Dear Apple: Get notifications right!

[ucfgrad93]

As a recent convert to Android from iOS, I'm not terribly impressed by Android notifications. The LED notification is annoying. I have alerts from ESPN, and unless I'm looking at the phone when they come in, I get half the information compared to what I used to get on Android.

 

[Vetvito]

I keep latest on both platform dude 🙄 ... Htc one, galaxy s4, iPhone 5, iPad 4 ... Hope that answers your questions ... I would love to see a quick video by you showing notification for whatsapp on the lock screen on android ... Plz don't go about using 3rd party crap ... Plz plz plz

Are you serious? What's so hard about swiping down the notification shade on the lock screen?

What's so hard about looking at the notification bar while on the lock screen and then swiping down?

Why waste time making a video when everyone who uses Android knows this basic stuff?

 

[Technarchy]

Are you serious? What's so hard about swiping down the notification shade on the lock screen?

What's so hard about looking at the notification bar while on the lock screen and then swiping down?

Why waste time making a video when everyone who uses Android knows this basic stuff?

There's nothing wrong with going into notification center, and it's not hard. I'm glad to see Apple add this option to the lockscreen in iOS 7.

However Apple has a better notifications, and manages notifications better in notification center.

 

[THE JUICEMAN]

Dear Apple: Get notifications right!

Android notifications are superior when it comes to actually managing the events. Like the OP said the ability to swipe away individual notifications is great. If I get 5 emails but only care about 1 I can get rid of the other 4 and keep that one in my notification shade as a to do. With iOS I have to either leave them all there or dismiss them all.

Also the ability to act on the notification right from the notification shade is great. Like others have said you can reply, mark as read, or even share right from the shade.

One thing I hate about iOS notifications is if I get certain notifications and I click on them through the notification center it takes me to the app but does not clear the notification out of the center. What?!? That really bothers me.

iOS notifications are better because they wake up the screen and let you see what is going on. But you can easily get that effect with android using light flow or another app.

Edit: additionally, that little "x" that you have to hit twice in the notification center is beyond annoying.

Edit 2 (lol): if I get a notification on iOS once the banner disappears I have no way of being reminded that its there at a glance. This is minor but I prefer android's way of having icons in the status bar so I know I have something to look at. I always forget on iOS. I know I could just pull the shade down. Like I said, minor but still.

 

[F123D]

Give me actionable notifications (quick reply, delete/archive emails) and I'll be completely satisfied with the notification system.

It's surprising sms quick reply still isn't available yet. Responding "yes" or "no" to someone and then continuing with what you were doing should not take so many steps.

 

[SanjeevRana]

Are you serious? What's so hard about swiping down the notification shade on the lock screen?

What's so hard about looking at the notification bar while on the lock screen and then swiping down?

Why waste time making a video when everyone who uses Android knows this basic stuff?

If u read my original comment u will see I am referring to just a quick glance at the lock screen to see the message and then decide if I need to even touch the phone or not (very useful in my office at least) ... In android I need to power on and the swipe to see what the hell happened .. And that was the only point I had made

 

[THE JUICEMAN]

Jailbreaking will fix most if not all of these issues. At least it would fix mine.

 

[b166er]

To be fair Notifications on Android aren't exactly always great, but I do like them over iOS. iOS is ok, but I'll never understand how there is no banner icons for email/sms/etc. There is a banner icon to remind me that I switched the phone into silent, but no banner icon to let me know I have email. From day one I thought that was weird considering phones have been doing this since the days way before iPhone.

I am one of the people that really like the LED on certain Androids. I never understood why Apple, with all their attention to detail and design, never snuck in an LED light in some sexy fashion (like integrated into the home button). And since you can customize what the LED does on Android, there is no reason Apple couldn't add that. That way if you really hate it you can just deactivate it.

 

[Switchback666]

Completely incorrect as you can set it to keep going off after.

Your whole request is kinda asinine anyways. God forbid you have to hit the power button of a phone that's always in your hands to see who called you.

