How to use Android Lollipop’s notification and interruption?

How to use Android Lollipop’s notification and interruption?

A complete guide on mastering Android Lollipop's notification and interruption

I. What is the new Android Lollipop’s notification and interruption system?

One of the biggest changes in Android Lollipop is the notification system. To certain extent, the Android Lollipop’s notification is totally new. It is fundamentally different from the notification system in previous Android devices.

Android Lollipop’s notification and interruption system treats all notifications and alert as interruptions. You can control when and how you receive notifications and alerts so that  you will get interrupted only when you want to be.

The major new features in Android Lollipop’s notification and interruption system includes:

• Choose from 3 modes: all, none and priority.
• View and respond to messages directly from your lock screen.
• Hide sensitive content in notifications.
• Prioritize notifications from apps.
• Rank notifications based on who they’re from and the type of communication.
• Stop interruption of incoming calls.
• Setup and use downtime.
• Hide sensitive notifications from lock screen.
• and more…

II. What’s the meaning of the three modes in Android Lollipop’s notification and interruption?

When pressing the volume button (volume up or down), you can quickly switch among the 3 modes in Android Lollipop’s notification and interruption system.

Mode 1: All mode

In All mode, as suggested by the name, you turn on all notification and alerts in your device.  In other words, you will get notifications and alerts  from the system and all apps except those that you turned off notifications explicitly.

There are a few settings will overwrite the All mode in Android Lollipop’s notification. One is individual app notification setting. If you set notification from certain apps as Block, you will not net get notifications or interruptions from these apps in All  mode.

Downtime settings will also overwrite this All mode.

In All Mode, you can lower the volume all the way down to vibrate mode. This essentially silence your Android Lollipop device as in old Android versions.

In Android Lollipop, there is no separate vibrate mode. You just lower the volume down to silence the device.  In this vibrate mode, you will still get notifications and alerts without notifications tones.

Mode 2: None mode

None mode is the other extreme. In this mode, all notifications tones will be turned off, including the Alarm and the ringer.

Please note, none mode stops audio interruptions only. In other words, text notifications and notification icons will still shown on the screen. For example, when a SMS message arrives, it will notify you on the screen.

If you want to turn off all notifications, you need use downtime feature.

When None mode is activated, you will see a special icon in the stats bar as shown below.

Mode 3: Priority mode

Priority mode allows certain notifications to interrupt you. You assign which app is in your priority list so that it may interrupt you in the Priority mode.

Similar to that  in All mode, you can also lower the volume to vibrate mode. But vibrate mode under Priority mode still obeys the priority rules. In other words, apps that are not in your priority list can NOT vibrate the phone.

If Priority mode is activated, the stats bar will show a star icon as shown below.

III. How to setup and change the 3 notification modes in Android Lollipop’s notification and interruptions?

There are at least two ways to setup or change the  3 notifications modes in Android Lollipop’s notification and interruption system.

Method 1: Tap volume button.

Once you tap the volume button (it doesn’t matter it is volume up or volume down), in addition to  normal volume level settings on the top as shown below, you get the options  to switch among the 3 notification modes: None, Priority and All.

This is the quickest way to switch the notification modes in Android Lollipop’s notification and interruptions.

If you tap any of the notification modes, you  will also be offered the option to set the duration for this change as (as shown below):

• Indefinitely. The notification will stick in this mode until you manually change it again.
• A few hours.  After this period, the notification will change back to current mode automatically.  For example, you have a meeting and you want to change the notification to None for next 2 hours. After 2 hours, the notification and interruption mode will revert back automatically.

As shown in the screenshot below, you can adjust the duration by tapping he + or – button accordingly.

Method 2: Go to Settings–Sound and Notification –Interruptions.

You can access  Settings either from quick settings panel or from the Settings app in the app drawer.

In the Interruptions page, as shown below, you can tap “When calls and notification arrive” to select the notification and interruption modes quickly.

• Always interrupt means All mode.
• Allow only priority interruptions means Priority mode.
• Don’t interrupt means None mode.

 

IV. How to set up downtime in Android Lollipop’s notification and interruption?

Downtime is another useful feature in the new Android Lollipop’s notification and interruption system. It turn on Priority mode automatically in the specific time automatically, and repeatedly.

Some Lollipop users like to compare Downtime with Do Not Disturb in iPhones. They are similar. But Downtime is more powerful as  you can fine tune Priority interruptions.

The Downtime can save you a lot of time by avoiding to turn on/off Priority mode  again and again. For example,  you can specify your sleeping time or school time as Downtime so that only notifications from certain apps, or calls from certain contacts can distract you during this period. After this period, the notification mode will revert back to the one before downtime. It is not necessary for you to change it manually.

You can access Downtime settings to configure it from Settings—Sound and Notification —Interruptions.

As shown in the screenshots below, you can set the days and time to enable Downtime automatically based on your scedule.

