This app is like Google Inbox for your smartphone notifications

By AJ Dellinger July 30, 2015

Notifications are handy, but you probably spend more time swiping them away than actually using them. That’s a problem, and Snowball aims to fix it. Think of it like a priority inbox for your notifications. Instead of getting alerted to every little thing that triggers random apps you have installed, Snowball allows you to pick what really matters to you. Things like notifications about automatic app updates? Those are gone. But score alerts from your favorite team or a new comment on a Facebook photo? Those can cut to the front of the line.

Teaching Snowball what you want to see and what you want hidden is as easy as navigating Tinder dates. Swipe left to hide it, swipe right to prioritize it. Over time, Snowball will know what you care about. Don’t worry—hidden notifications aren’t gone for good. You can still access them in a separate part of the app should you want to see what’s happening on your device; they just won’t be pushed on you in an annoying fashion.

The new app from mobile developer Squanda expands upon an idea put in place in a beta version of the app. Originally, Snowball was a unified messenger service that brought together popular texting apps like Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, SMS, Snapchat, and Google Hangouts and put them all in one place.

That framework is still in Snowball. You can reply to messages from the aforementioned apps and others right from within Snowball. This also works for YouTube videos and web links, which pop up on a card-style interface inside Snowball. Other information is set to be added in the future as well, with the intention of turning Snowball into a one-stop shop for what you want to know.

The new version of Snowball is available to download for Android devices.

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AJ Dellinger is a freelance reporter from Madison, Wisconsin with an affinity for all things tech. He has been published by…

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