- You can see old notifications on your iPhone by opening the Notification Center.
- It's easy to access the Notification Center on your iPhone whether it's locked or unlocked, and you can view, manage, or clear notifications with just a few swipes.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
If you've been away from your iPhone screen and are eager to catch up with what's new, the Notification Center is a great place to start.
Apple makes it a particularly easy menu to access, whether your phone is locked or unlocked. And it's the best way to view notifications that you may have initially missed.
Here's how to see and manage your old notifications.
Check out the products mentioned in this article:
iPhone 11 (From $699.99 at Best Buy)
How to see old notifications on your iPhone
1. Pick up your iPhone to wake it up, or tap the screen (or press home screen button on the bottom for pre-iPhone X models).
2. From the lock screen, swipe up from the middle to see your notifications.
You can view your notifications on your lock screen. Emma Witman/Business InsiderIf your iPhone is already unlocked, you can swipe down from the top to see your old notifications.
How to clear old notifications on your iPhone
1. Next to the words Notification Center is an X in a grey circle. Tap and hold it.
Hold the grey X next to "Notification Center." Emma Witman/Business Insider2. "Clear All Notifications" will appear. Tap it to clear all your notifications.
Related coverage from How To Do Everything: Tech:
How to hide messages and message notifications on your iPhone, so only you can read them
How to turn off notifications on your iPhone for individual apps, or adjust the types of notifications you receive
How to change notification sounds for the built-in apps on your iPhone, or enable notification sounds for third-party apps
How to turn off or limit personalized ad tracking on your iPhone to protect your privacy
Emma Witman is an Asheville, NC-based freelance journalist with a keen interest in writing about hardware, PC gaming, politics, and personal finance. She is a former crime reporter for a daily newspaper, and has also written extensively about bartending for Insider. She may or may not judge your drink order when behind the bar. Follow her on Twitter at @emwity.
Read more Read less
Insider Inc. receives a commission when you buy through our links.
- You can see your Android notification history on Android 11 through the Settings app.
- You first need to turn on Notification history in your phone's notification settings.
- You will then be able to see all the alerts you dismissed in the past 24 hours.
Clearing notifications is a double-edged sword; there's a satisfying sense of accomplishment to dismissing them, but every once in a while, you might be overeager and discard a notification you needed to read in more detail.
If you have ever deleted a notification a moment before you realized you needed it, Android 11 has a handy feature. Its notification history lets you browse dismissed alerts from the previous 24 hours. Here's how to enable and view it.
How to enable your Android notification history on Android 11
Before you can begin using Android 11's Notification history, you need to turn it on.
1. Open the Settings app and tap Notifications.
2. Tap Advanced Settings.
3. Tap Notification history.
4. When you first come to this page, it should be empty except for the toggle on the top right. Turn on Notification history by taping the toggle.
Turn on notification history by tapping on the toggle. Dave JohnsonHow to see your Android notification history on Android 11
After you enable the notification history, recently dismissed notifications will populate this same page. To see your notification history, just come back:
1. Open the Settings app, then tap Notifications.
2. Tap Advanced settings.
3. Tap Notification History.
Once enabled, you can see and interact with your recently dismissed notifications. Dave JohnsonYou should see all the recently dismissed notifications (anything from the last 24 hours). You can interact with the notification by tapping it, just as if it were in the phone's pull-down notification shade.
Dave Johnson
Freelance Writer
Dave Johnson is a technology journalist who writes about consumer tech and how the industry is transforming the speculative world of science fiction into modern-day real life. Dave grew up in New Jersey before entering the Air Force to operate satellites, teach space operations, and do space launch planning. He then spent eight years as a content lead on the Windows team at Microsoft. As a photographer, Dave has photographed wolves in their natural environment; he's also a scuba instructor and co-host of several podcasts. Dave is the author of more than two dozen books and has contributed to many sites and publications including CNET, Forbes, PC World, How To Geek, and Insider.
Read more Read less