Lol i dont know why people dont point out the fact that the damn phone needs to be placed upside down for the flash to be any use 😱 you can say whatever you want but i bet most people dont place their phones with the screen facing down were it will scratch etc.

Dont compare iphone flashing led with android approach, for the love of god you can even change the color of the light for each notification 🙂 with iphone its all the same plus works and looks soooo not apple lol

I would kill for my home button to glow like the blackberrys used to do.

 

[mattopotamus]

Lol i dont know why people dont point out the fact that the damn phone needs to be placed upside down for the flash to be any use 😱 you can say whatever you want but i bet most people dont place their phones with the screen facing down were it will scratch etc.

Dont compare iphone flashing led with android approach, for the love of god you can even change the color of the light for each notification 🙂 with iphone its all the same plus works and looks soooo not apple lol

I would kill for my home button to glow like the blackberrys used to do.

oddly enough I do this with my nexus b.c the speaker is on the bottom, and I miss a lot of calls if it is face up.

 

[JH-]

As a recent convert to Android from iOS, I'm not terribly impressed by Android notifications. The LED notification is annoying. I have alerts from ESPN, and unless I'm looking at the phone when they come in, I get half the information compared to what I used to get on Android.

Do you mean iOS in your last sentence?

 

[adder7712]

Jailbreaking will fix most if not all of these issues. At least it would fix mine.

I think most would appreciate a good out-of-the box experience without resorting to a jailbreak.

On my S III, you can assign different LED colours to indicate the type of notification. Some messaging apps (WhatsApp) allows you to specify a colour to indicate notifications from that particular app. Example, blue for missed calls, white for WhatsApp messages.

Other than notification, the light also shows whether the device is fully charged up or that the battery is running dry.

 

[THE JUICEMAN]

I think most would appreciate a good out-of-the box experience without resorting to a jailbreak.

Agreed. I think android is superior here for sure.

 

[C DM]

To be fair Notifications on Android aren't exactly always great, but I do like them over iOS. iOS is ok, but I'll never understand how there is no banner icons for email/sms/etc. There is a banner icon to remind me that I switched the phone into silent, but no banner icon to let me know I have email. From day one I thought that was weird considering phones have been doing this since the days way before iPhone.

I am one of the people that really like the LED on certain Androids. I never understood why Apple, with all their attention to detail and design, never snuck in an LED light in some sexy fashion (like integrated into the home button). And since you can customize what the LED does on Android, there is no reason Apple couldn't add that. That way if you really hate it you can just deactivate it.

Banner/status bar icon in iOS when the phone is on silent/vibrate? Don't think even that's there.

----------

Notifications that stay long after the message is looked at. I mean for weeks you have to go and get rid of them manually. alarms and notifications going off in your ear while on the phone.

Notifications only stay in some cases, in most they disappear as soon as you look at the app related to them.

Things have also been improved (in iOS 7) as far as notifications going off while you are on the phone.

 

[THE JUICEMAN]

As a prime example a tap talk quote notification is continuing to clutter my notification center after I have clicked on it, went to the app, viewed the notification and closed the app. Why? I think this is a developer issue. It does this on other apps too including when my tweets have been favorited. Very frustrating. *goes to double tap the little x*. First works pains I know.

 

[C DM]

Completely incorrect as you can set it to keep going off after.

Your whole request is kinda asinine anyways. God forbid you have to hit the power button of a phone that's always in your hands to see who called you.

Yeah...it's the completely rational and useful request that asinine...right. 🙄

----------

As a prime example a tap talk quote notification is continuing to clutter my notification center after I have clicked on it, went to the app, viewed the notification and closed the app. Why? I think this is a developer issue. It does this on other apps too including when my tweets have been favorited. Very frustrating. *goes to double tap the little x*. First works pains I know.

Definitely happens for some apps, but not for many others, which means it's likely more of a particular app/developer thing (as mentioned) tether than a general iOS notification center thing.

 

[Tinmania]

I'm quite familiar on how you can customize the color of the LED flash and it's patterns on Android OS (I had a Evo 4G) but it still doesn't tell you who the person is that called, texted or e-mailed.

