Android L Features: Notification Manager Introduced in “Sound & Notifications”

In the past, if you didn’t want an app showing notifications on your Android device, you had to either long-press on a notification from the app, then head into the app’s specific info page, and disable notifications or take the longer route to unchecking its notifications powers through Settings>App manager. Either process wasn’t a bad one by any means, but Google appears to want to give you more specific notification control in Android L with the introduction of notification management through the Sound section in Settings which has been renamed “Sound & Notifications.” 

In this renamed section you will find the typical sound settings, including the new Do Not Disturb mode we highlighted last week, but you will also see an option for “Showing notifications.” In this section you have specific control over the notification light, along with control over what happens with notifications when your phone is in DND mode or locked. But maybe more importantly, you now have a dedicated area for toggling notifications on or off for apps.

By tapping the “App notifications” option, you will see a list of all apps. If you tap on a specific app, a menu pops up with a box that can be checked to allow that app to show notifications or unchecked to take that power away. If you choose to take notification power away, the app will show “Blocked” under its name.

Again, this isn’t exactly the speediest of controls when compared to the old solution (which still works by the way), but it does leave open the possibility for even more power over the way your device handles notifications.