 

V. How to configure the priority mode in Android Lollipop’s notification and interruption?

It is very easy to  configure Priority mode in Lollipop. You only need configure:

• Do you allow events or reminders? These interruptions are from your calendar or Google Keep.
• Who can call you? Nobody or specific callers?
• Who can message you? Nobody or specific callers?
• Which apps can send notifications in Priority mode? You need set it in App notifications (see below)

When you enable calls and messages in Priority mode, you can allow calls or messages from certain people. You have 3 options (as shown below):

• Anyone.
• Contacts only. Only people matching contact info in your Contacts app can interrupt you.
• Starred contacts only. Only contacts which you starred in your Contacts app can interrupt you.

 

VI. How to set App notifications for Android Lollipop’s notification and interruption?

Android Lollipop’s notification and interruption system also allows you to customize the notification of individual apps. In old versions, you only have the option to turn app notification on or off. The Lollipop’s notification system allows fine control on notifications from all apps, including pre-installed apps.

To configure app notifications, you can go to Settings—Sound  & notification—App notifications as shown below.

Select the app as shown below. For example, we use Motorola Assist as an example.

 

After tapping  Assist, you will get the app notification page for this app.

You can choose

1. Block. You essentially disable the notifications from this app. The app will not send any notifications forever. In other words, notifications through this app are automatically blocked.  This setting has identical effects of those of turning off notifications inSettings —Apps. Actually, once you choose Blocked in app notification page here, you will find the show notifications in App info page in Settings—Apps will be turned off automatically.
2. Priority. You will get notification from this app in both All mode and Priority mode. Notifications from this app can go through even you are in the Priority mode (and of course, during downtime.

These two options are mutually exclusive. Once you enable one (drag the switch to right to enable it), the other one will be disabled automatically.

If you set screen locks to PIN, pattern or anything except swipe or none, you have another option to declare notifications from this app as sensitive as shown below.

Sensitive notifications will be hidden from the lock screen.

 

Can you use Android Lollipop’s notification and interruption now?

If you have any questions on using Android Lollipop’s notification and interruption or encounter any problems with the notifications in your Android Lollipop, please let us know them in the comment box below.

The community will help you.

For more Android Lollipop guides, please visit on Android Lollipop Guide page.

How to Silence Moto G Notifications and Ringtones

How to Silence Moto G Notifications and Ringtones

You can enter Moto G silent mode, or vibrate mode to silence Moto G notifications and ringtones easily. In Android lollipop, you can have more controls in Priority mode.

Update:  this guide was written for Moto G, Moto E and Moto X, with  KitKat 4.4. If your Moto G, Moto E or Moto X has been updated to Android Lollipop 5.0, and you want to silence Moto G, Moto E or Moto X, please check this new guide for Android Lollipop (which uses a a totally new notification and interruption system).

Have a problem to silence your Moto G?

There are 2 different methods to silence Moto G notifications and ringtones.

Sometimes, for example, in the library, you may want to quickly silence Moto G notifications and ringtones.  If you want to know how to silence Moto G ringtones and notifications, this guide is for you.

Method 1: put your Moto G into vibrate mode

You can put Moto G  in vibrate mode by holding down the volume button on the right side of Moto G  until your Moto G vibrates.

This is the quickest way to silence Moto G. But you know the limitation:  Moto G actually enters vibrate mode. It will not ring, but it will vibrate.

If you do not want Moto G to vibrate, use method 2 to completely silence your Moto G.

Of course, you should hold down the volume down button while Moto G is not playing music or videos. If the music player or video player is running when you press and hold the volume button, it will simply silence your music or video. It will NOT silence Moto G notifications and ringtones.

So, normally, you should exit music player or video player before holding the volume down button. After your Moto G enters vibrate mode, you can play music or video as usual. Vibrate mode is for ringtones and notifications only; it will not silence your music or video.

Method 2: Silence Moto G ringtones and notifications completely.

If you do not want Moto G to vibrate as well, in other words, silence your Moto G completely, you can put Moto G in silent mode.

Press and hold the power button until you feel a vibration.  The following box will show up in the center of the screen:

Touch Silent mode to silence all sounds (including call and notification ringtones) except media and alarm (you must silence media and alarms in their own applications).

Of course, you can also put your Moto G in vibrate mode here by tapping the Vibrate button.

How to stop silencing Moto G?

You can stop silencing Moto G ringtones and notifications  by tapping the volume up button on your Moto G.

Again, you should do this when you are not playing music or videos. Otherwise, it will only change the volume of your music or videos.

Of course, you can also use the Ring button as shown in the image above.

Why I can not find the Silent mode or Vibrate mode?

If you updated your Moto G to Android Lollipop, you will NOT be able to find the Silent mode or Vibrate mode. In Android Lollipop, a new notification and interruption system was introduced with three modes: All, Priority and None modes. Please follow this guide to silence Moto G notifications and ringtones if your Moto G is running Lollipop.

Do you have any problems to silence Moto G notifications and ringtones? Please let us know in the comment box below.

More step-by-step guides , tips and tricks for your Moto G phone are available at  our most popular Moto G how-to guide page.

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