How to Clear Notifications on an iPhone or iPad

Authored by: Support.com Tech Pro Team

Notifications on your iPhone or iPad can quickly accumulate, cluttering your device's screen and making it challenging to find important alerts. Clearing notifications not only keeps your device organized but also ensures you don't miss critical messages or updates. In this guide, we'll walk you through various methods to clear notifications on your iPhone or iPad.

Clearing Notifications on an iPhone or iPad

Method 1: Clear Individual Notifications

The simplest way to clear notifications is by dismissing them one by one. Here's how:

Unlock Your Device: If your device is locked, unlock it by entering your passcode, using Face ID, or Touch ID.

Access the Notification Center: Swipe down from the top of the screen (or swipe up from the center of the screen on iPhone X or later) to reveal the Notification Center.

Review Notifications: You'll see a list of your notifications, organized by app and time. Scroll through the list to review your notifications.

Clear a Notification: To clear an individual notification, swipe it to the left or right, and then tap the "Clear" or "X" button that appears. This will remove the notification from the Notification Center.

Clear All Notifications: If you want to clear all notifications at once, tap the "Clear All" or "Clear" button at the top of the Notification Center. This will remove all notifications, and your Notification Center will be empty.

Method 2: Use the Notification Grouping Feature (iOS 12 and later)

Starting with iOS 12, Apple introduced a feature that groups notifications by app or thread, making it easier to manage them. Here's how to clear notifications using this feature:

Unlock Your Device: If your device is locked, unlock it using your preferred method.

Access the Notification Center: Swipe down from the top of the screen (or swipe up from the center on iPhone X or later) to open the Notification Center.

View Notification Groups: You'll see your notifications grouped by app or thread. Tap on a group to expand it and see individual notifications within that group.

Clear Individual Notifications: To clear a single notification, swipe it to the left or right, and tap the "Clear" or "X" button that appears.

Clear All Notifications in a Group: If you want to clear all notifications from a specific group (e.g., all Facebook notifications), swipe the group to the left or right and tap "Clear."

Clear All Notifications: To clear all notifications at once, tap "Clear All" at the top of the Notification Center. This will remove all notifications across all groups.

Method 3: Use the Notification Settings

You can also customize how notifications are displayed and clear them from the Notification settings:

Open "Settings": Locate and tap the "Settings" app on your iPhone or iPad's home screen. Scroll Down and Tap "Notifications": Scroll down in the "Settings" menu and tap "Notifications."

Select an App: Choose an app from the list of installed apps. This will open the notification settings for that app.

Clear Notifications: Scroll down to the "Notification History" section and tap "Clear." This will remove all notifications from that specific app.

Customize Notification Settings: While in the app's notification settings, you can also customize how notifications are displayed, including sounds, banners, and alerts.

Method 4: Use Siri

You can use Siri to clear notifications with voice commands. Here's how:

Activate Siri: To activate Siri, say "Hey Siri" (if enabled) or press and hold the side button (iPhone X or later) or the home button (iPhone 8 or earlier).

Issue a Command: Say "Clear my notifications" or "Clear notifications from [app name]." Siri will confirm and clear the specified notifications.

Clear All Notifications: To clear all notifications, say "Clear all notifications."

Using Siri is a convenient way to clear notifications, especially if you have many to clear at once.

Regularly clearing notifications on your iPhone or iPad helps you maintain an organized device and ensures you don't miss important updates. Choose the method that works best for you and make managing notifications a part of your daily device maintenance routine.

Contact Support.Com:

If you are still having trouble, refer to the Step-By-Step Guide below or consider seeking personalized assistance from Support.Com.

1. Introduction

Learn how to clear any and all notifications on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch iOS devices. Notification Center is a feature in iOS that gives an overview of alerts from applications. These applications can be your email, messages, alarms, games, the weather and so on. The notifications are displayed until you complete the action or clear them. If you want to quickly clear all notifications, you may do so after a few simple steps.

Example Notifications

2. Clear Notifications

Clear Single Notification

  1. Swipe down from the top left of the screen to show the Notification Center.
iPhone X. Illustration
  1. Swipe left on a notification to clear it.
Swipe Left

Clear a Group of Notifications

  1. Swipe down from the top left of the screen to show the Notification Center.
iPhone X. Illustration
  1. Tap the X on the group of notifications you want to remove.
X on group of notifications
  1. Tap on Clear.
Clear button

Clear All Notifications

  1. Swipe down from the top left of the screen to show the Notification Center.
iPhone X. Illustration
  1. Long press (deeply press 3D-Touch devices) on the X until "Clear All Notifications" appears.
X on Notifications Center
  1. Tap on Clear All Notifications.
Clear All Notifications