Missing alerts/reminders because of fingerprint sensor

[wacky4alanis]

I absolutely love the fingerprint sensor on my 5s, but the main drawback for me is that the screen unlocks sooo fast that I tend to miss all of my notifications on the lock screen. I missed a doctor's appt yesterday because of it. Is there a simple solution to this problem? I would prefer all of my lock-screen notifications to be persistent until I manually swipe them away. I really don't like the fact that unlocking my phone permanently gets rid of them. Sometimes I'll even see them out of the corner of my eye just as the screen unlocks and they disappear, but then have no clue what it was or how to get it back LOL

 

[dave420]

Easiest way may be to simply wake the phone up by pressing the power button instead of the home button. Or press the home button with a finger that isn't registered with Touch ID. Also you could check the notification center more frequently. The notification center should give you reminders for the day, as well as missed calls.

 

[wacky4alanis]

I'm not going to do something that slows down my daily work flow just to make sure I don't miss a notification. I only get them like once a month, but when I DO get one, I don't want to miss it. Upon searching, I have found that there are some calendar and to-do apps that apparently offer more persistent alerts with snooze features (CalenGoo and Due are 2 examples). I was just hoping that there was a setting for the native calendar app that would do something similar to help ensure I don't miss calendar alarms in the future.

 

[sclawis300]

just go into notification center. or maybe have it automatically create a reminder when you schedule something on your calendar.

 

[wacky4alanis]

just go into notification center. or maybe have it automatically create a reminder when you schedule something on your calendar.

I already have a reminder set up in my calendar. The problem is that sometimes I don't hear it because I'm in a noisy place. And then when I eventually do pick up my phone to use it, I don't see the lock-screen notification because I am too fast at unlocking the screen with the fingerprint sensor.

And if I always checked the notification center every 5 minutes, I wouldn't need the alarm in the first place.

I think there are 2 basic problems here:

1. The audible calendar alarm is not loud enough and too easy to miss, especially at a restaurant or in a car
2. The lock screen notification was a great back-up to the audible alarm and would regularly save me before I got the 5s, but now I even miss those sometimes due to the speed of the fingerprint sensor

I basically need the phone to go bananas (visually, audibly, or both) and not stop until I manually tell it to shut up.

 

[Small White Car]

I'm not going to do something that slows down my daily work flow

But how is his suggestion any slower?

iOS 6:
1) Press home button to awaken phone
2) Read lock screen
3) Swipe to unlock
4) Type in passcode


iOS 7, using dave420's suggestion:
1) Press home button with thumbnail or wrong finger
2) Read lock screen
3) Press Touch ID with proper finger


If anything, Dave's suggestion looks faster to me than what you used to do. Am I missing something?

 

[kingdLo]

Isn't it pretty easy to just switch the 'Alert' pop up option for the calendar app. Still get lock screen notifications, and also get the 'old style' popups for alerts instead of the banners.

 

[Shockwave78]

They should implement a selection bubble on the lock screen notifications, so instead of swiping and then doing your fingerprint, you just tap and select which one you want to view and then do touchid.

 

[sclawis300]

Change the alarm sound to something different. Also make the sound repeat. Also, why would you need to check the notification center every five minutes? Check you calendar first thing and see what appointments you have for the day.

 

[C DM]

I already have a reminder set up in my calendar. The problem is that sometimes I don't hear it because I'm in a noisy place. And then when I eventually do pick up my phone to use it, I don't see the lock-screen notification because I am too fast at unlocking the screen with the fingerprint sensor.

And if I always checked the notification center every 5 minutes, I wouldn't need the alarm in the first place.

I think there are 2 basic problems here:

1. The audible calendar alarm is not loud enough and too easy to miss, especially at a restaurant or in a car
2. The lock screen notification was a great back-up to the audible alarm and would regularly save me before I got the 5s, but now I even miss those sometimes due to the speed of the fingerprint sensor

I basically need the phone to go bananas (visually, audibly, or both) and not stop until I manually tell it to shut up.

You can assign a different sound to something like calendar alerts.

As for alerts themselves, if you have them on the lock screen and then unlock the phone they should still be there in the notification center, and likely even under the missed tap to isolate the ones that specifically came up while your phone was locked last time.

That said, the bigger issue that might be behind all of this when it comes to calendar alerts is that they disappear after the event is over. So, if you had a 1 hour meeting and got the alert for it and by the time you checked your phone it was after the meeting ended, the alert would no longer be there for you to see it in the notification center. This doesn't apply to other things like missed calls or other notifications/alerts, just calendar ones it seems. Kind of a downgrade as far as usability in iOS 7 when it comes to those alerts.

 

[wacky4alanis]

Thanks to everybody for your suggestions. Changing the sound from a short little chime to a long ringtone is a huge gain IMHO. I am much more likely to hear it. Similarly, I found that there is a way to set a manual vibrate pattern - which can also be made much longer than the default vibration.

But the most fool-proof (I being the fool haha) solution I found was an app called Calengoo. It has an option that will keep sending you reminders every minute until you manually swipe the reminder and tell the app you're good to go. I don't see myself missing any more appointments...

----------

But how is his suggestion any slower?

iOS 6:
1) Press home button to awaken phone
2) Read lock screen
3) Swipe to unlock
4) Type in passcode


iOS 7, using dave420's suggestion:
1) Press home button with thumbnail or wrong finger
2) Read lock screen
3) Press Touch ID with proper finger


If anything, Dave's suggestion looks faster to me than what you used to do. Am I missing something?

You're missing the main reason that I love my fingerprint sensor. I routinely unlock my phone without even looking at it. That wasn't possible on iOS 6, which is why I never had the problem before. I'm not going to stop using my favorite new feature just to prevent myself from missing a random appointment every few months - especially if there is an app out there that will make sure I don't miss it.

----------

They should implement a selection bubble on the lock screen notifications, so instead of swiping and then doing your fingerprint, you just tap and select which one you want to view and then do touchid.

I found that you can still do the touchid even after swiping, and it will bring you into the proper app.

----------

Isn't it pretty easy to just switch the 'Alert' pop up option for the calendar app. Still get lock screen notifications, and also get the 'old style' popups for alerts instead of the banners.

That only helps if your phone is already unlocked... Otherwise you still just get a lockscreen notification that goes away when you unlock the phone.

 

[goobot]

If you saw that you had a notification and don't know what it was just look in notification center.

 

[Small White Car]

You're missing the main reason that I love my fingerprint sensor. I routinely unlock my phone without even looking at it.

So you want to see notifications but you don't want to look at the screen at all?

I'm really not sure what you're asking for then, because ANY idea people have will involve looking at the screen.

 

[Bob999]

Missing Alerts and Reality

Hi all - I just had to register and reply to this thread. Thank you wackyforalanis for the tip about Calengoo I will be checking that out.
To those of you who replied,I would like to thank you for your thoughts/advice - although mostly it was very unhelpful - and I would also at the risk of being banned like to point out to those unhelpful experts that unlike normal people, I and the starter of this thread, dont live with nor live by my Iphone. Quite often I have returned to where my Iphone was left and when I open the Iphone there is nothing to indicate that a Calendar reminder has come and is now gone. I have missed a couple of appointments because of this and am very grateful for the useful tip (never hapenned with my BBerry). Please dont be angry or upset, but many times a normal person who doesn't live with their Iphone asks this forum a question, and are treated with distain/contempt by those 'experts' who know everything about how their Iphone organises their life, but nothing much about organising it themselves. As I said, I hope I am not banned, but I dont care anyway as I can always just read the answers - and there are often good ones. But please be patient with us 'dummies' who do not carry the Iphone with us everywhere and have no desire to let it rule our lives - social or work. Iphone leaves BBery for dead - but there are some quirky differences (like this one) that I am learning about- and I am sure many other 'part time' Iphone users are in the same boat.

 

[stevemiller]

I don't think the suggestions were at all that people should have to revolve their life around the phone. While a persistent and vocal calendar app sounds like the right fit in this particular case, I don't think there is anything constructive about tearing down the other suggestions.

