Top 6 Ways to Fix Android 11 Notifications Not Working

Phone notifications are both a boon and a bane. Excessive notifications are a major cause of distractions, and at the same time, no notification means you might miss important alerts. However, with the Android 11 update, many users were unable to get their app notifications to work, resulting in users not receiving vital alerts.

With Android 11, Google revamped the notification module, and now there are quite a few customization options, including nifty chat bubbles.

However, all of these features are tossed about if you don’t get the basic notifications. In case you’re in the same boat, here are some checks you can make to get your notifications working again on your Android 11 smartphone.

1. Clear app cache

The app cache can often interfere with its operation and is not limited to notifications. If you haven’t cleared the cache yet, it’s time to hit the button.

To do this, long press the app to access its settings. Samsung users can tap the little “i” icon in the corner. Once in it, scroll down until you see Storage.

Then select the Clear cache button.

If app cache was one of the culprits, odds would fix the problem.

As we noted earlier, an old cache may slow down the application or not load data as expected.

2. Update the application

So your phone has updated its software version, but it might still be running an outdated version of the app. In most cases, the app update happens in the background and you don’t need to check it manually.

As you may already know, it is quite easy to update the app. Go to the Play Store and search for the app.

If your phone is running an older version, you’ll see the Update button, well, you know what to do next.

3. Check the notification settings

Over the years, the notification module has undergone many changes. And now some apps like WhatsApp and Instagram allow you to change notifications. For example, you can turn off notifications for direct messages, comments, friend requests, or group messages, among others.

To see which categories are disabled, open app settings, go to notifications.

Now all you have to do is scroll down and see which categories are disabled.

4. Disable battery optimization

Some Android operating systems like Oxygen OS and Samsung’s One UI are known for their aggressive battery optimization. Some apps (including smartwatch modules) cannot remain active for long periods of time in order to get the most out of the phone’s battery. And when that happens, the inevitable happens: no notification.

Although different brands of phones have a different layout of the Settings pod, there’s a good chance you’ll find the battery optimization options under Battery.

On Samsung phones, long press the app to access settings. Select Battery> Optimize battery usage and turn off the switch.

You can also go to your phone’s battery settings if you can’t find it via the shortcut mentioned above.

5. Is the application in standby

For an app to receive notifications, it must be active and running. Again, if your phone has aggressive battery optimization, apps that are not used often may go to sleep. While some operating systems let you know before you put applications to sleep, this is the case everywhere.

Waking up an app is as easy as tapping the icon to launch it, but it might not be a practical everyday approach. To see applications in standby, go to your phone’s battery settings.

Again, on Samsung One UI, go to Battery & Device Care> Battery> Background Usage Limits, to see the idle apps. Once inside, place the app under the Never Sleeping apps heading.

On stock Android, there is no option to see if an app has been put to sleep. If you are in the mood to explore, you can access developer options to change the sleep state of the app.

For now, Android lets you play with three different sets: Frequent, Active, Work, and Rare. If you want an app to take priority, you’ll need to set it to Active.

To do this, go to Settings> Developer options and find standby apps.

Find the app you want to prioritize and set it to Active.

6. Check the priority of notifications

With Android 11, you can prioritize notifications. For now, you can play with Priority, Default, and Quiet. Now all you need to do is check the notification priority of the app you have had issues with.

To do this, swipe the notification a little to the left to access the notification settings. Just switch to Priority (or Default) from Silent.

Note that One UI does not yet have the ability to prioritize notifications.

Correct these notifications

If any of the tips above don’t fix the notification issues, reset your phone. We know it’s hard to get the phone back to its usual state, but sometimes a reset solves the problem. But again, this is the last step.

And before you do that, do a simple reboot to see if that fixes the issues.

At the same time, check your phone’s Do Not Disturb schedules. And truth be told, it never hurts to dig deeper into the app’s notification settings every now and then.