Receiving real-time notifications from your apps ensures you stay updated on messages, alerts, and important announcements. 

Whether it’s for emails, social media updates, or emergency notifications from authorities, enabling push notifications on your iPhone or iPad is a simple process.

You can also customize how notifications appear, including sounds, banners, and lock screen alerts.

Below is a comprehensive guide to activating and managing notifications for your apps and government alerts.

Enabling Push Notifications for Apps

Step 1: Open the Settings App

Locate and open the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad. This app has a gray gear icon and can be found on the home screen, in the App Library, or through a quick search.

Step 2: Access the Notifications Menu

Scroll down and tap on Notifications—you’ll see a red icon with a white bell. Depending on your iOS version, this setting may be located within the second or third section of options.

Step 3: Configure Notification Previews

By default, your device will display a preview of notifications, such as snippets of text messages or the phone number of missed calls. To modify this setting:

• Tap Show Previews and select from the following options:
  • Always: Displays full notification previews on both locked and unlocked screens.
  • When Unlocked: Shows notification previews only when your device is unlocked. This is useful for privacy reasons.
  • Never: Hides the content of notifications, showing only the app’s name.

For app-specific preview settings, scroll down, select the app, then find the Lock Screen Appearance section and adjust the preview options accordingly.

Step 4: Select the App You Want to Manage

After setting your preview preferences, go back to the Notifications menu and scroll down to see a list of installed apps. Select the app whose notification settings you wish to adjust.

Step 5: Enable Notifications for the Selected App

Tap on the app and toggle the Allow Notifications switch to the On position. Once enabled, notifications for that app will be displayed as per your preferences.

Step 6: Choose Notification Alerts

Each app provides different ways to receive notifications. You can customize the following:

• Lock Screen: Notifications will appear when the screen is locked.

• Notification Center: Alerts will be accessible when you pull down the Notification Center from the top of the screen.

• Banners: Notifications will pop up when they arrive.

For banners, tap Banner Style to choose between:

• Temporary: Banners disappear automatically after a few seconds.

• Persistent: Banners remain on-screen until manually dismissed.

Step 7: Enable or Disable Notification Sounds

Some apps allow you to enable sounds for notifications. Toggle the Sounds option to the On position if you want to hear an alert when a new notification arrives.

Apps like Messages and FaceTime even let you set custom sounds.

Step 8: Show Notification Badges

The Badges option, when enabled, displays a small red circle with a number on the app’s icon, indicating the number of unread notifications.

If you prefer a cleaner home screen, you can toggle this feature off.

Enabling Emergency and Government Alerts

Some notifications are crucial for safety, such as weather warnings, AMBER alerts, and other emergency broadcasts from local authorities.

Step 1: Open the Settings App

Find and launch the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad.

Step 2: Tap on Notifications

Scroll and select Notifications, which is represented by a red icon with a white bell.

Step 3: Scroll to the Bottom

At the very bottom of the Notifications panel, you will find the Government Alerts section.

Step 4: Toggle Government Alerts On or Off

Depending on your location, government-issued alerts may already be enabled. You can toggle on or off alerts such as:

• AMBER Alerts – Notifications about missing children.

• Public Safety Alerts – Warnings about hazards or threats in your area.

• Test Alerts – Optional test messages from emergency services.

In some regions, government alerts cannot be disabled.

Step 5: Open the Emergency Alerts Menu

Tap Emergency Alerts to access additional customization options.

Step 6: Enable or Disable Emergency Alerts

Toggle Emergency Alerts to the On position to receive critical alerts from state or local authorities regarding extreme weather, disasters, or other emergencies.

Step 7: Activate Local Awareness for More Accurate Alerts

Turning on Local Awareness allows emergency notifications to be based on your specific location, providing more timely and relevant warnings.

Step 8: Choose Whether to Play Alert Sounds in Silent Mode

If you want emergency alerts to sound even when your device is in silent mode or Focus mode, toggle Always Play Sound to the On position.

Conclusion

Enabling push notifications on your iPhone or iPad helps you stay connected with app updates and emergency alerts. 

By following these steps, you can customize which notifications appear, how they are displayed, and whether they play sounds. 

Adjusting these settings ensures you receive important alerts while maintaining control over distractions.