iPhone SE notifications

[Jonzjob]

A few months I had to replace my faithful Moto G7 Power and finished up with an SE. The main reason being It was about the smallest there was that's any good. If Motorola had done a smaller jobbie then??

Just one of the battles I have been having with the cornered rat called the SE is trying to get it to give me notifications when I get texts or watsapp messages. as far as I can make out it 'should' all be set to go and notify me, but it doesn't. It just stays silent and doesn't tremble either.

I have gone in to settings and sounds, selected the sound I wanted and get no sound from the applications. So I went to the applications themselves and in to sounds and set it there, but it still stays silent. Now I don't know what the **** to do? I suppose it would skim across a pond if i threw it like I used to with flat stones though?

So folks, has anyone any idea just what I am doing wrong please?

I have to admit that the Apple weather application is very good, but that's on my iMac too. I'm not very impressed with the battery life either.

Sorry if I'm a bit negative about this, but I'm a bit (spelled LOT) peed of as I have just tested myself + for the dreadedpanicdemic covid!

 

[ferrarr]

Make sure you have enabled notifications for each App, in Settings > Notifications. Scroll down to look for Messages, WhatsApp, etc. Make sure they are enabled.

 

[Jonzjob]

They are Bob, thank you.

 

[ferrarr]

The only other Setting it could be is Focus. If any of the options have been enabled, they may be blocking Messages/sounds.

 

[Rod]

Well, the Moto G7 Power is obviously going to thrash the iPhone SE for battery life, it's one of it's major features.

I have a iPhone SE 2 myself, before that I had the first SE and as an entry level iPhone battery life has only ever been "adequate" but I seldome need to charge it more than once a day.
Having said that it still has almost all of the same features of its bigger brothers and sisters in the iPhone range.

As I have a Samsung Galaxy as a spare I can say settings are much simpler on iOS than Android because all of the options are on one screen for each app.

In Notifications first pick the "Style" of notification appearance and Summary preference then scroll down to the individual app.

Ensure Notifications are "Allowed" for that app at the top.
Select Immediate Delivery (I think thats what you want), turn Time Sensitive Notifications on for immediate delivery and choose your Alert Style:

Tick all options; Lock screen, Notification Centre and Banners,
Choose Persistent for Banner Style,
Turn Badges on,
Lastly, go to Customise Notifications and set Repeat Alerts (I have mine set to 5 times).
Optionally you can allow "Unknown Senders"

Even with all of the above I can still easily miss a notification sound because we have a large two story residence and I seldom carry the phone with me at home.

But, with the above settings enabled along with Raise to Wake I only need pick up my phone to see a message banner on the lock screen, a number on the app icon (badge) or a notification in my morning Summary. I have summaries 3 times a day at 0900, 1200 and 2000 hrs.

Obviously you also need to ensure that the System Sound is turned up and as ferrarr mentioned, you do not have Do Not Disturb or any other of the Focus options enabled.

I don't think any of us get this all right first time around. I'm sure it was the same with your Moto initially but over time we tweak the settings until they suit our individual needs.

 

[Jonzjob]

I think that you have both cracked it with the Focus option. I had no idea what that did and hadn't even looked at it? It's all set up now, I hope, and I wait now with baited what ever it is that's baited to see if I get notified?

I will let you know what happens, but I thank you in anticipation. I believe that I am too bruddy old to keep on changing things these daze?

 

[Rod]

I get that

 

[Jonzjob]

Well, this morning I had a text and the phone was sat on the worktop a couple of feet away. There was a quiet beep and a slight vibrate. If it has been any further away I doubt I would have heard it. I also had 2 replies on wotsapp and no notification. I checked the volume and it's almost max.

It looks to be set up OK in Focus, but then what the **** do I know?

I have also realised that there's loads of missed calls. That includes 2 from yesterday when I had the phone in my pocket. It didn't ring or vibrate.

I think I'm going to go back to my Wolf Cub days and carry a sixpenny bit in my pocket for the public phone

 

[Jimmysb]

I have imessages on my iphone and ipad, and often only hear the notification on the iPad.

 

[Rod]

When you say the volume was "almost" max what happens when it's on max?
I have mine on Max most of the time.

 

[IWT]

@Jonzjob,

John, just to settle the volume issue: there are two ways of increasing volume (1) by holding down the upper of the two vol buttons on the side of the iPhone until the vol line runs up to the top of the scale
and (2) entering Control Centre by swiping your finger down the right side of the screen from top to bottom.

Once in Control Centre, you'll see a Brightness torpedo-shaped thing near the middle and to the right of that, a Volume torpedo-shaped thing. You need to take your finger and move the sound/volume up till the torpedo is all white.

I mean no offence, you may know this and done that, but I always make sure that both methods show Volume at its maximum.

Ian

 

[Jonzjob]

No offence taken Ian. I'm just glad of the help mate!
The volume is now at max by both methods. I used the house phone to phone the SE. The SE vibrated, BUT it was the iMac that 'rang'. I'm sat at our iMac at the mo and it scared the 7 shades out of me as that was the last thing I expected. When I actually spoke on the house phone my voice was on the SE.

Oh, and just to make things even more exciting and easier I have had what I thought was a bad cold since the middle of last week. A test on Sunday proved it to be covid +ive and now I'm wondering which way is up?

 

[Rod]

I can add that it's a good idea to pick a ringtone that is alternating in tone/pitch and preferably as annoying as possible. I actually went to the trouble of importing the whistle tone from an Android phone as an option for SMS messages. It's unmissable and so annoying, my wife made me change it.
In ring tones scroll down to the Classic menu. There you will find tones like "Old Phone" which still works well.

 

[Jonzjob]

My ring has always been 'old phone' Rod. I can't handle all the silly things you hear. A mate of mine had a voice telling him "Oh, I'm ringing. Come on answer me" and that sort of thing. He thought it was funny, but I thought it embarrassing?

I just had a thought and put the iMac to sleep and tried ringing the SE from our house phone again. All it did was vibrate, no sound at all.

 

[IWT]

BUT it was the iMac that 'rang'.

That says to me that (1) you have linked your SE to the Mac and (2) your SE and the Mac were relatively close teach other.

I too, have my iPhone linked to the Mac for iMessages, SMS Messages, WhatsApp, and others, but NOT the "phone call" part; so my Mac only registers Messages of various sorts.

Moreover, I Quit the Messages & all the similar message apps on my Mac unless I'm actually working on it. That way no messages or calls go to my Mac.

Ian

 

[Jimmysb]

That says to me that (1) you have linked your SE to the Mac and (2) your SE and the Mac were relatively close teach other.

I too, have my iPhone linked to the Mac for iMessages, SMS Messages, WhatsApp, and others, but NOT the "phone call" part; so my Mac only registers Messages of various sorts.

Moreover, I Quit the Messages & all the similar message apps on my Mac unless I'm actually working on it. That way no messages or calls go to my Mac.

Ian

I have iMessages on my Mac, and even when I have quit it, it will still register messages received.

 

[IWT]

it will still register messages received.

Oh sure; but not sound off nor stop your iPhone from notifying you of the new arrivals.

Ian

 

[Rod]

You can turn this feature off on the iPhone, see here;

How to Stop Incoming Phone Calls from Ringing On Your Mac and iPad

When someone calls my iPhone, it rings, as you'd expect.

www.howtogeek.com