You don't sound all that familiar with Android to me. I can look at my phone and immediately know if I have a missed call or text from my girlfriend, daughter, or work.

To try and act like LED notifications aren't helpful is just plain silly in my opinion: they are.



Michael

 

[Armen]

You don't sound all that familiar with Android to me. I can look at my phone and immediately know if I have a missed call or text from my girlfriend, daughter, or work.

To try and act like LED notifications aren't helpful is just plain silly in my opinion: they are.



Michael

There is a reason I don't know the latest version of Android. It's because I left Android at 2.3.4 and came back to iOS. Personally, I'm not a fan of tacky flashing lights on a phone and I don't think Apple is either. I have 5 other ways of knowing someone tried to contact me. I don't need a 6th.

 

[C DM]

There is a reason I don't know the latest version of Android. It's because I left Android at 2.3.4 and came back to iOS. Personally, I'm not a fan of tacky flashing lights on a phone and I don't think Apple is either. I have 5 other ways of knowing someone tried to contact me. I don't need a 6th.

Which one of those ways tell you someone contacted you when you were away from your phone for a while and then walk by the room it's in and see it across the room as you walk by?

 

[Technarchy]

Which one of those ways tell you someone contacted you when you were away from your phone for a while and then walk by the room it's in and see it across the room as you walk by?

I agree...However what are the odds of you picking up your phone and checking it anyway? Probably pretty high.

At least iOS gives you lock screen notifications where you can determine at a glance if you want to bother unlocking your device and taking an action.

Though with android you can see your status bar icons and pull down notification center to see what it's going on.

iOS makes it a little easier, but not a huge deal either way.

 

[jrswizzle]

You don't sound all that familiar with Android to me. I can look at my phone and immediately know if I have a missed call or text from my girlfriend, daughter, or work.

To try and act like LED notifications aren't helpful is just plain silly in my opinion: they are.



Michael

Even though I haven't experienced any benefit from having an LED light option, I can see why some feel they are useful.

Can't for the life of me understand why its such a make-or-break issue. Perhaps its because of the lack of lock screen notifications? Or maybe just use case differences. I generally always have my phone on me so I know when I get a notification. I pull the phone out of my pocket and (1) look for a light which tells me whats happening or (2) see the notification on the screen.

OR

My phone is in another room. I get notifications (one or multiple). I can walk into the room and glance from afar and see what color light is flashing (though if I have multiple notifications from different apps, does it cycle through the colors - so then I need to watch from afar until it stops cycling through the colors?) or I can walk a little further into the room, tap the home button and see the notifications on the screen.

or I'll just see the notifications when I pick up my phone again.

 

[Armen]

Which one of those ways tell you someone contacted you when you were away from your phone for a while and then walk by the room it's in and see it across the room as you walk by?

Great example C DM so let's look at that example with both types of phones.

iPhone:

I walk by the room and wonder if I missed anything, proceed to pick up my phone, wake it up and check. If I did miss an event I would respond to it then or just contact the person later if not I lock the phone and put it back down.

Smartphone with LED indicator:

I walk by the room and see a blinking light. This blinking light may be able to tell me if its a missed call, missed e-mail or missed text but it cannot tell me of its importance. Do I keep walking? should I check it? maybe it's important?

Michael made it clear to me that you can customize the LED light's blinking pattern to indicate if a specific person is trying to contact you.

In that scenario I walk by the room and notice the blinking light is telling me that my wife texted me. Do I ignore it and walk on or answer?

Both scenarios end in the same way. The user picks up the phone to view an event.

 

[C DM]

Great example C DM so let's look at that example with both types of phones.

iPhone:

I walk by the room and wonder if I missed anything, proceed to pick up my phone, wake it up and check. If I did miss an event I would respond to it then or just contact the person later if not I lock the phone and put it back down.

Smartphone with LED indicator:

I walk by the room and see a blinking light. This blinking light may be able to tell me if its a missed call, missed e-mail or missed text but it cannot tell me of its importance. Do I keep walking? should I check it? maybe it's important?

Michael made it clear to me that you can customize the LED light's blinking pattern to indicate if a specific person is trying to contact you.

