If you're sick of spam Android notifications then identify the apps responsible and get rid of them. We explain how to find offending apps and stop push notifications.
One of the main strengths of the Android platform has always been the notifications system. Sadly some app developers seem to abuse it in order to spam you with promotional messages, enticements to fire up their app, and plain old pointless updates. The obvious answer is to uninstall the offending software, but what if it’s an app or a game that you enjoy using? There must be another way right? Let’s find out.
Turning off notifications in Android 4.1 Jelly Bean
If you’re lucky enough to be rocking Jelly Bean on your Android device, then feel free to dance round the room in celebration. Your task is easy. The fact that Google worked in a system for identifying the app responsible and turning notifications off forevermore in the latest version of Android is a pretty clear sign that notification spam is becoming a problem.
When an offending notification pops up, simply long press on it and App info will pop up. Tap on that and you’ll be taken straight to the app management screen where you can uncheck the Show notifications box and free yourself from spam. It does mean that all notifications from that app will be turned off. As the warning states “If you turn off notifications for this app, you may miss important alerts and updates.”
Turning off notifications in older versions of Android
The horrible truth with older versions of Android is that you are at the mercy of the app developer. Each individual app handles its own notification system. To see whether you can turn off or customize your notifications you need to fire up the app in question and hit the Menu button. You should find a notifications option in Settings. There is no standard, so it could be anywhere, or it might not be an option at all.
Big apps like Facebook have a whole range of notification options so you can decide on alerts, vibrations, and choose ringtones, as well as dictating exactly what should trigger an alert. Some apps don’t have any notification options at all.
Customizing notifications
If you have the option to set a ringtone for your notifications within an individual app’s settings, then you can get around the main annoyance they cause, which is making you think something important has popped up on your phone. Set the same ringtone for non-essential updates and you don’t need to turn notifications off, but you’ll instantly know it isn’t that text you’re waiting for.
It is also a good idea to set different ringtones and vibrations for different things so you have a good idea whether it’s something you need to check or not. Most people have ringtone and vibrate for calls, and maybe just vibrate for texts and emails. You might find additional options depending on the phone you have. For example, the Samsung Galaxy S3 allows you to set up your own vibrate patterns and assign them to different contacts.
How do I know which app is responsible?
Some of the most pernicious notifications, which usually proclaim things like “Win a free iPad,” are not obviously from any specific app. If you’re getting spam like this and you don’t have Android 4.1 then you could resort to using another app to locate the offending spammer.
Try out the free AirPush Detector app and you should be able to identify which app is spamming you with those push notifications. You will have to uninstall the app responsible in order to stop the problem.
There’s also an app called Addons Detector, which allows you to check which ads and tools your apps are using. It can identify apps using push notifications and a bunch of other kinds of advertising as well.
Another good app to use is Lookout Ad Network Detector. It’s another free app that will scan your apps and identify any of them that are using common ad networks. You can find out what information is being gathered and what kinds of ads are being served and uninstall them if you don’t like the look of what they are up to.
Got any other tips? Please post a comment and share them.
Source : digitaltrends[dot]com
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