3 Handy New Android Notification Features

If I were to tell someone casually that my Android notifications are now persistent, easily shareable, and boast advanced snoozing capabilities, they’d likely give me a bewildered look.

And frankly, that reaction would probably be fair — even without considering what I just mentioned. (In case we haven’t met, hello! I’m JR, and this is how I typically dress.)

Nevertheless, the statement is completely accurate, and as an Android enthusiast who’s always seeking optimization, I’m thrilled to have these new powerful features at my disposal.

Allow me to elaborate, then I’ll show you how you can unlock these same advantages (wardrobe not included).

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Visualizing 3 Enhanced Android Notification Features

The best way to grasp these clever new notification enhancements is to witness them firsthand. So, let’s dive right in…

1. The Persistent Notification

When I encounter a particularly crucial notification that I absolutely must not dismiss until it’s been properly addressed, I now set it as “sticky.” This means even if I accidentally swipe it away or use the “clear all” button, it reappears instantly instead of disappearing forever.

JR Raphael, Foundry

2. The Shareable Notification

Occasionally, a notification contains information that I’d find useful to save or distribute without resorting to taking a screenshot. Now, in such situations — specifically with apps where I frequently receive share-worthy notifications — I can have an Android system share option built right into those alerts. A single tap allows me to share the notification’s full content to any other application or service on my device.

JR Raphael, Foundry

3. The Intelligent Snoozing Notification

Android’s notification snooze function, while good in concept, is rather limited, offering only 15-minute, 30-minute, one-hour, or two-hour options. But what if you need to snooze an alert until your workday concludes, a common scenario for daytime notifications? With this new enhancement, you can snooze any notification to a *specific* time, such as 5:30 p.m., ensuring it reappears precisely when you need it, no matter how far off that moment may be.

JR Raphael, Foundry

So, there you have our trio of fantastic upgrades. Now, let’s explore how you can enable them for yourself.

Unlock Smarter Notifications in One Minute

Alright, set aside roughly sixty seconds of your time:

The key to these sophisticated notification enhancements lies within an incredibly useful Android power-user utility and one of my go-to productivity tools: a compact yet powerful app called BuzzKill.

BuzzKill essentially empowers you to create filters for your Android notifications, much like you would for Gmail. I’ve previously discussed its utility for preventing back-to-back notification spam, generating concise notification summaries, and configuring unique vibration patterns for specific conditions, among other uses.

Today, however, our focus is on some recently integrated capabilities within BuzzKill that align with the three possibilities we just covered.

Here’s how to access them, if you’re ready to get started:

• Download BuzzKill from the Play Store if you don’t already have it.
  • The app is a one-time purchase of four dollars, which, believe me, is a small price for the ongoing value it provides.
  • It doesn’t request any unusual permissions, doesn’t gather any data from your device, and has no internet access — meaning it couldn’t share your information even if it intended to. 
• After completing the app’s initial setup and reaching its main interface, tap the circular button located in the lower-right corner to establish a new rule.

1️⃣ Now — for setting up the persistent notification (a feature not technically *new* in BuzzKill but one that has only recently achieved consistent reliability):

• Tap the “any app” text and select the specific application whose notifications you wish to make persistent.
• To refine your rule further by specifying a particular *type* of notification within that app, tap the “contains anything” text and adjust it accordingly.
• Next, tap the “do nothing” text and scroll until you find “Sticky.” Select it, then tap “Pick action” to confirm.
• Simply tap “Save rule” — and you’re done! The next notification meeting your specified criteria should remain sticky and resilient, even if dismissed, only disappearing once marked as done or completed within its originating app.

JR Raphael, Foundry

2️⃣ For incorporating the shareable notification functionality:

• Begin with the initial two steps described above: Tap “any app” and switch it to the application whose notifications you want to enable for sharing.
• If you wish to be more specific and target a particular *type* of notification within that app, tap “contains anything” and adjust it accordingly.
• Next, tap “do nothing” and scroll down until you locate “Add share button,” then select it, followed by the “Pick action” bar.
• Tap “Save rule” to finalize, then await the next relevant notification to discover and test your elegant new sharing button.

JR Raphael, Foundry

3️⃣ And, lastly, for the intelligent snoozing upgrade:

• Once more, repeat the first two steps: Tap “any app” and change it to the application whose notifications you want to modify.
• Should you desire more precision, targeting a particular *kind* of notification within that app, tap “contains anything” and adjust accordingly.
• Next, tap “do nothing” and scroll down to “Add snooze button.” Select it, then tap “Pick action” to complete the setup.
  • Please note that, at present, you cannot add both a sharing button *and* a snooze command to the same type of notification; you’ll need to choose one or the other for any given notification category.
• Tap “Save rule” and be ready for the next notification you receive to experience your newly enhanced snoozing capability.

JR Raphael, Foundry

Pretty cool, right?! Now you’re equipped to share your knowledge about your Android notifications’ new persistent, shareable, and intelligently snoozable capabilities, and revel in the quizzical expressions of those around you.

Indeed, being a tech enthusiast has its perks sometimes.

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