iOS 12: All the changes coming to iPhone notifications

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• Apple’s new software update to iPhones and iPads, iOS 12,
  arrives on Monday.
• The update changes the way you receive notifications on your
  phone, arguably improving one of the worst features of
  iPhones. 
• Now, notifications will be grouped by topic or app, you can
  more easily adjust your notification settings, and you can add
  reactions to iMessages without having to open the app. 
• iOS 12 is available to download on iPhone 5S or later. 

This year’s major software update for iPhone and iPad has arrived
— and with it comes some helpful changes to how your phone
handles notifications. 

Notifications on iPhone have always been something of a sticking
point. It’s one aspect of Apple’s operating system that hasn’t
always felt intuitive — in fact, most people consider Android to
have a much smarter approach to notifications. 

But Apple seems to be hoping to fix all that in iOS 12. It’s making some
significant changes to how you receive and interact with
notifications, as well as some subtle tweaks that will make using
your phone a lot easier. 

Here are all the ways iPhone notifications will change with iOS
12: 

• Grouped notifications. This is the biggest
  change, and one that brings iOS closer to Android’s approach.
  Now, rather than your notifications being grouped
  chronologically, they’ll be grouped according to topic or app.
  For example, when you pull down from the top of the screen to
  view your notification center, all your iMessage notifications
  will show up in a cluster, and all your Instagram notifications
  will appear in a separate cluster. 
• More control over your settings with something called
  “instant tuning.” Despite the ambiguous name, this
  feature is also a game-changer. Now, you’ll be able to control
  your notification settings when you receive an alert, without
  having to leave the screen you’re on. It’s not totally clear
  yet how this feature would work, but being able to quickly and
  easily change how a notification appears will be helpful. 
• A new feature called “Deliver quietly.” This
  feature ties into Apple’s new emphasis on spending less time on
  your device. Now, you’ll be able to have alerts delivered to
  your notification center silently by default.
• Siri will give suggestions about how to handle
  notifications. You’ll now be able to get suggestions
  from Siri based on how you interact with your notifications
  over time. Siri will learn which notifications you prefer to
  have displayed prominently, and which can just be delivered to
  your notification center. 
• You can opt in for “critical alerts.” Now,
  you’ll be able to selectively opt in for more important alerts
  — like one from a doctor’s office — even if your phone is on Do
  Not Disturb.
• You can react to a message without opening the
  app. With iOS 11, Apple included helpful
  reactions in iMessage that let you respond to a message with a
  thumbs down, heart, or exclamation point. Now, with iOS 12,
  you’ll be able to add those reactions to a message by touching
  and holding the notification. 

iOS 12 is available to
download for iPhone 5S or later starting on Monday, September
17.