school.
iOS
Similar to Android, iPhones also list the “Do Not Disturb” mode under “Settings.”
You can tap the button manually and turn on the “Scheduled” setting to avoid getting distracted for a couple of hours. However, unlike Android, iOS only allows you to set a single scheduled time in this setting.
The “Allow Calls From” option lets calls from certain contacts to go through when your phone is quiet. Contacts from custom groups can be set for this feature, or you can also mark certain contacts as “favorites.”
Tap and hold the “Do Not Disturb” button, which is also located in the Control Center, to mute notifications for one hour, until the evening, or select “Schedule” to customize.
Step 2: Turn off Notifications for Individual Apps
You can also set notifications from various apps to arrive in bulk at a particular time by setting them up for each app.
Android: From “Settings,” select “Apps & notifications,” then go to “Apps.” Tap the app to configure.
iOS: Choose “Notifications,” then configure the apps you want from the selection.
Step 3: Activate the Pause Mode in Your Messaging Apps
Muting conversations is mostly available for messaging apps, especially for chats where you get many alerts at once. It works on a chat-to-chat basis though, instead of for the app as a whole.
Here’s how to mute notifications for WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger:
- WhatsApp: Open the conversation you wish to mute, tap the menu button at the top right, and select “Mute notifications” to block messages. Choose among the following time periods: eight hours, a week, or even one year.
- Facebook Messenger: Go to the conversation, and long press the conversation title. Select “Mute notifications,” then choose from the following timeframe options: 15 minutes, 1 hour, 8 hours, 24 hours, or “Until I turn it back on.”
RELATED: How do I turn off text message notifications in Facebook? [ASK MR. NOOBIE]
Step 4: Silence Email Notifications and Customize Alerts for VIPs
You can also enable mute on email apps, like Gmail, so you won’t be bombarded with work emails after work hours. Android and iOS have the same settings, and they entail customizing each conversation thread.
Just tap the menu button at the top left of the app and select “Snoozed.” You’ll have different choices, including “Later today” and a customizable option that lets you set the date and time of your preference.
You can set different silent times for Gmail if you have multiple accounts.
For important contacts in your email for iOS, you can activate VIP alerts. Go to the main “Mailboxes” screen and tap the “i” next to the VIP mailbox.
Select “Add VIP” to add your important contacts. Tap “VIP Alerts” to manage your notifications.
You can customize a special, more subtle ringtone for a certain contact. This can come in handy when you need to relax a bit but still need to be notified of messages from that contact.
You can also choose to have vibrate alerts instead of sounds for VIP contact messages. Alternatively, you can also allow VIP alerts to light up your lock screen so you won’t miss out on any important matters from these contacts.
If you’re an iOS user and want to put a pause on your entire Gmail inbox, you can use Boomerang Mail. Just add the account to your contacts, and you won’t experience any interruptions from emails anymore.
Step 5: Use Other Apps to Silent Notifications
Aside from the built-in settings on your device and apps, there are also various apps to snooze notifications for a particular time. This helps a lot for apps that don’t have a silent feature for notifications.
AppBlock
The developers of AppBlock, for example, designed this app to block access to apps when you are in the middle of something and do not want distractions. It works by silencing notifications depending on your time of preference.
This app functions by location too so you can snooze your phone notifications until you’re off work. The only downside is you can’t use your apps while they are in silent mode.
Do Not Disturb
Another helpful app for Android is Do Not Disturb. It has the ability to work on a schedule and operate automatically based on the calendar linked to it.
If you’re serious about scheduling a customized alert muting routine on your phone, Do Not Disturb app is worth considering. The app offers a “special permission” feature that you can activate to let it interrupt you with alerts from certain contacts.
Learn how to turn off YouTube notifications on your android device in this video from YouTube Help:
https://youtu.be/KON6JC6j2Q0?rel=0
With these simple steps, you can avoid getting distracted by your phone so you can be free of interruptions and completely focus on the task at hand. When it comes to customizing notifications, there are a variety of ways to choose from depending on your needs and preferences. We hope you found these tips on how to turn off notifications helpful and that they’ll be useful in helping you be more productive.
What kind of phone notifications do you usually get distracted with? Let us know which alerts you absolutely can’t ignore in the comments section below!
Up Next: Tech Resolutions For The New Year
