iPad · Display & Sound

Control alerts, grouping, and Focus modes

Every app's notification behavior — banners, sounds, badges, and where alerts show up — is configurable individually, and Focus modes let you silence everything except what you've explicitly allowed through, based on time, location, or what app you're in.

What you should know

  • Open Settings → Notifications and tap any app to set its alert style (Banners, or none), enable or disable Sounds and Badges, and choose where it appears (Lock Screen, Notification Center, Banners).
  • Under an app's notification settings, choose "Notification Grouping" — Automatic, By App, or Off — to control how that app's alerts stack in Notification Center.
  • Open Settings → Focus to create or edit a Focus (Do Not Disturb, Work, Personal, Sleep, or a custom one), and choose which people and apps can still notify you while it's active.
  • Enable "Scheduled Summary" under Notifications to bundle lower-priority app notifications into one or two daily digests instead of interrupting throughout the day.

Why it matters

Notification settings and Focus modes are the two most common reasons an alert "doesn't come through" — a silenced app or an active Focus that hasn't allowed that app will suppress it silently, with no error shown to the user.

Best practices

  • Set Time Sensitive notifications to break through Focus modes only for apps where that genuinely matters (Messages, Calendar), not everything by default.
  • Use "Scheduled Summary" for social and shopping apps you check on your own schedule, keeping real-time alerts reserved for messaging and calendar apps.
  • Review Settings → Notifications periodically — newly installed apps often default to full banner alerts and sounds, which adds up quickly.

Common problems and fixes

An app's notifications never appear
Check Settings → Notifications → [App] to confirm "Allow Notifications" is on, and check Settings → Focus to see whether an active Focus is silently filtering that app.
Too many stacked notifications from one app
Open Settings → Notifications → [App] → Notification Grouping and switch from Automatic to By App, or Off, depending on preference.

Tips and tricks

  • Swipe left on a notification in Notification Center and tap the gear icon to jump straight into that app's notification settings, instead of hunting through the full app list in Settings.

Frequently asked questions

Why do some notifications still come through during Do Not Disturb?

Any contact or app marked as an allowed exception for that Focus (or marked "Time Sensitive" and permitted) will still notify you — check the Focus's allowed list under Settings → Focus.