If you’ve upgraded to iOS 16 on your iPhone, you might have noticed your Notification Center looks different. Notifications are now stacked at the bottom of the display by default, instead of taking up the whole screen. Apple’s reasoning? It’s meant to showcase your beautiful lock screen, especially since there are several new ways to customize it with widgets, Portrait photos, and fresh designs for the clock.
But if you’re not a fan, don’t worry. You can easily change it back to the original format. We walk you through the steps to revert your notifications back to the old look, and also how to switch to an entirely new “Count” view as well.
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Three Ways to Display Notifications
Video: Apple
In iOS 15, the only options in Notification Settings were to tweak features like Scheduled Summary, Show Previews, and Screen Sharing. But in iOS 16, Apple has expanded your options to include three new ways to view notifications in the Notification Center: Count, Stack, and List. Here’s how they differ:
List View: This is the classic way notifications have been shown on iPhones for years. It’s what you’ll want to choose if you don’t like the new stacked view in iOS 16. All of your notifications will appear from top to bottom across the entire lock screen.
Stack View: This is the new default after you upgrade to iOS 16 (or set up a new iPhone 14). With this layout, all of your notifications will appear at the bottom of the display. Tap on the bundle and they will expand to fill the screen. Swipe up and you’ll see older notifications sitting at the bottom. This view is great for anyone who wants to prioritize the lockscreen wallpaper more than anything.
Count View: This view completely hides your notifications and only shows the total number at the bottom of the screen. For example, if you have two unread text messages, five Instagram alerts, and one missed call, it will show “8 Notifications” displayed at the bottom. You can swipe up to view them and swipe down to hide them again.
How to Change the Lock Screen Notification Design
- Open Settings and tap on Notifications.
- In the Display As module at the top, tap Count, Stack, or List based on what you prefer.
If you ever want to change to a different view, just follow the steps above again.
Whichever you choose as your default, you can always swap between all three views right from the lock screen through a series of gestures. Swipe all the way up from the bottom of the display to showcase all your notifications in list view; swipe down to condense them into a stack; swipe down again (from Stack View) to hide the notifications and show only the total number.
