Fix: Notifications not working iOS 16

Although we can all agree that iOS 16 is the move in the right direction, there are definitely some issues that started tormenting users after the update. One of the most prominent problems concerns issues with notifications. For some users, notifications are not working on iOS 16 at all; others report that they get notified on occasion but not reliably. If you are among those users, check the instructions we provided below.

Table of contents:

1. Restart your iPhone
2. Check Notification settings
3. Check per-app settings
4. Reinstall the apps
5. Reset All Settings

How do I fix notifications on iOS 16?

You should be able to fix notifications on iOS 16 by simply restarting your iPhone. If that does nothing, check for updates in Settings > General > Software Update and install all available updates. We hope that iOS 16.1 fixes the problem for you once it becomes publicly available.

Alternatively, you can check system notification settings and then inspect per-app settings. You can also try reinstalling the app that doesn’t show notifications or Reset All Settings. Give these steps a try and tell us what fixed the problem for you.

1. Restart your iPhone

The first thing you should do if the notifications are not working is to restart your iPhone. Of course, you need to pay attention to slight UX changes that came with iOS 16, too. So, here’s the deal. For some reason (probably to reduce clutter), Apple decided to hide all notifications from the Lock Screen (and Notification Center) once you unlock your iPhone and access the Home Screen.

So, they don’t stick and if you don’t see them — worry not — you’ll get them again with one additional swipe. Just lock your iPhone again or swipe from the top on the Home Screen to bring up the Notification Center. After that, swipe from the bottom upwards and you should see all the notifications you haven’t dismissed or opened.

If you still don’t see notifications or you don’t get sound alerts, move to the next step.

2. Check Notification settings

The next thing you should do is check various notification-related settings. Start by disabling DND (Do Not Disturb) or any other Focus mode. If you use them actively, make sure to configure DND/Focus modes so the important notifications can come through in case Do Not Disturb is not working on iOS as intended.

After that, you should probably go to Settings > Notifications and ensure that Notifications are displayed as a list rather than the Stack. In addition, you can disable Scheduled Summary or also configure it to show you Time Sensitive notifications. This is available for certain apps only.

3. Check per-app settings

Alternatively, you should probably inspect the per-app notification settings and ensure that all notifications are enabled. You get a great overview of all system apps and third-party apps in Settings > Notifications. You can expand the settings for each app and enable Allow Notifications and Time Sensitive Notifications (when available). Also, make sure that the Lock Screen and Notification Center are enabled under Alerts.

Furthermore, you should check Notification settings in the app itself. Most apps have notification settings of their own so check those, as well. There’s also a chance that you are getting notifications on an alternative device with the same AppleID account first. This will quickly dismiss the incoming notifications on your iPhone.

4. Reinstall the apps

Another thing you can try is to reinstall the apps that don’t show notifications. It seems that some apps always have issues just after a major iOS update until developers update them. And, this might as well be the case here and the main cause f0r notifications not working on iOS 16.

You can reinstall the app from the Home Screen or App Library. Alternatively, you can do that in System Settings. Here’s how to reinstall iPhone apps:

1. Open Settings.
2. Select General.
3. Choose iPhone Storage.
4. Select the app you want to uninstall.
5. Tap Delete App.
6. Now, after a quick restart, navigate to App Store and download the app again.
7. After that, you can check the notification settings again and ensure that everything is in order.

Hopefully, this solves it for you but, if you still have an issue, consider resetting all settings on your iPhone. Or even resetting your device to factory settings and restoring it from iCloud later.

5. Reset All Settings

Finally, you can reset all settings and hope for the best. The alternative is to reset your device and restore it which, honestly, can take some time and effort. Unlike the factory reset, resetting all settings won’t delete any data but it will reset Apple Pay, privacy settings, and location settings, and delete keyboard dictionary entries.

Here’s how to Reset All Settings on your iPhone:

1. Open Settings.
2. Select General.
3. Choose Transfer or Reset iPhone.
4. Select Reset.
5. Tap Reset All Settings and confirm when asked.

That should conclude it. Don’t forget to report the problem to Apple on the iPhone Feedback page. Thank you for reading and feel free to tell us if the steps here helped you solve the issue with notifications. Do you have some alternative solutions to recommend? Share them with us and other readers in the comments below.