Android notifications and top row icons are a major frustration

[radman2020]

My phone is always giving me notifications...but it is often not clear what they are for. I have tried to turn off notifications from apps like facebook and scramble with friends. I need it to notify me about text messages and that's about it.

It is always going off. WIth texts, I get a popup. If there is no popup, I am clueless of the source. I go to the notification pulldown and there are lots of things there. If the notification is listed that caused the notification sound, I have no way to know which it was. There are ads there and all kinds of other seemingly random things.

This is a major frustration. There needs to be a central control for notifications. Every time my notification sound goes off, I should be able to go to the dropdown and see it at the top, timed.

A second similar issue are all the icons at the top. There are tons of them. They are useless in that there is often no way of knowing what they stand for and why they are up there. More are visible when I hold the phone sideways which means I am not seeing many of them anyway. Android needs a way to have the useful icons up there and have a place that tells us which stand for what.

These two issues (and the lack of a real switch to turn off/on sound) are the issues that keep android phones from being clearly better than iphone. THey are better on every other count. Why can't they address these glaring issues that everyone complains about?

Thoughts? Suggestions?

 

[gtbarry]

I go to the notification pulldown and there are lots of things there.

Install less stuff. Android, the day you opened the box, isn't going to be giving all those notifications. You have installed new apps that are giving you notifications. You should have read your permissions or about he app when you downloaded it or gone into the settings to disable the app when you installed it. Unlike apple phones, your sins are not sanitized for you with Android.

There are tons of them. They are useless in that there is often no way of knowing what they stand for and why they are up there.

Long press the notification in question. It will say "App Info" it takes you to the Android settings for that app and at the top of the screen uncheck "Show Notifications" to stop them

Thoughts? Suggestions?

I forget the app name but someone will probably post it soon. It will let you know what apps are notifying you.

 

[radman2020]

I can't do anything with "install less stuff" I install what I find useful. Many things have notifications but each app has a different way of notifying. Need a central place. Wait! Android has that - the notification screen.. but it doesn't show the notifications in a helpful or complete way. I get a chirp from my phone and I may or may not be able to find out the source. Again, some of these are ads that seem to come in and notify and I can't figure out how they got there.

As for long pressing the icons, they are way too small to do that. When I press up in that region, I get a bar that comes down with the date and time.

I would love to know the name of the app that tells me about the notifications.

 

[bigjoncoop]

do u use Google play store to download all ur Apps? the ads that show up there are from Apps you've installed. Google store does not allow Apps to do that but some sneak by. u can use " air push detector " from play store. it will tell u what Apps are putting ads on ur notification bar.

hope this helps

 

[breadnatty08]

Each app you install will have a section for Settings where you can control when or if you get notifications. Have you checked there?
I get email and text notifications but have turned off notifications for everything else. It takes a minute, but it's possible.

 

[chanchan05]

Just press the notification from the pull down shade and it will take you to the app with that notification, unless its an ad.

Airpush ads are frowned upon, and the only way to remove them is to uninstall the related app. You can always look for an alternative to that app with no airpush ads.

 

[nickdalzell]

There is also go launcher notification for those like myself who actually prefer the iOS style number badges over a cluttered notification bar as well