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How to check notification history on your Android phone
You can check your missed notifications without switching between apps
Your phone's notifications show you app messages at a glance. Swiping them away is super satisfying, making you feel as if you ticked off items on your to-do list. But your phone can get inundated with messages if you forget to check it regularly. The number of notifications can get so overwhelming that you might dismiss them without reading. You could get overzealous while clearing up your phone's notification center and miss an important update.
Download all 310 Pixel ringtones, alarms, and notifications from Google's Sounds app
Including Android 12's new alarm and notification sounds
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The Pixel Sounds application comes pre-installed on Pixel phones and is stock-full of ringtones, alarms, and notification sounds for you to choose from. It also works on some non-Pixel phones too, like a few Galaxy S phones, but not on all. That's why we've decided to share with you all the sound files included in it, so you can use them on any device (including your desktop, if you like that).
Chrome won't spam you with notifications thanks to this upcoming change
Helps keep your presentation distraction-free
There's no denying that getting slammed with notifications is quite distracting. With the global pandemic causing a dramatic shift in how many of us do our jobs, it's now more important than ever to present at your best with screen sharing tools like Google Meet — free from any distraction. An upcoming Chrome change will take that one step further to help you stay focused and on track.
Google is finally fixing the awful notifications on Chrome OS
A revamped UI and notification grouping are in the works
It's no secret that notifications have been a usability nightmare for Chromebooks. The touch-centric cards are cumbersome and unintuitive to manage with a mouse — the lack of proper grouping and polish further hurts usability. Even worse, developers have done nothing to fix the awkward notification center on Chrome OS, leaving it in an unpolished state for years. But now it seems like Google is finally realizing that notifications on Chromebooks are a hot mess, and it's finally getting ready to fix its lackluster implementation.
One more noteworthy feature snuck its way into Chrome 86. It's a small change, but it should help make a further dent in the growing problem of notification abuse. In this latest release, sites known for abusive notification content (things like distributing malware or falsely scaring users with fake system messages) will get the same silent treatment as sites that try to trick users into enabling notifications.
Google is bringing Android 11's media notifications to Chrome OS
Keep more of your important notifications in view, not less
Tired of the awful Chrome OS media controls wasting your precious notification space?
Google is bringing Android's notification dots to apps on your Chromebook
Silent and easy to see at a glance
Let's be honest with ourselves: push notifications suck. It's incredibly annoying when you are spammed information that isn't relevant to you. As irritating as it is, notifications are fundamental to a product's usability and necessary for a good user experience (when done right). To increase engagement, designers came up with notification badges, a subtle way to hint that something is waiting inside the app. Google eventually adopted this concept with Android Oreo using notification dots, and it looks like Google wants to bring notification dots to apps on your Chromebook as well.
This is what that 'Google X enrollment' notification on your phone means
Don't worry, it's just the Google Assistant
When you upgrade to Android 11, you might notice a mysterious-sounding "X Google enrollment" notification appear on first boot, saying "enrollment is running in the background." It disappears after a few seconds, and though it might sound odd, it's no cause for concern: It's just related to the Google Assistant. In fact, Google plans on tweaking the notification in the future to be more clear about what's going on.
Assistant shortcuts appearing in new silent lockscreen notification
They can bug out a bit visually, though
A new lockscreen notification loaded with command shortcuts for the Google Assistant has started appearing for some in what we assume is a test. The notification is silent, only appears when the phone is locked, is dismissable, and can bug out a bit in certain dark mode implementations, like Samsung's One UI.
Microsoft Outlook adds option to customize buttons on notifications (APK Download)
Archive, mark as read, or flag emails without opening the app
Microsoft's Outlook email application has seen update after update over the past few months, adding features like photo annotation and audio playback of emails. Now the app has added another incredibly useful function: the ability to customize which actions appear on notifications for new emails.
YouTube ends email notifications for new uploads and livestreams
You'll only receive notifications through the desktop site and mobile apps
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YouTube has a few different methods of notifying you about new videos from specific channels, including push notifications on the mobile apps, alerts on the desktop site, and email. However, the last option is going away, as Google alleges email alerts aren't used very often.
Chrome 84 removes Duet interface, tests bottom tab switcher, blocks some intrusive notifications, and more (APK Download)
Rest in peace, Chrome Duet
Chrome 84 entered beta just a few weeks ago, but it's already rolling out on the stable channel across all platforms. This is one of the most significant Chrome updates we've seen in a while, with a few removed features and new functionality for both regular people and developers. Let's dive right in!
Douglas Adams wrote in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, "In the beginning, the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move." The same is true for notification prompts in web browsers — what was once used sparingly for email clients and other web applications turned into yet another thing to close when attempting to read almost any site on the internet. While Google has already taken steps to reduce the number of notification popups you see while browsing the web, the company is now cracking down on sites that actively trick people into enabling them.
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Google Assistant isn't only good at answering your questions and orders. It also proactively sends you notifications on flights, public transport updates, packages, upcoming events, and more. To personalize which of these you receive, you usually have to head to the Google app's App info -> Notifications section. That's not very intuitive, and the amount of Assistant options there is limited. In a change that's already rolling out to first people, Google has moved the notification controls to a more prominent place right inside the Assistant's settings and has added many more granular toggles.
Android 11's notification history is no longer hidden (Updated)
Latest developer preview lets you access it from the notification shade
Another tweak to notifications in Android 11 was spotted in the latest developer preview: A tweak to a hidden "Notification log" activity, and a new, only partially functional "Notification history" activity that shows you a list of items you've recently dismissed.
TuneIn updates app with rewind/forward buttons in notifications
No support for Android 10's seek bar, though
TuneIn is one of the most-recognized apps for listening to online radio stations and podcasts, especially since it has been available on Android for nearly a decade. A minor update is now going out on the Play Store that updates the playback notification with rewind/fast forward buttons, though there's still no support for Android 10's seek bar.
Chrome has finally reached the 80s. The browser sadly doesn't have a neon theme or play The Power of Love at startup, but maybe Google is saving that for v85. Regardless, this version has plenty of changes to go into, so let's dive in.
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- Google's changelog page for Chromebook updates is now live. You can find it here and see the most important changes included in the latest release of Chrome OS.
Google's Chrome OS usually sees a "major" Stable Channel update about every six weeks, but if you don't follow the news at places like our site, you might have trouble knowing what is new or changed in the latest version when it hits. That gives new features in Chrome OS like the upcoming Virtual Desks a bit of a discoverability problem, but according to a recently spotted commit on the Chromium Gerrit, new "Release Notes" may appear following future updates to Chrome OS, illuminating the changes delivered with new versions.
One of the most popular tweaks offered by many third-party Android launchers/home screen replacements looks like it might be coming to Google's Pixels. According to a report by the folks at XDA Developers, the Pixel Launcher in a future Android Q release (originally pegged to be Beta 5) may include a gesture that allows swiping down to expand the notification shade from anywhere on the homescreen.
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- OnePlus has issued an official statement saying that the error occurred while testing software for the upcoming Android Q update. It also assured users that the notifications doesn't indicate any risks for personal data and that it's implementing processes to make sure this mistake doesn't occur again.
About an hour ago, OnePlus 7 Pro users got pinged with two weird notifications on their devices, emanating from OnePlus's own Push service. One of them had a string of gibberish latin consonants and the other what appears to be Korean or Chinese characters. Users were obviously confused and thought this was spam or the servers were hacked, but OnePlus has just cleared things up saying it was an error originating from a test.