In that scenario I walk by the room and notice the blinking light is telling me that my wife texted me. Do I ignore it and walk on or answer?

Both scenarios end in the same way. The user picks up the phone to view an event.

Certaibly both scenarios wouldn't end up the same way for a lot of people. In one case I definitely have to walk over to the phone and use it to see if I missed anything of importance, in the other case if I don't see a notification light flashing (or don't see one for a missed call if I'm expecting a call) then I don't have to bother even walking up to the phone, let alone actually using it for any period of time. There's a difference.

 

[cynics]

Dear Apple: Get notifications right!

I generally prefer Android notifications.

I find them to be faster. For example I'll hear a notification from my Android devices across the room and I'll start checking my iPhone to see what it is. They never goto my iPhone first regardless of what they are unless its an app not install on my android device.

I can't get rid of a single entry in notifications. So junk mail clutters my notification center.

There is no quick interaction with iOS notifications. If you touch it, you are going to that app and out of whatever it is you were doing.

On that same point I can't touch the notification center on iOS without it screeching to a halt. Example would be YouTube, in Android I can check a notification without the video stopping. I'll stop the video if I want it too stop.

I dislike how intrusive the notifications are on iOS. Most apps put the back/cancel button at the top left. So I need to wait or swipe at, half the time opening it and fighting my way back to the original app.

Unreliability and inconsistency!! I downloaded a dumb game (some Top Gear game) and I accidentally enabled notifications when I installed it. Later I disabled them in settings. But they still came, only option I had was to delete the app! I don't think I need to mention Facebook do I? I generally get notifications of messages and they will alert sound, I rarely get other notifications and they NEVER sound. Thought it was my phone until I started finding 500+ page post on Apple discussion. Just gave up and I check it manually. To be honest what I usually do is I'll hear a Facebook notification on my Android devices then just check my iPhone.

I liked the lock screen of iOS over android then they went and f'ed it up in iOS 7! So now there is nothing I like about it.

 

[skinnylegs]

I generally prefer Android notifications.

I find them to be faster. For example I'll hear a notification from my Android devices across the room and I'll start checking my iPhone to see what it is. They never goto my iPhone first regardless of what they are unless its an app not install on my android device.

I can't get rid of a single entry in notifications. So junk mail clutters my notification center.

There is no quick interaction with iOS notifications. If you touch it, you are going to that app and out of whatever it is you were doing.

On that same point I can't touch the notification center on iOS without it screeching to a halt. Example would be YouTube, in Android I can check a notification without the video stopping. I'll stop the video if I want it too stop.

I dislike how intrusive the notifications are on iOS. Most apps put the back/cancel button at the top left. So I need to wait or swipe at, half the time opening it and fighting my way back to the original app.

Unreliability and inconsistency!! I downloaded a dumb game (some Top Gear game) and I accidentally enabled notifications when I installed it. Later I disabled them in settings. But they still came, only option I had was to delete the app! I don't think I need to mention Facebook do I? I generally get notifications of messages and they will alert sound, I rarely get other notifications and they NEVER sound. Thought it was my phone until I started finding 500+ page post on Apple discussion. Just gave up and I check it manually. To be honest what I usually do is I'll hear a Facebook notification on my Android devices then just check my iPhone.

I liked the lock screen of iOS over android then they went and f'ed it up in iOS 7! So now there is nothing I like about it.

Android notifications are superior when it comes to actually managing the events. Like the OP said the ability to swipe away individual notifications is great. If I get 5 emails but only care about 1 I can get rid of the other 4 and keep that one in my notification shade as a to do. With iOS I have to either leave them all there or dismiss them all.

Also the ability to act on the notification right from the notification shade is great. Like others have said you can reply, mark as read, or even share right from the shade.

One thing I hate about iOS notifications is if I get certain notifications and I click on them through the notification center it takes me to the app but does not clear the notification out of the center. What?!? That really bothers me.

Well spoken, gentleman. Interesting how this thread has 'kinda exploded. Many people have spoken about flashing LED's and honestly, my beef is with the notification curtain or whatever you want to call it.