Being able to view previous notifications on your iPhone can be extremely useful. Notifications let you know about new messages, calendar events, app updates and more. If you swipe away a notification before reading it or just want to go back and view an old notification again, there are a few different ways to see your notification history on an iPhone.
View Notification History in Notification Center
The easiest way to see your recent notifications is by opening up Notification Center. To view Notification Center, swipe down from the top of the screen. This will display all of your recent notifications.
Notification Center shows notifications from the past 24 hours. You can scroll down to view older notifications. Tap on any notification to open it up, which will launch the related app. This lets you quickly view more details about that notification.
In Notification Center, you can tap the “X” icon next to a notification to clear it. Or swipe left on a notification and tap “Clear” to remove it from your history.
Customize Notification Center
You can customize Notification Center to control how notifications are displayed:
- Go to Settings > Notifications to manage notifications from specific apps.
- Go to Settings > Display & Brightness > Raise to Wake to control whether lifting your iPhone displays Notification Center.
- Go to Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size to increase text size for easier reading of notifications.
View Notifications on Lock Screen
Your recent notifications also display on the lock screen. When you wake your iPhone, you’ll see notifications from the past several hours. This gives you a quick look at notifications that came in since the last time you used your device.
You can tap on a notification right from the lock screen to open it up. Swipe left on a notification and tap “View” to go directly into that app and view more details about the notification.
To customize your lock screen notifications:
- Go to Settings > Notifications and turn off “Show on Lock Screen” for apps you don’t want displaying notifications.
- Go to Settings > Face ID & Passcode to prevent notification contents from being displayed while phone is locked.
View Notification History in Apps
Many apps have their own notification history that you can view. For example, to see all past notifications from the Messages app:
- Open the Messages app.
- Tap the conversation that has the notification you want to view.
- Tap the “i” icon in the top right corner.
- Tap “Notifications” to see details on all past notifications for that conversation.
This works similarly for most built-in and third-party apps that use notifications. The notification history may be under an “Activity” tab or other location within the app settings.
Retrieve Missed Notifications
If you completely missed a notification when your iPhone was asleep, there is a way to retrieve it:
- Wake your iPhone but don’t unlock it.
- Press down firmly on the notification icon until it starts wiggling.
- Tap “Manage” at the bottom.
- Turn on “Include” next to any apps you want to always show notifications from when locked.
Now when you wake your phone, you will clearly see if you have any missed notifications from those apps. You can tap to view them from the lock screen.
View Notification History on Apple Watch
If you have an Apple Watch paired to your iPhone, you can also view recent notifications on your watch:
- Swipe up on the watch face to see notifications from the past several hours.
- Open the Notification Center app on your watch to see older notifications.
- Force press on a notification to clear it or view it on your iPhone.
Third-Party Notification History Apps
There are third-party apps you can download to provide enhanced notification history and management features:
Notifier – Notification History
- Save entire notification archive including deleted notifications
- Search through all past notifications
- Customize how long history is saved
- Export notification history
Filterbox – Message Filter
- Intelligently filter low priority notifications
- Clean up repetitive notifications
- Fully customizable filtering options
- Available for iOS and Android
Troubleshooting Notification Issues
If you are having problems with missing notifications or notification history not showing up properly, here are some troubleshooting steps:
- Check that notifications are enabled for the app – go to Settings > Notifications
- Ensure the app notifications are set to display on the lock screen
- Force quit and relaunch the app
- On the app notification settings, choose “Alerts” instead of “Banners”
- Restart your iPhone
- Update to the latest iOS software version
Conclusion
Being able to easily view past notifications on iPhone can help you stay on top of important messages, calendar events, and other app activity. Use Notification Center, the lock screen, in-app history, and third-party apps to retrieve notifications.
Customizing notification settings ensures you get notified from the apps that matter most to you. Troubleshoot any issues with missing notification history by checking app settings, iOS updates, and restarting your iPhone.