Skip to main content

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

Apple rumored to redesign notifications in iOS 16

Apple is set to unveil iOS 16 in a few months at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2022, and according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, the company may be tackling one of the major issues of iOS: Its awkward notification center. The company is not expected to make any sweeping changes in the vein of Android 12, however.

Man looking at notifications on his iPhone 12.
Dan Baker/Digital Trends

Apple’s handling of notifications in iOS has been criticized as being ill-thought-out for a few years now, especially in contrast to Android’s. “Android has evolved to make the notification tray, and notifications in general, as useful as possible, but trying to be productive in an iOS notification tray — although possible — is much more difficult,” Digital Trends’ Michael Heller noted in 2021, adding: “Conversely, iOS displays the illusion of simplicity while hoping you don’t notice the redundancies all around.”

The company had changed how notifications work by merging them with the lock screen in iOS 7, adding in bundled notifications, as well as a new notification summary with iOS 15, but it still hasn’t caught up to the immensely flexible and functional Android notification center.

Where Android works better is the snoozing, as well as more actionable notifications and more ways to see where an app has notified you or not, as well as a less messy interface in general. In other words, you have a lot of ways to see and manage your notifications. If Apple can implement a few things to bridge the gap between iOS and Android, or even create something that is better, it may be enough to lure some Android holdouts over to iOS.

It is not yet clear if Apple may debut any other sweeping interface changes to the operating system. Gurman says Apple is also expected to add in new health-tracking features and other unspecified but significant improvements.

Apple is expected to unveil iOS 16, MacOS 16, tvOS, and perhaps even a new operating system for its rumored headset in June.

Editors' Recommendations

Michael Allison
A UK-based tech journalist for Digital Trends, helping keep track and make sense of the fast-paced world of tech with a…
This is our best look yet at the iPhone 16’s big design changes
iPhone 15 Pro in Natural Titanium held in hand in front of a cement brick wall.

It seems Apple is prepping yet another design refresh for its smartphones this fall season. In 2023, the iPhone 15 Pro made an aesthetic deviation by serving thinner bezels and titanium looks alongside a new multi-function button. This year, it’s going to be the entry-point iPhone 16 and its Plus variant that are apparently lined up for a design refresh.

Tech commentator Sonny Dickson has shared dummy units reportedly depicting all four iPhone 16 variants, which seem to confirm what previous leaks have predicted so far. On the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus, the camera lenses dance diagonally on a square bump. Apple is reportedly ditching the current camera arrangement for their respective successors in favor of a pill-shaped vertical setup.

Read more
Everything you need to know about the massive Apple App Store outage
App Store on-screen illustration

Happy Wednesday evening, everyone! You're unwinding for the day, getting ready for a relaxing night, and ... you realize that the App Store and a bunch of other Apple services aren't working. Don't worry, you aren't alone.

What Apple services are down? When did the problems start? Is the outage still ongoing? Here's everything you need to know.
When did the App Store outage start?
According to DownDetector, reports of outages with the App Store flooded in a little after 6 p.m. ET. Reports appear to have spiked at over 6,000, indicating pretty widespread problems.

Read more
The 7 biggest features we expect to see in iOS 18
The home screen on the Apple iPhone 15 Plus.

Apple revealed that its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) will take place on June 10. This is when we expect to see the next iteration of software across all of Apple’s products, including iOS 18.

From the sounds of it, we’re in for a big update with iOS 18, rumored to be one of the “biggest updates” yet. Here’s what we expect from Apple's next major iPhone update with iOS 18.
A more customizable home screen

Read more