I used to default to swiping away all of my notifications on Android, almost as if there was some virtue in achieving “notification zero” much like inbox zero. But Android has several tools to handle notifications (including new Enhanced Notifications on the Pixel) so that you don’t have to always swipe them away: you can have important ones go away for now, but come back later with notification snoozing, which is off by default. Not only that, but if you swipe away an important notification you want to go back to, you can turn on notification history, which lets you easily revisit notifications you swiped away. Again, this is off by default, but I’ll show you how to enable both of these features.
This idea of better managing notifications also has to do with maintaining your peace of mind by having a pull relationship with your notifications so that you only allow a limited number of notifications to bother you (those are “push”) versus situations where you want to deal with apps only when you’re ready (those are “pull”).
8 Android Features I Wish I Knew Sooner
I’ve been missing out, maybe you have, too.
How to turn on notification snoozing in Android
This feature is turned off by default
When you turn on notification snoozing, you get a new icon in the bottom right corner of each notification that looks like a little alarm clock. Just like when you snooze your alarm, snoozing a notification means that it goes away for now, but comes back at a pre-determined time, either 15 or 30 minutes, or one or two hours, depending on your device (Samsung Galaxy phones have more snooze increments than Pixels for some reason).
Again, this feature is off by default, but it’s easy to turn on.
Here’s how. On Samsung Galaxy, go to Settings -> Notifications -> Advanced Settings -> Enable Show Snooze Button. On a Pixel, go to Settings -> Notifications -> turn on Allow notification snoozing.
And that’s it. Now, every notification, once expanded, will have a new snooze icon you can use. You can expand a notification to reveal the snooze button in one of two ways: by tapping the down arrow on the right, or by doing a two-finger outward pinch gesture on a specific notification.
How is this useful? The way I use it is for a notification I think “This is important, but I want to deal with it later.” I proceed to snooze it so that the notification goes away, but I know it’ll come back later for me to act on. It’s a really powerful tool that’s ideal for things you don’t want to forget but don’t have the bandwidth to deal with now, like a request from your spouse or your boss.
Another cool facet of this is that if you turn on notification history per the section below, you’ll have a dashboard to see your upcoming snoozed notifications.
How to turn on notification history
Keep a record of your notifications
What if you accidentally swipe away a notification and want to see it again? If you have notification history enabled, this is never a problem because you can always go back to see all of your notifications going back about 24 hours.
While there is no way to restore a notification back in your notification shade, this history is persistent and doesn’t clear, and it preserves the link and action until it times out, meaning if you get a Slack message from your boss that you swiped away, tapping the notification in history will bring you right back to the exact message.
Here is how to access notification history, and again, you must do this as soon as possible as it doesn’t work retroactively. Go to Settings -> Notifications -> Notification History > Turn on. If you’re using a Samsung Galaxy, this toggle might be behind the sub-menu of Advanced Settings within Notification Settings.
Add a home screen shortcut for notification history
Avoid going into settings
Here’s a nice time-saver. You can add a shortcut that goes right into your notification history from your home screen so you don’t have to go into settings first. Just long-press the Home Screen -> add Widget -> Settings -> Notification history.
You must enable notification history for it to begin keeping a record of notifications going forward. It does not work retroactively, so the sooner you turn it on, the better.
Don’t just swipe your notifications away
Android lets you do more
Android has the best notification system of any mobile platform. I use my notification shade as a triage center to manage the influx of notifications I need to deal with. By using notification history and especially notification snoozing, you can have a more healthy relationship with your notifications because you’re always having to “drink from a firehose” of incoming notifications, but rather, you can deal with them when you’re ready and on your own terms.
- SoC
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Google Tensor G4
- Display
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6.3-inch Actua pOLED display, 1080 x 2424 resolution, 60-120Hz, 3000 nits peak brightness
The Google Pixel 10a is a budget-oriented smartphone with a flat back and long battery life. It’s powered by the same Tensor G4 chip as its predecessor, and many key specs are identical to the Pixel 9a. However, you do get a brighter screen, better modem, new software features, and Android 16 with seven years of software support.
