After installing iOS 5, you’ll notice that the entire push notification system has changed. Instead of only displaying one notification at a time, you are able to get multiple, unobtrusive notifications. We’ll walk you through the Notification Center and get you working with the new push notifications in no time.
One of the biggest changes is the push notifications on the lock screen. Previously, you were limited to how many notifications would appear on the lock screen. Not any longer. Now, multiple notifications will stack on top of each other, allowing you to see all of your push notifications on your lock screen. Best part of all is the small icon that lets you know which application the notification came from. Dragging this icon from the left to the right of the screen will unlock the device and take you right to the application the notification came from.
The new unobtrusive notification system will not interrupt your video game, phone call, or music experience. Instead of popping up a notification dialog, a new animation will appear from the top, gently rolling down the notification within view. You can tap on this notification to go straight to the application it came from, or ignore it until you have a chance to view it.
To get a history of your unread push notifications, simply swipe downward from the clock at the top of your iOS device’s screen. This will drag down the new Notification Center, a new screen that will display all unread notifications, upcoming calendar events, new mail message, and more.
You can scroll through the notifications by swiping, just as you would in any other iOS application. When you see a notification that you wish to read in the application, just tap on it. The notification will then disappear from the Notification Center and the application that the notification originated from will open.
To clear the push notifications without tapping to open the application, simply tap on the small “X” in the application heading, and then tap on the resulting “Clear” button. The notifications from that application will be erased from the Notification Center.
There are a few settings that you can tweak in the Notification Center. To see all of the notifications, head to System Preferences > Notifications.
From here, you can sort applications “Manually” or “By Time.” You can also set which types of notifications you receive from certain applications by tapping on the application icon in this area.
The application settings enables to check the application and how it's notifications will appear in the Notification Center, as well as how many items you want to display. You can also set the Alert Style by selecting from None, Banners, and Alerts. In addition, you can determine whether the Badge App Icon will display, whether there is a preview of the push notification, how many times the alert will repeat, and whether the notification will appear on the Lock Screen.
As you can see from the settings, Apple now gives the user full control over how notifications display on their iOS 5 devices.
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