• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

Help Pixel 2 XL: Can't change app notification sounds

GamerCore

GamerCore

Android Enthusiast
Is this is a bug?

I've tried changing the default notification tones inside of apps like Google Voice, Twitter, Messenger, etc., and the phone still uses the system default (despite the apps showing a different tone).

I'm guessing this is another one of those weird software issues Google will fix later? Anyone else having this problem?

UPDATE:
Annnnnnnnd... I figured it out. Anyone else having the same issue changing the notification sound inside apps, you'll have to do it from Settings > Apps & notifications > See all X apps > (tap on desired app) > App notifications.

Under Categories, you'll need to choose which notification category to change the sound. For instance, if you want to change the ringtone when you receive new messages in Allo, you'll need to tap on the Messages category > Sound > (desired notification tone).

YOU CAN'T CHANGE THE NOTIFICATION TONE FROM INSIDE THE APP. At least not yet....
 
Last edited:
When I came across this post I thought I found a work around and was happy..then I tried it and it didnt work for me. ONE app has different sound, and that is gmail because at some point it allowed me to change it..but now I cant change it back.. Have you tried it again since you wrote this. Something weird is going on with this!
 
found out why...its because I had developer mode turned on. I had changed gmail sound prior to enabling developer mode..turned it on and no sounds could be changed... Some searching through the net and posts on forums and found it...Now to solve my impossible bluetooth issue with Android wear, the huawei 2 and the car bluetooth...that one ive been struggling with for months. (wont always reconnect, wotn display songs sometimes..not always)
 
I also had developer mode turned on, and couldnt change the ring tone for apps like Gmail, ect.. I turned it off, and I still dont have an option to change the ring tone. Am I missing something here?
 
My problem wasn't that there wasn't an option, it was that it would always change back to the default sound no matter what I chose.

The option is there, it's just a bit difficult to find.

->Settings->apps & notifications , select the app you want, for example Gmail, ->app notifications, then select the account you want, if you have more than one Gmail account, and then you will see the sound chosen. If developer mode was on for me, it would change back to default, after choosing something different.
 
Now if only Google could address the 20 other bugs I found.

I have been an Android user since the beginning with the T-Mobile g1. I have never encountered a phone with so many bugs. A few here and there..I can understand.. But this one...

A lot with Bluetooth especially and also with Android Wear and Bluetooth.
 
I haven't had any issues with the blue tooth. I have it paired with a sound bar, my car stereo, and a pebble time steel watch. Ive only had the phone about 2 days so far tho. *knocks on wood*
 
Does your car have a display that shows the track name?

That is one of the issues I have. The other issues revolve around the fact that I have the huwaei 2 watch which supports phone audio and results in 2 more issues. One, the car wont auto reconnect if phone audio is enabled on the watch. So this would not be an issue with the pebble as the pebble does not have phone audio. The other issue is also with the phone audio on the watch, where basically if I answer the call on the phone, it defaults to bluetooth audio and neither I can hear the other party on the call, or them me. Both are resolved right now by disabling phone audio on the watch, but that basically disables one of the best features of the watch..because the amount opf times when I was not next to the phone or could not answer the phone cause my hands were dirty, wet, oily or occupied are numerous, so answering on the watch was great. I cant do that anymore.

But also, not seeing the name of the song playing has been quite irritating...mainly cause it was there before and the issues arose when I got the oreo update on the pixel 1. If my car diudnt have a display for the songs, I probably wouldnt have noticed or cared. But now, it is rather annoying. So, to see if im the only one, does your car have a display? Another thing you could tell me and test for me is this. Do you have controls for the songs on your steering wheel and do you ever use the free google play music? Cause when I press next track on the steering wheel, I will always hear an ad (when ads are supposed to be after a few songs). If I press next through the phone, or the watch, or even the display on the car, it works fine. Before the november patch for the pixel 2, the issue was different. If I pressed skip to next track through steering wheel, it would skip exactly 4 times and then play..every time...4 skips. now its just an ad after every skip. Less annoying, but still annoying.

So it would help me to know if others have the same issues under the same circumstances. Thank you.
 
Other issues Ive had:

Display issues with certain games where portions of the screen do not tap at all, or need some effort, but I tested with screen apps to see if my display was fine. The tapping works fine.its just certain games.

The notifications with developer mode (but that has been fixed when I received november patch)

Google voice always being changed to default for outgoing calls even though I would always say not to use google voice for any calls (I think that was fixed with november patch too as it hasnt happened again lately..I think)

the Bluetooth issues mentioned above and some connectivity issue but only with certain devices (like the sphero star wars force band)

and lots of apps crashing upon start. Some have been updated by developer of the app and do not crash anymore, but others like the 360 flight app I use for connectivity to a drone, does not work. I think this crash might be bluetooth related too as it tries to connect to the drone camera to stream the video, so it crashes.
 
Does anyone know how to/can anyone direct me to help on silencing certain notifications (say, Twitter) on a lock screen whilst leaving others (email, incoming calls) active? Is it just me or has this feature been disabled? Very frustrating having to silence everything or leave every app on (or, stop getting any Twitter notifications).

(My first post, please accept my apologies if I've erred posting this here!)
 
I don't have the Twitter app installed, so don't know what notification options the app itself has.

If you go into Settings > Apps, select the app and click on "App Notifications" there may be a setting to control what the app can show on the lock screen. If there is then you are sorted: use that to turn off it's lock screen notification access without turning off notifications otherwise (I hope it actually does what you want, as I've not tested it, just noticed that it's there).

If you want to be able to temporarily block notifications from most apps but still let others through you could go into Settings > Apps & Notifications > Notifications > App Notifications and set those you do want to come through (e.g. your email app) to "Override Do not disturb" (not idea why it has that messed-up capitalisation...). Then turning DND mode on will block everything else.

Those are the only things I can think of.
 
Hadron said:
I don't have the Twitter app installed, so don't know what notification options the app itself has.

If you go into Settings > Apps, select the app and click on "App Notifications" there may be a setting to control what the app can show on the lock screen. If there is then you are sorted: use that to turn off it's lock screen notification access without turning off notifications otherwise (I hope it actually does what you want, as I've not tested it, just noticed that it's there).

If you want to be able to temporarily block notifications from most apps but still let others through you could go into Settings > Apps & Notifications > Notifications > App Notifications and set those you do want to come through (e.g. your email app) to "Override Do not disturb" (not idea why it has that messed-up capitalisation...). Then turning DND mode on will block everything else.

Those are the only things I can think of.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that - I hadn't consider using the DND feature, will try it. Used to be able to partially swipe left (on the pull down notifications menu), tap the gear icon and set how an individual app behaved (i.e. notifications appear with or without sound, regardless of global sound settings).
I use Twitter - a lot - and, with the sound or even vibrate mode on, the volume/frequency of notifications drives me crazy/saps battery life. I don't want to lose the notifications (to scroll through when I have time) so I tend to keep the phone silent, risking missing incoming calls. The only work around I have is from a Sony Smartwatch 3, so I can get vibrating notifications for calls. Thanks again, much appreciated.
 
If you do that partial swipe on a notification (direction doesn't matter) and click "more settings" it takes you to the system notification options for that app - the same place the "on the lock screen" setting lives. The options there don't include sounds by themselves, though maybe the "Allow interruptions" setting will do what you want (it stops the app disturbing you with pop-ups, sound or vibration, but isn't more fine-grained than that).

(I'm afraid I jumped from Android 5 to 8, so can't relate this phone's options to those of the previous 2 generations as I have never used 6 or 7!)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom