iOS 14 text notification issues

I'm late weighing in on your comment, deggie, but you're right... and wrong. iOS is designed to defer iPhone notifications to the watch when it's being worn. Great design (when it works). But when you remove the watch, the notifications should default back to the iPhone. That aspect is NOT working.

No one here who isn't suffering this problem should be telling others they're doing something wrong or are misunderstanding the iOS rules. As a veteran writer of software, I can tell you Apple notifications is a very complex design, and Apple is (hopefully) trying to untangle the bugs before the next major release. I don’t think any of us had this problem before Q3'20, and now a ton of us do. I know it's not this simple, but everyone I know with an iPhone and Apple Watch is having the problem. Those without (including my wife) are not having the problem. Turning off iPhone bluetooth solves it for me, but not for everyone. Like I said, it's very complicated software.

hadanjm wrote:

I'm late weighing in on your comment, deggie, but you're right... and wrong. iOS is designed to defer iPhone notifications to the watch when it's being worn. Great design (when it works). But when you remove the watch, the notifications should default back to the iPhone. That aspect is NOT working.

It is supposed to and does for most people. If it doesn't, the problem is likely something with your particular set up or hardware, not a systemic issue. Unfortunately, as you know, issues like that are the hardest to troubleshoot. Apple really can't do much about it as they are unlikely to ever amass enough data (as what we're probably seeing is a bunch of different problems with the same symptom).

Yes, software is very complicated. How many decades have you been writing software?

I haven't told anyone they are doing it wrong. If I take my watch off all of my notifications go to my iPhone. I had lunch with my family yesterday and none of them have watches and all of them are getting their notifications on their iPhones. So as a software developer how do you resolve a problem where on most devices the OS is working but on some devices it isn't? What changes do you make in your OS code to fix this?

Hi, is it possible to confirm whether or not iOS is designed to defer text notifications to Mac OS when you're using a MacBook/iMac? The main issue I'm facing is that texts will show up on Mac OS with no notification on my iPhone when I'm using the computer. I'm pretty sure this wasn't the case before but not sure if it's a 'feature' like with watch OS.

MotoMcLovin wrote:

Hi, is it possible to confirm whether or not iOS is designed to defer text notifications to Mac OS when you're using a MacBook/iMac? The main issue I'm facing is that texts will show up on Mac OS with no notification on my iPhone when I'm using the computer. I'm pretty sure this wasn't the case before but not sure if it's a 'feature' like with watch OS.

My phone does not defer to my Mac when I'm actively using it and the phone is locked. I'm especially aware of this with Outlook. I get the notifications on my phone a good 5-10 seconds prior to getting them on my Mac. Message notifications tend to be more or less simultaneous.

However, it is likely that the notification problems people are reporting here have a number of different causes so, this information may or may not be relevant to your issue.

Thanks.

iPhone 12, iOS 14.7.1

This solve worked for me. Had to watch Netflix for a minute, adjusted volume, then “Settings > Sounds and Haptics > Texts”.

All sounds and notifications work fine when adjusted - so far, as long as phone is active. No advice yet for when sleeping/locked.

I looked it up, and my change with buttons was already on 😔 this is the weirdest thing. It only happens with two people. I can receive message alert from that person in a group text, just not individual texts?? My phone is also new, I just got the iPhone 12 two months ago. It was working fine until the latest iOS update..

Hi all,

I have an iPhone X for almost 3 years now and in the last iOS update (14.7.1) I started to have this same annoying problem. Some specific apps (WhatsApp, Gmail) stopped delivering notifications randomly. I tried most of the things suggested here and in other forums, but none of them worked. A simple solution that I came up was to manually close all the apps that were open in the background and restart the phone. I don't know if the problem is going to come back, but it seems to be gone for now.

Hope you can try the same and give any feedbacks on it.

Thanks.

This is still an issue for me and has been since the first iOS 14…the phone acts as if I have opened the message, even sends a read receipt to the person sending the message. This is not just a notification setting issue.

Similar issue here. iphone 12, iOS 14.

issues with some apps, like WhatsApp. Messages are not even received / transmitted properly till the app is opened on receiver end. But when the app is open, notifications are coming in.

I Phone Pro Max 12, started with no notifications after 6 months. I need this for business and not getting notifications costs me money and anger from my clients. I have to go into mail and use my finger to scroll and refresh the page in order to receive new mail. Spent 15 hours with tech support, senior tech and then onto engineering. Nobody can fix this.

Finally Apple customer service agreed the phone should be replaced and told me they would sent another NEW I Phone Pro Max. They Fed-ex'd overnight and what I got was a "reconditioned" Pro Max NOT NEW as promised. When I called back I was told the C/S agent was wrong and they never replace with another new phone. This replacement has already started to not show e-mails that I have gotten on my desktop, so the problem is still happening even on a reconditioned device.

If the problem is this serious effecting this many people Apple should recall the phones like a car manufacturer would do and with fix or replace all these phones with something that works.

Now I understand why they announced this model is discontinued! So either I have to buy an I Phone 13 with IOS 15 or give up on Apple and go to Samsung.

WARNING: NEVER buy any I Phone 12 model !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It is not just with the Pro Max 12. I have an XR and mine is doing the same thing. It is extremely frustrating. If this is not fixed by the time I am done paying off this phone in six months, my next phone will not be an Apple.

It's not the model of the iPhone. It's the version of iOS across Apples iPhone line. Started with iOS 13.something and continues to this day. Apparently Apple isn't interested in fixing the issue judging by the number of releases since people have started complaining about the issue.

Meanwhile, Technical Support continues to act surprised when cases are opened on the issue. I've already gone up the support ladder more than 6 months ago and logged a "bug" report supposedly with engineering. Still waiting on a fix. If it doesn't come before my iPhone is obsoleted, I'll give Samsung/Android a try.

And that is just what it will take; dedicated Apple users to switch to another brand. If enough of us switch then they will have to figure it out. Apple is pretty much top dog and they probably feel secure, regardless of this issue.

I got a Google pixel because someone told me it's the most similar Android to iPhone and it's amazing! Would highly recommend - it has a ton of features that my old iPhone couldn't do, like telling me what music is playing even when I'm offline and it can answer spam phone calls for you!! And the pictures are amazing!! Never going back to Apple.. This is where it's at...