It can be frustrating when Facebook notifications you’ve dismissed keep reappearing. There are a few possible reasons why this happens and some steps you can take to prevent those pesky notifications from returning.
You Have Unread Messages
The most common reason Facebook notifications come back is because you have unread messages. Facebook considers any messages that you haven’t opened as “unread.” So if you dismiss a notification about a new message without actually opening and reading the message, Facebook will keep sending you notifications about it.
The solution is simple – open and read the messages. Once you’ve read a message, Facebook will stop sending notifications about it. You can also long press on a notification and choose “Mark as Read.” However, you still need to open the message for the notification to stop entirely.
You Have Unseen Posts
Similar to messages, notifications for posts and comments on your own posts can reappear if you haven’t viewed the actual post. For example, if someone comments on your Facebook post but you only dismiss the notification without actually looking at the post, you’ll continue getting notifications about that comment.
To stop these kinds of notifications, view the post itself. You can also long press the notification and choose “Mark as Seen.” But again, simply dismissing the notification is not enough – you need to view the post for the notifications to stop.
You Have Unchecked Notifications
Facebook has a system where notifications are marked as “seen” only when you click on them. So dismissing a notification without clicking on it means it stays “unseen” to Facebook. These unseen notifications can come back since Facebook will keep trying to notify you about them.
To prevent this, get in the habit of manually clicking notifications before dismissing them. You can also long press to mark them as read or seen. This tells Facebook you’ve acknowledged the notification and prevents it from being sent repeatedly.
You Have Unanswered Message Requests
Message requests are messages from people who are not your Facebook friends. If you get a message request and dismiss the notification without responding, Facebook will continue sending you notifications about it.
To make these notifications stop, you need to answer the message request. You can approve it to continue the conversation or delete it. But simply dismissing the request without a response means you’ll keep getting reminded about it.
You Have Pending Notifications
If you have a lot of unseen notifications, Facebook’s notification panel can get filled up. Once it reaches a certain number, newer notifications get sent to a “Pending Notifications” section. These act just like regular notifications and will continue being sent until you view them.
To stop pending notifications, open up your notifications panel and click “View” on the pending notifications category. This will show you all the notifications you haven’t seen and prevent them from being sent repeatedly.
You Have Unseen Group Activity
Similar to posts and comments, notifications about group activity will persist if you haven’t viewed the actual activity. For example, if someone posts in a group you’re in but you only dismiss the notification, you’ll keep getting notified about that post.
Check the group itself to mark activity as “seen.” You can also long press notifications to mark as read, but it’s better to view the activity to fully stop notifications.
You Have Unseen Friend Requests
When someone sends you a friend request on Facebook, you’ll get a notification about it. If you dismiss this without responding to the request, Facebook will keep sending it to you.
To stop getting these repeatedly, go to your friend requests and either confirm or delete the request. Leaving it pending means allowing the notifications to continue.
You Have Unchecked Events
For events you’ve been invited to or are “Interested” in, notifications will persist until you view the actual event. Dismissing the notification alone isn’t enough. You need to open the event and click “Going” or “Interested.”
Also, notifications about event updates will keep coming unless you view the updates. Check the event itself periodically to stop getting notified about new developments.
You Have Unseen Page Notifications
If you like or follow any Facebook pages, you may get notifications about new posts or activity related to that page. As with other Facebook notifications, these will keep coming back until you actually click on them and view the page.
Interact with the page itself instead of just dismissing notifications. Commenting, liking posts, or just loading the page tells Facebook you’ve seen the activity.
You Have Unopened Live Videos
When a Facebook friend goes live or premieres a new video, you may get notified. But simply dismissing this notification doesn’t tell Facebook you’ve actually watched the video.
Open up the video and watch at least a few seconds of it. This registers in Facebook’s system that you’ve seen the live broadcast and prevents further notifications about it.
You Have Unseen Stories
In Facebook’s Stories feature, notifications about new stories from your friends will keep coming back until you view them. You need to not just dismiss but actually watch the story for the notification to go away.
In your Stories feed, press and hold on stories you want to mark as seen. You can also click through stories to force them to be marked as seen by Facebook’s algorithms.
You Have Filtered Words
Facebook’s notification filters allow you to mute notifications containing certain words or phrases. But this doesn’t make the notifications disappear entirely – they just get sent to a filtered section.
Check your filtered notifications and mark them as seen. You can also remove filters for words you no longer want to block. This ensures no notifications get stuck in limbo and keep coming back.
You Have Unseen Suggested/Hidden Posts
Facebook’s algorithms hide some posts in your News Feed it thinks you don’t want to see. However, notifications related to those posts will still be sent. To stop these notifications, periodically check your hidden posts and mark them as seen.
You can also undo the hiding to allow future posts from those people to be shown normally in your feed again. This prevents their notifications from being dismissed and recurring.
You Have Unread Marketplace Notifications
For Facebook Marketplace activity like item sales, offers, declines, etc., notifications will persist until you view the actual activity on Marketplace. Simply dismissing the notification does nothing.
Open up Marketplace and click into your purchase history, sales history, offers received, and other activity. This marks Marketplace notifications as read and halts recurring notices.
Conclusion
Facebook notifications are designed to keep coming back until you fully confirm you’ve seen the underlying activity. Dismissing or deleting notifications alone is not enough – you need to view posts, open messages, watch videos, etc for the notifications to stop.
Get in the habit of clicking notifications before dismissing them, and periodically check sections like Marketplace, stories, and pending notifications. This tells Facebook you’ve seen those alerts and prevents them from reappearing endlessly.
With over 2 billion users, Facebook’s algorithms have to aggressively notify people of activity. But with some diligence on your part to mark notifications as read, you can stem the tide and enjoy Facebook without being bombarded by recurrent notices.
Here is a summary of the key points:
- Open and read messages to mark them as read
- View posts, comments and reactions to mark them as seen
- Click notifications before dismissing them
- Respond to outstanding friend requests
- Check pending notifications
- View group activity in the group itself
- Confirm or delete event invites
- Like and comment on pages to interact with them
- Watch some of a live video broadcast
- View stories by pressing and holding on them
- Check filtered notifications
- View suggested and hidden posts
- Check Marketplace for sales and offers