r/LifeProTips • u/Appropriate-Regret-6 • 2d ago
Electronics LPT "Force Stop" apps to pause notifications (Android devices)
If you get sick and tired of promotional notifications from certain apps (I'm looking at you Uber/Uber Eats...) but need these notifications to work when you place an order, then kill the app.
Hold the app icon, click the (i) icon, and then choose "Force stop".
This will completely stop the app from running and you wont get their annoying notifications, but the next time you open the app, the notifications will restart so you know how the pick-up or delivery is going.
Edit: As usual, the real LPT is in the comments, with thanks to u/RenderedCreed/ who first mentioned it in the comment. Under the app's notification settings there is a setting called "Notification Categories", which allows you to turn them on or off by category.
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u/Jb51423 2d ago
You can also go in most apps and select which notifications you get.
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u/nudave 2d ago
Many apps hide this or don’t have it.
There’s a circle of hell reserved for the asshole who figured out that you can use an app’s (formerly useful) push notifications to push ads.
It only results in me wholly disabling push for the app, making it less useful.
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u/anz3e 2d ago
I agree with the ads in push not is part.. It's get annoying. But on android it's managaebale since each notification type comes through it's respective channel. Ads notifications are usually categorized under "miscellaneous" or "promotion" channel.. U can turn that channel off and make ur life easier.
Here's how I handle this... Ad received in notification from an app, Long press the particular notification, tap the gear icon that appears, that particular app's notification settings page opens up, scroll down to find 'notification categories' and tap it, it opens a list of channels, the specific channel that Noti belonged to blinks a couple times. Turn it off.
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u/nudave 2d ago
Is that mandatory, or is it up to devs how/whether to characterize?
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u/anz3e 2d ago
Upto devs, but very few apps abuse this.. Generally most apps use the correct channels, the channel name can be different so using the ad notification to jump into the channel list (how I described above) will help u identify which channel it is that's sending the promos.
I recently installed shopping app "trendyol" their implementation is horrendous, each of their ad uses a different channel, "special promotion" "special promotion 1" "special promotion 2" "...... 3" etc there were 15 special promo channels there so I just disabled all motis for it. But that's the only app I have seen abusing this. All others use proper channels
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u/RenderedCreed 2d ago edited 2d ago
Or you could go into your app notification settings and them off. Your suggestions is such a roundabout way to address the issue when you can do it directly. You can even select notification categories in advanced setting for the notification and for most apps will allow you to turn off marketing notification but not messages notifications for example.
Edit. As a couple of comments have mentioned, depending on the age of your phone or the operating system version you might not have these options. And some apps remove categories to keep you from turning off the annoying notifications making OP'S original method potentially more effective for some situations.
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u/DTMF223 2d ago
Unless they are being intentionally vague and don't group their notification by category to avoid this exact scenario (ahem lyft)
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u/Asian_Dumpring 2d ago
And Amazon and Pokemon Go and Kindle and Starbucks and Ticketmaster which groups all notifications under "Other"
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u/czerilla 2d ago
And the current Android OS makes it pretty easy, too. Just long-tap the notification in question and it will immediately pop out a menu that allows you to either block that notification category, all notifications by that app, or open the app's notifications settings to make more granular changes.
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u/GaidinBDJ 2d ago
Phone age won't really matter for Android.
Notification categories are required for API targets of 26+ (2017) and literally yesterday was the hard limit requiring 36+.
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u/StormblessedFool 2d ago
I kinda like OPs solution better, just because then when I go to order something from Door Dash I don't have to go into seettings and turn notifs back on manually
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u/RenderedCreed 2d ago
Maybe you missed the latre half of my comment about the notification categories. Cause if you use those then you could turn of marketing notifications and keep the ones about delivery.
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u/StormblessedFool 2d ago
I think that's only a thing on newer phones, my phone doesn't have that. It is a 2020 though
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u/le_aerius 2d ago
But first... and more logically... Turn off their notifications. If this fails unimstall app.
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u/getahaircut8 2d ago
I had to get an iPhone for work and was appalled that they don't seem to have a way to turn on/off specific notification categories for each app. My android phone has had those settings for years!
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u/tunaman808 2d ago
What awful advice. Most apps allow you to disable specific categories of notifications.
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u/catsaway9 2d ago
There are a bunch of apps on my phone that came with it and can't be deleted. I just paused them all and I'll be interested to see if it extends my battery life. Thanks for the suggestion.
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u/RustySnail420 2d ago
And if the better LPT with categories (if your Android version is high enough) isnt enough, you can use Buzzkill to customize everything and custom triggers. Ive made unique sound/vibrate/flash depending on service
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u/dctrhu 2d ago
For those with Android phones, I cannot recommend enough an app called BuzzKill
While the settings app does allow you to kinda edit notifications by category per app, it isn't always granular enough.
For instance, Words With Friends lets you choose from a few categories, but daily "come back and spend money" notifications often get through, and it became exhausting.
BuzzKill lets you dismiss notifications based on an extremely specific set of rules, with a frankly mental level of customisation.
You can choose it to trigger on notifications: from specific apps, containing specific words, whether it's a group conversation, uses a specific layout, from a specific contact, arrives at a specific time, contains images, contains emoji, and even the length of the text
From there, you can choose it to respond in so many specific ways: auto-dismiss; dismiss and bring back after work hours; read the notification out loud; save in batches and only notify when the batch minimum has been reached; make it secret by hiding the contents but still showing a notification; use custom vibrations/sounds/light settings.
It's crazy how useful I have found it.
I have used it to create a kind of morse code system which means I can tell which apps are notifying me and whether it's a work or personal notification within that app just by the specific vibration.
It took a little setting up, but I've found that being able to feel the difference between a work email from a colleague and a regular email, or whether I'm getting an insta message from my work or personal account, means I spend way less time being drawn away from what I'm doing by notifications that I don't need to switch off, or need to have at certain times only.
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u/Kafka_Thicc_Thighs 1d ago
I use digital wellbeing in android settings to temporarily disable an app via app timers to 0 minutes. no download or install needed. no notification until you remove the timer, it will work on pre-installed apps/system apps that can't be deleted too.
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u/_That_Kiwi 2d ago
Why do you need notifications at all for uber and uber eats?
Uber = order the cab, look at ETA. If it says 5mins, check in 5 mins and find the car. They can call you if they need.
Uber eats = order food, it arrives when it arrives. "XXX is picking up your order". Who cares? They arrive when they knock on your door.
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u/Holiday_Sale5114 2d ago
I see that just adjusting the notifications on the app is already mentioned so I won't mention it further
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