How to manage notifications in iOS 17 and iPadOS 17

Notifications on your iPhone can be many things. They can be useful reminders for productivity's sake, stressors in the bounds of work or school-related notifications, or even anxiety-inducing in some instances.

While iOS 15 helped to give a much-needed facelift to notifications on iOS, Apple has made additional improvements to notifications since then.

As it stands in iOS 17 and iPadOS 17, you have the ability to set up notifications to appear in Standby on your iPhone and modify how your notifications appear on your lock screen (if at all).

Notifications on lock screen

Perhaps the most significant change to notifications since 2021 came with the refreshed lock screens introduced by iOS 16 last year. Alongside the stylistic options introduced in the update, users were also given control over how notifications appear on their lock screen.

Rather than the traditional list that's been present for the vast majority of the iPhone and iPad's existence, users now have the option to make notifications appear as a stack on the bottom of the lack screen that can be expanded into list form, in addition to the option to have a notification appear at the bottom of the lock screen in lieu of a list or a stack.

How to change how notifications appear in iOS 17 and iPadOS 17

Changing how your notifications appear on your lock screen is fairly simple:

1. Open Settings
2. Tap Notifications
3. The three different display settings will be the first set of options available in the Notifications menu

StandBy notifications

Apple's iOS 17 brought StandBy to the iPhone, which allows users to use their iPhone as a desk clock or alarm clock when the phone is plugged in and placed horizontally. While the mode can primarily be used to show you the time alongside a widget or photo album, you can still receive notifications in this setup.

How to show notifications in StandBy for iOS 17

To receive notifications within StandBy:

1. Open Settings
2. Scroll down and tap into StandBy
3. In the StandBy menu, tick the Show Notifications option.
4. Optionally, you can also set the notifications to only show a preview upon being tapped.

Notably, no matter what you choose for notifications being displayed in StandBy, critical notifications will always be shown in StandBy.

Although iOS 17 and iPadOS 17 haven't delivered the size of an update to notifications that iOS and iPadOS 15 brought, these updates have still made notifications on your Apple devices a much different experience than they were just a few years ago. With the newer features in mind, you'll be on your way to your ideal notification management in no time.