I do think a compromise would be if apple added a system wide blinking notifier (maybe next to the battery like location services) to alert a user that there are unread notifications.

 

[alFR]

Quite often I have returned to where my Iphone was left and when I open the Iphone there is nothing to indicate that a Calendar reminder has come and is now gone. I have missed a couple of appointments because of this and am very grateful for the useful tip (never hapenned with my BBerry).

If you are relying on the phone for reminders about appointments but don't have your phone with you / in earshot for so long that not only do you miss the start time of the appointment but the end of it as well then I don't think the problem is really with the phone. The same problem would occur if you had a paper diary/calendar, a Blackberry or an Android phone and didn't have it with you or check it regularly: you'd still have missed your appointment, whether there was a reminder still on the screen or not.

 

[Chatter]

So you want to see notifications but you don't want to look at the screen at all?

I'm really not sure what you're asking for then, because ANY idea people have will involve looking at the screen.

Cracked me up...

 

[Bob999]

Like I said...........

To Stevemiller - I hear you,but I am not trying to shoot others down - just to get them to listen (as below). Like your idea about a persistent alarm - might have found one - Alarmed ~ Reminders + Timers - Itunes store.

To ALfr - the same problem would NOT happen and DOES NOT happen with a paper diary or a Bberry. I walk to diary - open the page at today - it tells me what appts I have. I walk to BBerry - press button the deactivate blank screem lock - and any appointment reminder stays on the screen unless I either cancel or snooze. I walk to Iphone and press button to deactivate screen lock - any reminder then disappears - I dont see it !!!

To Chatter - when I walk to Iphone the screen is blank (locked) and when I press button to deactivate screen lock - any reminder then disappears - I dont see it !!! (twice for the slow ones).

PLEASE LISTEN !!

 

[Mbovilsky]

Like I said...........

To Stevemiller - I hear you,but I am not trying to shoot others down - just to get them to listen (as below). Like your idea about a persistent alarm - might have found one - Alarmed ~ Reminders + Timers - Itunes store.

To ALfr - the same problem would NOT happen and DOES NOT happen with a paper diary or a Bberry. I walk to diary - open the page at today - it tells me what appts I have. I walk to BBerry - press button the deactivate blank screem lock - and any appointment reminder stays on the screen unless I either cancel or snooze. I walk to Iphone and press button to deactivate screen lock - any reminder then disappears - I dont see it !!!

To Chatter - when I walk to Iphone the screen is blank (locked) and when I press button to deactivate screen lock - any reminder then disappears - I dont see it !!! (twice for the slow ones).

PLEASE LISTEN !!

I agree whole heartedly with the original post. The new iPhone 6s has even better fingerprint scanner, which grabs your print and unlocks even if you just quickly tap the home button.

But it is also worse for the reason stated. Notifications flash for a brief moment between the time the phone wakes up and it unlocking. You just have to pull down the notification window IF you noticed there were pending notifications, but I often don't notice and I turn miss calendar reminders on occasion.

My fix would be for the Lock screen to be the notification screen. Clearing one notification should not clear the whole lock screen.

 

[techedude]

Dude just use a different finger thats not in your touch id settings. You will get to the lock screen to see your notifications. People need to use common sense once in awhile and not go straight to a forum for an answer.

 

[Mbovilsky]

Dude just use a different finger thats not in your touch id settings. You will get to the lock screen to see your notifications. People need to use common sense once in awhile and not go straight to a forum for an answer.

Ha ha, dude, read the guy's posts. I unlock my phone 20 times a day and there are notifications only a few times a week. That is a shocking waste of time. And using any finger but my thumb on my right hand is inconvenient just like using two hands is a similarly silly suggestion. Unlocking with power button, then checking the lock screen for notifications, and then unlocking is at least not a silly suggestion but again a pretty complex procedure for a pretty simple and rare situation.

Here is another oddity. Why doesn't the badge icon display when an unacknowledged reminder has popped? Every other app has a badge icon when something happens that requires your attention. Why not calendar?

I stuck with a Blackberry for years after is was unfashionable because of this exact limitation - reminders are just not persistent like the should be.