Your new notification power-up

Plus a neat new secret step-saver  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ [Android Intelligence](#) [Android Intelligence](#) Brought to you by: [Ben Collins logo]()​ Ahh, notifications. You've gotta love 'em — and, let's be honest, also kinda hate 'em. It's not just me, right? I'm not sure I've ever had a relationship quite as rocky as what I've got goin' with my phone's alerts. They make sure I never miss anything important, which is great! But man, can they ever annoy the flying fiddlesticks out of me, too (and you'd better believe I let 'em know when they do). Lucky for us, Android has some incredible options for making our notifications more helpful. Some of 'em are built right into the operating system and on the brink of getting an interesting little upgrade, as we'll talk about in this week's Things to Know section. And some of 'em require a teensy bit of tinkering to bring to life. But it's easy to accomplish, once you know the steps (which we'll go over in our Things to Try). Read on, and by the end of this issue, you'll be back to loving your phone's notifications all over again. For the moment, at least. [JR Raphael, Author] JR Today's read: ⌚ 3 Things to Know: 1 minute 30 seconds ⌚ 3 Things to Try: 1 minute 15 seconds ⌚ Just for Funsies: 30 seconds ​ [] [3 Things to Know This Week] 1. Gemini is creating an awkward Android assistant mess ➜ THE SHORT VERSION: Google's Gemini chatbot is seeing all sorts of upgrades this week, but those advancements reveal a darker reality. 🔎 KNOW MORE: Google's pushing out improvements for its next-gen Android assistant service at a breakneck pace — mostly with the aim of catching it up to the core tasks Google Assistant has long been able to handle. - New signs suggest incoming progress around Gemini-on-Android automations as well as things like streaming audio control and a faster, more "natural" interaction experience. - That's all well and good, but more than anything, it highlights just how far behind Gemini is and how badly Google's bungled this transition. - Gemini is still a half-baked, barely passable Android assistant. And Google's forcing it down our throats before it's anywhere near ready while letting the perfectly functional Assistant fall apart at the seams in the meantime. That's....not great, to say the least. 📌 READ MORE: Join me for [a frustration-relieving rant about the absurdity of this situation]( and the side of the story Google doesn't want to focus on. --------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Android's notifications are about to get even nicer ➜ THE SHORT VERSION: Android's long been lightyears ahead of that other mobile platform when it comes to notifications, and a new in-the-works feature may make our phones' alerts even easier to manage yet. 🔎 KNOW MORE: The feature is a subtle but significant change to how Android's notification channels work. - Notification channels let you customize exactly how different types of notifications within an app act — so, for instance, you might want specific sounds for reminders from Google Keep but only silent notifications for alerts about new note-sharing activity. - It's a delightfully powerful system, but it can also be a little overwhelming because of all the options some apps give you. - In Android 15, Google's working on an enhancement that'd automatically hide unused notification channels and make it even easier to find and adjust the ones that are actually active and relevant for you at any given moment. 📌 READ MORE: See [the full scoop on what's coming]() and how it might play out. --------------------------------------------------------------- 3. Samsung's hiding Android notification features ➜ THE SHORT VERSION: On the flip side of Android's ongoing notification progress, Samsung is for some reason disabling useful notification options in its heavily customized version of the software. 🔎 KNOW MORE: Several readers alerted me to the fact that Samsung's latest software update added in a toggle and set the aforementioned Android notification channels system to be off by default — even on devices where it had been actively used before. - The feature can be reactivated, at least — by searching the system settings for "notification categories" on any Samsung phone and turning on the toggle next to "Manage notification categories for each app" — but still, disabling the system by default is a weird move. - Aside from confusing more savvy users and forcing them to figure out how to reenable it, this means most Samsung phone-owners will never even realize such a feature exists and is available at all. - Samsung also at some point started disabling notification snoozing, another useful Android notification feature, by default. 📌 READ MORE: [Explore the curious channels change more closely](=), then be sure to read through to this week's Things to Try section, below, for more on the snoozing front. SPONSORED MESSAGE Master Google Sheets w/ these FREE shortcuts 👇 [Bart from the Simpsons sawing a shortcut through hedgess]()​ Whether you’re a Google Sheets pro, or just starting out, you should [subscribe to the Google Sheets Tips newsletter]() (sign up with 1-click)! Every Monday, the experts at Google Sheets Tips send their savviest shortcuts and tips to your inbox — absolutely free! Whether you want to learn something entirely new, hone your skills, or become a Google Sheets wizard, these tips are for you. Here’s why you’ll save a ton of time (and headaches) with Google Sheets Tips: 🧠It’s useful for both novices and experts 📈 Grab ‘n’ go templates 🤩 Costs you nothin’ and only takes a few minutes to read (You’ll even get access to 100 other tips in the free Spice Up Your Sheet Life ebook!) ➜ [Join 50,000 others and subscribe with 1-click today!]