iOS 15 will prioritize your notifications using on-device intelligence

Notifications on iOS 15 have been redesigned to help you stay focused on the things that matter most.

Today was the first day of WWDC21 and, during the keynote, Apple announced that it is bringing some notable updates to how notifications are handled on the iPhone with iOS 15. The notifications have been redesigned, adding contact photos for people who message you and a larger app icon for other notifications.

They have also created a new notification summary that groups together the non-critical notifications. Those will be delivered at the appropriate times throughout the day so you aren't bogged down by continuous, less urgent notifications all day.

Notifications have been redesigned, adding contact photos for people and larger icons for apps that make them even easier to identify. To help reduce distraction, a new notification summary collects non-time-critical notifications for delivery at a more opportune time, such as in the morning and evening.

Even better, iOS will now arrange notifications by priority using on-device intelligence. The most urgent notifications will be delivered right away like messages from people, while others may be added to the notification summary.

Using on-device intelligence, notifications are arranged by priority, with the most relevant notifications rising to the top, and based on a user's interactions with apps. Urgent messages will be delivered immediately, so important communications will not end up in the summary, and it's easy to temporarily mute any app or messaging thread for the next hour or for the day.

The new features for notifications will roll out to developers in the iOS 15 beta today, to public beta users in July, and to all users when iOS 15 releases this fall.