How to turn off push notifications on desktops, iPhone and Android

Push notifications can be really annoying: here’s how to disable them on desktops, iPhones and Android devices.

The push notifications are those alerts with which the applications and sites communicate real-time information and news. For example, if you receive a new email the iPhone can be set to notify you automatically. The same applies to Facebook, which can send you a push notification regarding a new friend request or a comment to your post.

However, not all push notifications are welcome. In fact, these warnings often appear on the display or on the PC monitor at inopportune moments, or they simply turn out to be useless and annoying. They can also impact consumption by reducing the battery life of the smartphone. This is why it is useful to know how to deactivate or manage them manually.

How to disable push notifications on iPhone

1. Go to Settings 
2. Select Notifications 
3. From the list of your apps find the one for which you want to disable the notifications, click and move the lever to the left in the entry Allow notifications

To remove the push notifications that you have arrived on the iPhone or iPad even faster you can view the Notification Center by scrolling from the top of the screen down and pressing the X located in the upper right.

On iOS 11 opening the Notifications shows the item Show preview and you can choose between Always, Screen unlocked and Never.

If you want to go further with the personalization of notifications you can use other useful options such as the ability to hide notifications from the lock screen, disable notification previews or simply show alerts from your contacts.

How to silence push notifications

You have selected the apps that can send you notifications and those that can not do it, but how to do it in those moments when you do not want to be interrupted by any notification, useful or useless? For cases like this Apple introduced the Do Not Disturb (the moon icon in the Control Center). Once activated, you will not receive calls or notifications of any kind.

Turn off Android push notifications

To disable annoying push notifications on a device with Android 8 Oreo:

  • Go to Settings> Apps and Notifications
  • Select Notifications
  • Select the desired app from the list of apps installed on the device and move the lever to the left

Android 7.0 or earlier

With the previous versions of the operating system the procedure for deactivating notifications may change slightly depending on the model of device used, but in general it is sufficient:

  • Go to Settings> Apps
  • Choose the app for which you want to disable notifications
  • Press Notifications and select Block all

Alternatively, you can set your smartphone to Do Not Disturb, which allows you to turn off sounds and vibrations and interruptions and warnings. Just scroll from the bottom of the screen upwards and press Do not disturb, optionally activate only priority notifications excluding all others. To do this you will have to select Priority only and choose the duration of this setting.

Turn off push notifications on the desktop

In addition to applications, websites can also support push notifications. We think of Facebook, or simply the information sites that notify the latest news not to be missed. Notifications on the desktop appear in the lower right corner, and pressing on X can be hidden on the spot. Let’s see, however, how to disable them and make sure that they do not arrive anymore.

Let’s say that by default Chrome notifies you when a site, app or extension wants to send notifications, and this option can be changed at any time.

To block the push notifications on the PC:

  • open Chrome
  • click on the three dots icon in the upper right corner
  • Go to Settings> Advanced> Privacy and Security
  • Click on Content Settings and then Notifications
  • Choose to block notifications

Remember: if you’ve turned on incognito mode, push notifications will not reach you even if you’ve selected Allow notifications. 
To block all notifications and avoid the problem upstream, from the Notifications menu deactivate the option Ask before sending. 
At the last minute you can block the site that continuously sends push notifications: just click “Add” next to “Block”, indicate the site and click “Add”.

One last piece of advice

Every time you install a new app and use it for the first time, you will probably receive a pop-up asking if you want to receive push notifications or not. This is your chance to take control of your notifications and decide immediately whether to activate them or not. Think about it: it’s a really useful app that tells you important information and you want to have it always available? If the answer is yes, press OK to enable push notifications. If not, or if you’re not sure, choose Do not allow, with the certainty that you can always switch back to Settings> Notifications and activate them later if necessary.

Leave a Comment