IOS 14 Messenger notifications not working

Features like Notification Summary and Focus make our life easy. However, for one reason or another, not everyone is getting the full benefits of these settings. And if you are amongst them and notifications are not working on your iPhone, let me help you fix that with some tweaks, hacks, and more.

1. Turn off Focus on iPhone
2. Add exceptions to Focus
3. Disable Focus mode automation
4. Turn off Shared Across Devices on iPhone
5. Turn off Notification Summary
6. Check notification settings for individual apps
7. Update or reinstall the iOS app
8. Restart the iPhone
9. Reset All Settings on iPhone

1. Turn off Focus on iPhone

A remarkable feature to help you concentrate better on the task at hand, whether Netflix, work, chill, or sleep. If you are not getting notifications after the iOS 16 update, Focus might be the culprit. And before we do some damage control, let’s disable Focus and see if the notifications start pouring in or not.

1. From your lock screen, tap the Focus icon.
2. Tap the currently active Focus to turn it off.

You can also invoke Control Center or go to Settings → Focus and disable the Focus Mode from there. Once the Focus is turned off, ask your friends or family to message or mail you to check whether you received the notification or not.

If notifications are still not working, skip to no. 5. And if they are arriving, you can either

• Leave Focus off – If you want to receive all notifications, always.
• Tweak the Focus mode setting – Allow certain apps and contacts to ping you (check out the next solution).

2. Add exceptions to Focus

When you set up a Focus, you have to create exceptions for contacts and apps that can disturb you during that Focus. And may, that setting isn’t 100% perfect, so let’s get it sorted.

1. Go to Settings → Focus → select the Focus.
2. Under the Allowed Notifications section, tap
   • People – Add people you want to receive a call from or tap on Calls From and select Everyone.
   • Apps – Add apps that are allowed and Toggle on Time Sensitive notifications.

3. Disable Focus mode automation

So you are chilling in the knowledge that the Focus mode is turned off, and you shall receive all notifications. But, surprise, surprise, your device was silent for some hours because the Focus is auto-enabled and not due to your popularity quotient.

Hmm! So, let’s get that sorted as well.

1. Go to Settings → Focus → select the Focus.
2. Under Turn On Automatically, tap Smart Automation, time, location, or place (depending upon automation previously set).
3. Toggle off the automation.

Note: You can also access Focus settings from Lock Screen or Control Panel; tap on the Focus icon → three-dot icon next to the Focus → Settings.

4. Turn off Shared Across Devices on iPhone

One of the many great features of Focus is that you can enable it across all Apple ecosystems. But what if you want the Focus on your Mac/iPad but not on your iPhone?

1. Go to Settings → Focus.
2. Toggle off the switch next to Share Across Devices.

And just like that, all our Focus-related escapades are done. Now, it is time to hop on to the Notifications section.

5. Turn off Notification Summary

To avoid disturbance, Notification Summary only allows time-sensitive alerts to filter through. Non-urgent alerts are auto-silenced and presented at a specified time. And while not designed for that, it is somehow stopping all notifications. Let’s turn it off and then see.

1. Go to Settings → Notifications.
2. Tap Scheduled Summary.
3. Toggle off the switch next to Scheduled Summary.

If the problem still persists, move on to the next hack.

6. Check notification settings for individual apps

When the problem is app-specific, i.e., you are not receiving notifications from that app, we’ll have to look at them one by one.

1. Go to Settings → scroll down to the app.
2. Tap Notifications.
3. Ensure that Allow Notifications toggle is turned on.
4. Then select Immediate Delivery or Scheduled Summary accordingly.
   Note: If you can’t see this option, the Scheduled Summary is disabled. So you can skip to the next step.

Depending on whether you want a chime on receiving notifications from the app or not, toggle on/off the Sound.

Note: To view the notification setting for all apps at once, you can go to Settings → Notifications → scroll to the Notification Style section. Tap any app to alter the setting.

7. Update or reinstall the iOS app

Since we are on the topic, it’s wiser to tick this one of the lists. The issue might not be from your device’s end but the app’s. Anyway, a trip to the App Store to update the app won’t take that long and might resolve the issue.

8. Restart the iPhone

The penultimate solution. Restarting the iPhone, hoping that any bug or glitch will reset itself and notifications will start working as they should. If you need further assistance with this one, check out our step-by-step guide.

9. Reset All Settings on iPhone

There’s a reason I have kept this for the last. While it should resolve the issue thoroughly, it also removes other information like Wi-Fi passwords, VPN configuration, etc. So, copy, paste these details somewhere before going through the process.

1. Go to Settings → General.
2. Scroll down and select Transfer or Reset iPhone.
3. Tap Reset and then Reset All Settings.
4. Enter your Passcode and tap Reset All Settings to proceed.
   
   
   

Signing off!

Hopefully, your notifications are up and running without hiccups. And while we are on the topic, it’s time for a shameless plug. Install the iGeeksBlog app and keep the notifications on, to receive news, hacks, and more related to everything Apple.

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