How to set up Notification Summary on iPhone

What is a Notification Summary?

It is an iOS feature that delivers non-urgent notifications as a bundle, at times you set, instead of one at a time. Apple describes notification controls in the guide to changing notification settings. The summary appears on the Lock Screen at your chosen times, sorted by how much you interact with each app.

The goal is to stop the trickle. Most checks start with a buzz, and a buzz is a trigger. If news, social and shopping alerts arrive in two batches, the rest of the day has fewer cues.

How do you turn it on?

You can edit the times later. Many people begin with two summaries, one after waking and one after the working day, and add a third only if needed.

1. Open Settings and tap Notifications.
2. Tap Scheduled Summary and turn it on.
3. Choose how many summaries you want per day and set their times.
4. Under Apps in Summary, switch on the apps you want delivered this way.
5. Tap Back and check the preview to see what the summary looks like.

How do you keep important alerts?

iOS lets apps mark some notifications as time-sensitive, and those can break through the summary. Check each app's notification settings in Settings, Notifications, and look at the Deliver Immediately, Deliver Quietly and Scheduled Summary options. Also create a Focus that lets through the few people who matter, so that even at night a real emergency reaches you.

After a week, ask whether you missed anything important. If so, move that app out of the summary. If not, add another app.

What does the summary not do?

It does not stop notifications from existing. It delays them. If you read the summary and then open every app, you have not reduced anything. It also does not stop you from opening apps by habit. For that, you need another tool, such as a pause when the app opens or a limit.

The summary is best at cutting the interrupt part of the habit. Other tools handle the reflex part.

How does it fit with Focus?

A Focus can silence everything except people you choose. Scheduled Summary organizes what remains. Use both: a Work Focus during the day, a Sleep Focus at night, and a summary for the hours in between. The guide to Focus modes shows how to build them.

How does it fit with Ebb?

Ebb, an iPhone app in development, is about the moment you open an app, not the notification. It puts a short focus round in front of feed apps through a Shortcuts automation. The two tools cover different parts of the loop: the summary reduces the buzz that makes you look, and the gate adds a pause when you look anyway. See the gate.

How do you adjust it over time?

Review the summary each week. Notice which apps send many alerts you never act on, and turn those off entirely. A notification you ignore every time is noise, and the best setting for it is none. Aim for a short, useful summary that you look forward to reading at the set time.

When is the best time for a summary?

Choose times when you are naturally at your phone and free to read. For most people that is early morning and early evening. A midday summary suits people who want a third check at lunch. Avoid times that interrupt work or sleep. If your summary lands in the middle of a meeting, move it.

You can change the times later. Try a pair for a week. Notice whether you look forward to the summary or feel pushed by it. The right schedule feels like a relief.

What should you do with the summary when it arrives?

Treat it as a single reading session. Skim, act on the two or three items that need it, then clear the rest. Do not tap through every app. A notification you do not need to act on can be dismissed. Over time you will see which apps produce items worth reading and which produce noise, and you can remove the noisy ones from the summary or turn them off.

What are the limits of the feature?

Notification Summary relies on apps marking their alerts correctly. Some apps mark everything as time-sensitive, which breaks through the summary. In that case, adjust the app's own notification settings or reduce what it sends. It also works per device, so check your iPad if you use one. And it does not affect badges unless you turn them off separately, so remove red badges in the same settings screen.

What about the Lock Screen and Apple Watch?

The summary appears on the Lock Screen at the scheduled times. If you wear an Apple Watch, notifications on the watch follow the phone's settings for apps you mirror, so the quiet extends to your wrist. Check the watch app if alerts still buzz. It is easy to cut the phone and forget the watch.

What does a good first week look like?

On day one, switch on the summary with two times and add five apps. On day three, check what the summary contained and move any app that surprised you. On day five, review your Pickups in Screen Time and compare with last week. On day seven, decide whether to add or remove apps. The goal is a quiet phone that still tells you what you need to know, and the first week is for tuning, not for perfection.