()​ [​​GET THE LATEST GOOGLE SHEETS TIPS​ ➜]() ​ [] [3 Things to Try This Week] 1. Cut down on your Android notification noise One of my favorite Android power-tools has a really intriguing new way to power up your phone's notifications and make 'em both more useful and less annoying. The tool creates custom filters for your incoming alerts — super-simple "if this, then that"-style rules that let you implement all sorts of next-level conditions for how different types of notifications behave. ➜ And now, it has a nifty new "Summarize" feature that can automatically condense certain notifications for you and combine 'em together into a single, far less overwhelming and distraction-creating alert. ⌚ It'll take you about 60 seconds to set up, and it'll then just work on its own from that point forward. 📌 I've got all the info you need in [this glitzy new guide](). --------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Start snoozing notifications until you need 'em No matter how many notifications you're swatting away on a typical day, the time almost certainly comes when you encounter something you aren't quite ready to think about. Maybe it's a personal message in the midst of a workday. Maybe it's a reminder from a significant other about something that's happening a few hours later. Or maybe it's a friendly check-in from a friend or relative that you just don't have the energy to deal with at the moment — but also don't want to forget to reply to later. ➜ Whatever the case may be, Android has an incredibly helpful notification snoozing system that's all too easy to overlook — and, in some cases, hidden out of sight entirely. ⌚ Either way, you'll need only 10 to 30 seconds to unearth it and start putting it to use. 📌 Take a gander at [this short 'n' sweet new guide o' mine](=), and you'll be snoozin' away like a pro in no time. --------------------------------------------------------------- 3. Check out a secret new web browsing step-saver A few weeks back, we talked about [an awesome way to preview pages in Chrome]( and look at a link without interrupting what you're doing. It's been possible (though a bit buried!) on Android for a while now, and Google's just in the midst of bringing the capability to Chrome on the desktop front, too. ➜ Well, much to my delight, I accidentally discovered a neat new trick Google added into the page-peeking process for computers. Once you have the system activated, you can simply hold down the Alt key on your computer's keyboard and then hover over any link on any page you're viewing — and after about a second, the link will load in a special little pop-up panel in the browser's corner. ⌚ It's such a handy time-saver to have at your fingertips, and it shouldn't take you more than two minutes to set up. 📌 [Follow the steps within this story](, then just remember the new Alt-hold and hover trick for any link you see within any page you're viewing. 📲 You can find the steps for tapping into the equivalent page-peeking option within Android [in that same article](, too, in case you missed it before! ​ SPONSORED MESSAGE Elevate your summer vaca Whether you're a beach bum or culture buff, learning a language with [Rosetta Stone]() enables you to explore with confidence. Get a lifetime subscription for only $179 today (normally $399)! [SAVE 55% TODAY]() [] [And Just for Funsies...] Ready for some good old-fashioned gooey, geeky, Googley nostalgia? I just finished updating [my evolving guide to the entire history of Android's versions](, starting B.C. (Before Cupcake) and going all the way to this year's under-development Android 15 release. And boy, does that always make for a fun trip back through time. It really is mind-boggling to look back and see how rough around the edges Android was in those early forms. I mean, just look at this home screen from the Android 1.5 (Cupcake) days, now 15 years ago: [A screenshot of a home screen from Android 1.5] ​ Or, one of my favorite Android eras, the 2010 Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) period: [A screenshot of a phone from Android 2.2] ​ Oh, those green highlights! And don't even get me started on Honeycomb. Whether you lived through 'em or are just now visiting Android's past for the first time, it's one heck of an amusing adventure to look back and see what our devices looked like even just a handful of years ago — and to gain the perspective of just how far we've come. 📌 [Check out the full tour for yourself](, if you're so inspired — and then.... 🗳️ CAST YOUR VOTE: Which was your favorite classic Android version? [Vote in our shiny new Android Intelligence reader poll](, and stay tuned for the final results next week! Happy trails to you Have yourself a wonderful weekend ahead, won't ya? I'll see ya back here next week for the start of May — a bustling month for mobile tech and one that's guaranteed to bring us plenty of interesting new twists and turns here in the land o' Googley matters. Ciao for now. 🤚 Wait! Before you go: What'd you think of this issue? [Thumbs Up](=) [Thumbs Down]( Hit the thumbs-up or thumbs-down to cast your vote and let me know. Want less email? 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