The iPhone and other mobile devices can alert you to breaking news and other events, as long as the settings are correct.
Q. I thought I had turned on iPhone notifications for a couple of my favorite news apps, but I don’ t seem to be getting any alerts — especially when I know there are headlines all over the place these days and my phone isn’ t locked. How can I fix this?
A. Start by going to the iPhone’s home screen and opening the Settings app. On the Settings screen, select Notifications. The Notifications screen displays a list of all your apps that can send you notifications about news, appointments or other events.
Scroll down the list until you get to an app you wish to investigate and tap its icon. Confirm that the Allow Notifications button is on for that app. On the app’s page of Notifications preferences, check that alerts are enabled on the lock screen. To make sure you see alerts when you are using the phone, go to the “Alert Style When Unlocked” area and confirm that either Banners or Alerts is selected. (If the alert style is set to None, you will not see a notification box pop up on your screen when the app has something to tell you.)
Once you have checked that notifications are turned on and an alert style is set for that app, tap the back button in the upper-left corner of the screen to return to the main Settings area. While you are here, tap the Do Not Disturb icon and make sure the feature is not on or set to kick in during the hours you wish to see alerts.
The lack of a network connection can hinder those alerts from popping up on your phone. You should also make sure you are signed into your Apple ID. In iOS 10.3 and later, your Apple ID sign-in and account information appears at the top of the Settings screen.
Android users can adjust their notifications preferences in their settings as well, although exact steps vary based on the device and version of Android in use. Microsoft’s Windows 10 Mobile system has notification settings of its own, too.
