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How to unhide notifications in Android Q

Android Q has an annoying habit of hiding certain notifications. Here's how to disable Automatic Notification Prioritizer and bring them back.

Kevin Tucker

May 8, 2019 6:05 PM

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Android Q is packed with new features designed expressly for ease of use, but some of them are bound to confuse mobile users. One such feature is called Automatic Notification Prioritizer, and it's designed to hide specific notifications so that the Android Q taskbar doesn't become too cluttered. However, many users would prefer for their phones to show all notifications, no matter how frivolous they may seem. Here's how to disable the Automatic Notification Prioritizer and get your Android Q phone to show all notifications.

Android Q missing notifications | How to disable Automatic Notification Prioritizer

The option to enable or disable the Automatic Notification Prioritizer in Android Q is buried a few steps deep into the operating system's settings menu. Here's how to find and disable it:

1. Slide down on the taskbar and select the Settings icon.
2. In the settings menu, tap on Apps and notifications.
3. In the Apps and notifications menu, tap on Notifications.
4. Toggle the Automatic Notification Prioritizer setting on or off.

Users can find another useful option within the Apps and notifications menu. It's labeled "Hide silent notification status icons," and it allows users to control which notification icons are shown in the taskbar. With the Hide silent notification status icons option disabled, each and every notification will be pushed to the status bar. With it enabled, however, users can long-press on notifications themselves and choose how or if they appear. For what it's worth, this is the same behavior used by notifications in previous versions of Android, but it's possible that users aren't aware of the toggle in the settings menu.

Again, the Automatic Notification Prioritizer and Hide silent notification status icons features may be separate, but the two are involved in a fair amount of interplay. Notifications that appear to be missing are the domain of the former feature, whereas notifications that have been hidden are the domain of the latter. Fortunately, both features are located near to one another in the Android Q settings menu, so users should have no trouble figuring out what's happening with their notifications.

It's strange that Android Q enables the Automatic Notification Prioritizer feature by default, as users are bound to wonder why they are missing notifications. Fear not, the notifications are still working as intended; the Automatic Notification Prioritizer simply needs to be disabled in order to unhide them. For the rest of your Google OS needs, be sure to stop by Shacknews' Android Q home page.

Kevin Tucker

Guides Editor

Kevin Tucker is a core component of Shacknews' powerful guide development team. For questions, concerns, tips, or to share constructive criticism, he can be reached on Twitter @dukeofgnar or through e-mail at kevin.tucker@shacknews.com.