Time Sensitive notifications are messages your phone treats as urgent and shows you when ready, even when Do Not Disturb is on
A Time Sensitive notification is a category Apple created (on iPhone and iPad) to let certain apps bypass your Do Not Disturb settings. When an app sends a Time Sensitive notification, your phone will light up, make a sound, and show the message on your lock screen — regardless of whether you have Do Not Disturb enabled, your phone is in Silent mode, or you have notifications from that app turned off entirely.
Android has a similar system called priority notifications, which work the same way: they interrupt you even when you have set your phone to quiet. The idea behind both systems is that some messages genuinely cannot wait — a delivery driver at your door, a medical alert, a payment fraud warning — and you should see them when ready.
The catch is that apps can mark notifications as Time Sensitive without your permission, and you cannot always tell which ones will do it until they start arriving. This means a retailer, a social media platform, or a game can wake your phone up at 3 a.m. if they decide their message is "urgent."
Key Takeaways
- Time Sensitive notifications override Do Not Disturb and Silent mode on iPhones; Android calls the same feature priority notifications.
- Apps can mark their own messages as Time Sensitive without asking you first, so you may not know which apps will interrupt you.
- On iPhone, you can turn off Time Sensitive notifications for individual apps in Settings > Notifications, or disable the feature entirely for apps that abuse it.
- On Android, you can lower notification importance levels in Settings > Apps > [App Name] > Notifications, which prevents priority notifications from that app.
- Legitimate Time Sensitive notifications come from delivery services, banks, health apps, and emergency services — not from shopping apps or games.
Why Apple and Android created Time Sensitive notifications
Both companies recognized that Do Not Disturb and Silent mode were too blunt. If you turn on Do Not Disturb at night, you want to sleep — but you also want your delivery driver to reach you, or your bank to alert you to fraud, or a family member to get through in an emergency. A blanket silence meant missing genuinely important messages.
Time Sensitive and priority notifications were meant to solve this by letting a small number of trusted apps wake you up. The system assumes that if an app is sending a Time Sensitive notification, it has a good reason: the package is here, the payment failed, the blood sugar is low.
The problem is that Apple and Android do not police which apps use this power. They set the rules, but they do not review every notification each app sends. That means a shopping app can mark a flash sale as Time Sensitive. A social media platform can mark a comment reply as urgent. A game can mark a limited-time offer as Time Sensitive. None of these are emergencies, but your phone will treat them that way.
How to turn off Time Sensitive notifications on iPhone
On iPhone, you control Time Sensitive notifications in the same place you control all notifications: Settings > Notifications. Open the app you want to adjust, and look for a toggle labeled Time Sensitive. If the toggle is on (blue), that app can interrupt you. If it is off (gray), it cannot.
You can turn off Time Sensitive for individual apps — for example, keep it on for your delivery service but turn it off for a shopping app. Or you can disable it entirely for an app by turning off all notifications from that app.
If you want to be more aggressive, you can also change the notification style for an app from Prominent to Quiet. Prominent notifications show on your lock screen and can be Time Sensitive. Quiet notifications go straight to your notification center and cannot interrupt you, even if the app tries to mark them as urgent.
How to turn off priority notifications on Android
Android's system is slightly different. Open Settings > Apps, find the app you want to control, and tap Notifications. Look for a setting called Importance level or Notification importance (the exact name varies by phone maker and Android version).
The importance levels usually run from High to Low. If you set an app to Low or Medium importance, it cannot send priority notifications that interrupt you. High importance is what allows priority notifications through.
You can also turn off notifications from that app entirely by toggling off the main Notifications switch. Some Android phones also let you create a custom notification profile that blocks priority notifications during certain hours — a middle ground between allowing them always and never.
Which apps should actually use Time Sensitive notifications
Legitimate Time Sensitive notifications come from a narrow set of apps: delivery and logistics services (your driver is here), banking and payment apps (fraud detected, payment failed), health and medical apps (medication reminder, glucose alert), and emergency services (911 apps, weather alerts, public safety warnings).
Apps that should not use Time Sensitive notifications include social media platforms, shopping and retail apps, games, news apps, and entertainment services. A like, a comment, a sale, a new level, or a headline is not urgent. Neither is a promotional message, a limited-time offer, or a "come back and play" reminder.
If an app is sending you Time Sensitive notifications for things that are not actually time-sensitive, that is a sign the app is trying to manipulate your attention. Turning off Time Sensitive for that app is the right move.
The difference between Time Sensitive and other notification types
iPhone notifications come in a few categories. Prominent notifications show on your lock screen and can be Time Sensitive. Quiet notifications go to your notification center and never interrupt you. Critical notifications are a separate, even more powerful category that only health and safety apps can use — they bypass Do Not Disturb, Silent mode, and mute switches. You cannot turn off Critical notifications.
Android uses importance levels instead. High importance notifications can be priority notifications and will show a heads-up alert. Default importance notifications show in your notification center but do not interrupt. Low importance notifications are silent. The system does not let most apps use the highest levels — only system apps and apps you have explicitly allowed.
The key difference is that Time Sensitive is a choice the app makes about each individual message, while notification style or importance level is a choice you make about the entire app. You set the app's permission once, and every notification from that app follows the same rules.
What to do if an app keeps sending Time Sensitive notifications you do not want
First, turn off Time Sensitive for that app in your notification settings. If the app continues to interrupt you, it may be using a different mechanism — some apps send notifications through a web service or a backend system that the phone cannot always distinguish from Time Sensitive.
If turning off Time Sensitive does not work, lower the app's notification importance level (on Android) or change it to Quiet (on iPhone). If that still does not work, turn off notifications from that app entirely. You can always check the app manually later if you want to see what it sent.
If you want to report the app for abusing Time Sensitive notifications, you can leave a review in the App Store or Google Play explaining the problem. App makers do pay attention to reviews that mention notification abuse, especially if multiple people report the same issue.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I turn off Time Sensitive notifications for all apps at once?
Not on iPhone — you have to adjust each app individually. On Android, you can create a notification profile or schedule that blocks priority notifications during certain hours, which is a partial solution. The fastest way on either phone is to go through your most-used apps and turn off Time Sensitive for the ones that abuse it.
Will turning off Time Sensitive notifications mean I miss important messages?
Only if you turn it off for apps that actually send urgent messages — like your delivery service or your bank. For shopping apps, games, and social media, turning off Time Sensitive means you will see the notification when you check your phone, just not at 3 a.m. That is the point.
What is the difference between Time Sensitive and Critical notifications?
Critical notifications are even more powerful than Time Sensitive. They bypass everything — Do Not Disturb, Silent mode, and the mute switch. Only health and safety apps can send them, and you cannot turn them off. Time Sensitive can be turned off by you.
If I turn off notifications from an app entirely, will I still get Time Sensitive messages from it?
No. If you toggle off all notifications from an app, that app cannot send you any notifications at all, including Time Sensitive ones. This is the nuclear option if an app is being particularly aggressive.
Do all apps know how to send Time Sensitive notifications?
No. Older apps and smaller apps may not have implemented the feature. If you do not see a Time Sensitive toggle in an app's notification settings, that app either does not use the feature or has not updated to support it yet.