iOS 10 added a much needed and complete overhaul of the notification system. Personally, I accept this new redesign with open arms. However, there seems to be one major complaint: they take up a lot of space. Now, it's easy to blame the design of the notifications, and that's definitely part of the situation, but realistically, it's due to how iOS notifications work.
Currently, iOS handles notifications by creating a unique notification for every interaction with an app. To manage the multiple notifications, Apple offers an option to group notifications by app. If I have 5 Facebook notifications, I have 5 individual notifications. If I have 8 texts, I have eight individual notifications, etc., etc. This is the system Apple has used since the introduction of the Notification Center in iOS 5.
Example A: Multiple Twitter Notifications
The problem with this current system is that notifications become easily cluttered. An active group chat can result in hundreds of individual notifications. For example I'm in a group chat of friends with about 12 active people, and I have to leave it muted anytime I choose not to participate, due to the amount of notifications that collect. In addition, this means that important information can get lost in the sea of notifications.
However, a solution exists, and it can be observed on any Android phone running Lollipop or newer. Currently, Android handles multiple notifications from the same application by grouping each event into one notification for that application. This allows the Notification Center to still display many different notifications, but in a design that is cleaner than what iOS provides.
Example B: Android's Combined Notifications
The obvious solution to this issue is to create a single notification for what an app generates. I'm currently working an example with Apple's UI elements, but here's a sketch of how iOS notifications should be in the future:
Current:
New:
As you can see, this approach allows you to address the two major notification issues: organization and screen real estate.
In addition, this concept can be taken further, by allowing applications to create unique notifications for independent events, such as two different group chats, or two different email accounts:
This solves the major issue of how iOS notifications are displayed.
Issues:
Problem: One issue of concern I've come up with is how you can still make the notifications interactive. For example an app may have specific force touch/interactions associated with that notification, so combining them into one list poses a challenge on how to access those actions.
Possible Solution: Interacting with the notification group allows you to then see a normal list of notifications (how it's currently displayed), and then notification actions can be taken from there.
Closing:
What do you guys think? I would like to get feedback and critiques, negative and positive. What do you guys like about the idea? What do you dislike? What could be improved?
Thanks for reading! I'll have actual iOS screenshots of the concept up soon.
Currently, iOS handles notifications by creating a unique notification for every interaction with an app. To manage the multiple notifications, Apple offers an option to group notifications by app. If I have 5 Facebook notifications, I have 5 individual notifications. If I have 8 texts, I have eight individual notifications, etc., etc. This is the system Apple has used since the introduction of the Notification Center in iOS 5.
Example A: Multiple Twitter Notifications
However, a solution exists, and it can be observed on any Android phone running Lollipop or newer. Currently, Android handles multiple notifications from the same application by grouping each event into one notification for that application. This allows the Notification Center to still display many different notifications, but in a design that is cleaner than what iOS provides.
Example B: Android's Combined Notifications
The obvious solution to this issue is to create a single notification for what an app generates. I'm currently working an example with Apple's UI elements, but here's a sketch of how iOS notifications should be in the future:
Current:
New:
In addition, this concept can be taken further, by allowing applications to create unique notifications for independent events, such as two different group chats, or two different email accounts:
This solves the major issue of how iOS notifications are displayed.
Issues:
Problem: One issue of concern I've come up with is how you can still make the notifications interactive. For example an app may have specific force touch/interactions associated with that notification, so combining them into one list poses a challenge on how to access those actions.
Possible Solution: Interacting with the notification group allows you to then see a normal list of notifications (how it's currently displayed), and then notification actions can be taken from there.
Closing:
What do you guys think? I would like to get feedback and critiques, negative and positive. What do you guys like about the idea? What do you dislike? What could be improved?
Thanks for reading! I'll have actual iOS screenshots of the concept up soon.
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