Where to find push notification settings on your iPhone
Push notifications on iPhone are controlled in the Settings app, not in individual apps themselves. Open Settings, then tap Notifications. From there, you can turn notifications on or off for each app one at a time, or change how they appear when they arrive.
The Notifications section is where Apple centralizes all the rules about what can interrupt you and how. This is the only place these settings live — if an app claims it can change your notification behavior from within the app itself, it's misleading you. The real control is always in Settings.
Key Takeaways
- Push notifications are managed in Settings > Notifications, where you turn them on per app and choose how they appear.
- Turning on notifications for an app means that app can send you alerts even when you're not using it, delivered to your lock screen or notification center.
- You can allow notifications but change their style — banners appear and disappear automatically, alerts require you to dismiss them, and badges just show a number on the app icon.
- Turning notifications on for an app does not mean you have to see them constantly; you can silence them during specific times using Focus modes or by adjusting sound and vibration settings.
The step-by-step process to enable notifications for a single app
Open the Settings app on your home screen. Scroll down and tap Notifications — it's usually in the upper half of the list. You'll see a list of all your apps in alphabetical order. Find the app you want to receive notifications from and tap its name.
On the app's notification settings page, look for the toggle next to "Allow Notifications" at the top. Tap it to turn it on. The toggle will turn green when it's active. Once you've done this, that app can send you push notifications.
After you turn on Allow Notifications, you'll see additional options appear below it. These let you control how the notifications look and sound, which we cover in the next section. If you don't see these options, go back and make sure the Allow Notifications toggle is actually on.
Choosing how notifications appear: banners, alerts, and badges
Once Allow Notifications is on, scroll down slightly and you'll see "Notification Style" with three choices: Banners, Alerts, and Badges. Banners appear at the top of your screen for a few seconds and then disappear on their own — you don't have to do anything. Alerts appear in the center of your screen and stay there until you tap them or dismiss them. Badges are just the small red number that appears on the app's icon.
Most people choose Banners because they deliver information without forcing you to stop what you're doing. Alerts are better if you need to see every notification and don't want to miss one. You can pick more than one — for example, you might want both banners and badges, so you see the notification when it arrives and also see a count on the icon if you miss it.
Below Notification Style, you'll see toggles for Sound and Vibration. Turn these on if you want your phone to make a noise or vibrate when a notification arrives. Turn them off if you want notifications to appear silently on your screen.
Turning off notifications for apps you don't want to hear from
If an app is sending you notifications you don't want, go back to Settings > Notifications, find that app, and tap it. Toggle off "Allow Notifications" at the top. The app will no longer send you any push notifications.
Turning off notifications for an app does not uninstall it or stop it from working — it only stops it from sending you alerts. You can still open the app and use it normally. If you change your mind later, you can come back to this same screen and turn notifications back on.
Using Focus modes to silence notifications at specific times
If you want to receive notifications from an app most of the time but silence them during sleep, work, or driving, use Focus modes instead of turning notifications off completely. Go to Settings, tap Focus, and choose or create a Focus that matches your situation — Sleep, Work, Driving, or a custom one.
Inside each Focus, you can choose which apps and people are allowed to send you notifications. For example, in your Sleep Focus, you might allow notifications only from your partner and your family group chat, but silence everything else. When that Focus is active, only the apps and people you've chosen will be able to reach you.
Focus modes are more flexible than turning notifications off entirely because they let you stay reachable for what matters while blocking everything else. You can set a Focus to turn on automatically at a certain time of day, or turn it on manually whenever you need it.
What happens after you allow notifications
Once you've turned on Allow Notifications for an app, that app can send you push notifications at any time — even when you're not using it, even when your phone is locked. The notification will appear on your lock screen, in your notification center (swipe down from the top), or as a banner or alert depending on which style you chose.
Push notifications are delivered by Apple's servers, not by the app itself. This means the app doesn't have to be running in the background for you to receive them. Apple handles the delivery, which is why these notifications are called "push" — the app pushes the message to Apple, and Apple pushes it to your phone.
If you don't interact with a notification, it stays in your notification center until you clear it manually or until it expires. You can swipe left on any notification to delete it, or tap it to open the app.
Notification settings that affect all apps at once
At the top of Settings > Notifications, before the list of individual apps, you'll see a section called "Notifications" with a few system-wide controls. One of these is "Show Previews" — this controls whether notification text appears on your lock screen or just says "1 New Notification" without showing what it says. You can set this to Always, When Unlocked, or Never.
Another option is "Notification Grouping," which lets you choose whether notifications from the same app are stacked together or listed separately. If you have many notifications, grouping them makes your notification center less cluttered.
These settings explore to all apps unless you override them in an individual app's settings. For example, if you set Show Previews to Never globally, but then go into a specific app and change it to Always, that app will show previews even though the default is off.
Frequently Asked Questions
What's the difference between allowing notifications and turning on sounds?
Allowing notifications means the app can send you alerts at all. Turning on sounds means those alerts will make a noise or vibrate. You can allow notifications but turn off sounds if you want to see alerts silently on your screen. You cannot have sounds without allowing notifications — the notification has to exist first.
If I turn on notifications for an app, will it drain my battery?
Push notifications themselves use very little battery because Apple's servers handle the delivery, not the app running in the background. The app doesn't have to stay active to receive them. Battery drain from notifications is usually negligible unless an app is misbehaving and sending hundreds of them per day.
Can I allow notifications from one person in an app but not others?
This depends on the app. Some apps like Messages and FaceTime let you customize notifications per contact in their own settings. Most other apps don't offer this level of control — you either allow notifications from the app or you don't. Check the app's own settings to see what options it provides.
Why do some apps ask for permission to send notifications when I first open them?
Apps are required by Apple to ask your permission before they can send notifications. This is a one-time prompt that appears the first time the app wants to use notifications. If you tap "Don't Allow," you can still change your mind later by going to Settings > Notifications and turning them on for that app.
Do I have to allow notifications to use an app?
No. Allowing notifications is optional. You can use any app without receiving notifications from it. If an app refuses to work unless you turn on notifications, that's a violation of Apple's rules and you should report it to Apple through the App Store.