Level 1

23 points

Notification banners won't go away on MacBook Air

Hey, I have a Macbook Air from spring 2020 now running on macOS Big Sur v 11.1. Since I upgraded to Big Sur, banner notifications won't go away automatically after a few seconds like they used to under Catalina. They stay there indefinitely until I discard them by clicking on the x. I used to swipe them right if I wanted to get rid of them before they timed out, but since the update they come back after a few minutes if I didn't click the x. I checked the settings, everything's set on banners, not alerts so they should disappear after a while and I can't find any other options that would let me discard notifications for good by just swiping them right instead of having to click on the x. Is this the new normal? Thanks for your help.

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 11.1

Posted on Dec 27, 2020 6:05 AM

Top-ranking reply

Baker_Rich

Level 1

4 points

Posted on May 18, 2021 8:57 AM

Apparently, if it is an "Alert" it will stay on screen, but a "Banner" will disappear after a few seconds. When I updated to Big Sur, it defaulted my calendar items and Reminders to Alert. If you go to System Preferences > Notifications, you can scroll down the list of apps and see a description below the app name saying whether they are allowed to use badges, sounds and alerts/banners. Scan through looking for ones that use "Alerts" and those are the sticky ones. You can switch to "Banner" to have them disappear after a few seconds.

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58 replies

May 2, 2021 2:25 AM in response to pilotguy13

No -- when I hover over the banner, nothing shows up. No change at all. I even clicked on the u[per left corner of the banner in case there was an invisible X. Nothing.

May 7, 2021 11:50 AM in response to GRANDxADMIRAL

That works for me.

Just change the notiification from an alert, which is designed to stay up until you dismiss it, to a banner, which goes away by itself. What's all the fuss about?

tgr2007

Level 1

4 points

May 7, 2021 3:01 PM in response to inquisitive7

Just try to remove a mounted USB stick and you will see an immortal Finder alert/banner, always 'on'

Enjoy

sigbiz

Level 1

14 points

May 9, 2021 7:21 AM in response to peterzachos

System notifications are the worst😡. Suppose Apple would not be Apple ID they owned up, said sorry, and got a fix in. No matter how many hundreds at to the thread.

Joeybase

Level 1

4 points

Jun 4, 2021 9:41 PM in response to JaypeHere

The thing that makes it especially annoying is how small the "X" is. AT LEAST make it so you can dismiss the message more easily, by clicking anywhere on the banner

Aug 1, 2021 12:56 PM in response to cozycruiser

@cozycruiser: That's quite helpful - thank you!

Oct 2, 2021 12:12 PM in response to JaypeHere

just upgraded from High Sierra and now i have this problem too. guess theres no fix even a year later? hopefully it will be different in macOS Monterey?

Oct 2, 2021 12:16 PM in response to Jacobrobert238

Refer my answer. I have written above

Oct 2, 2021 12:19 PM in response to IshrathNayeem

sorry i'm dumb, that worked. thanks a million.

Nov 26, 2021 5:35 AM in response to krista06880

Thank you @krista06880!!!

Old Toad

Level 10

217,782 points

Jun 14, 2021 2:23 PM in response to StmbtSophie

Boot into Safe Mode according to Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support and test to see if the problem persists. Reboot normally and test again.

NOTE: Safe Mode boot can take up to nearly twice as long as a normal boot as it's doing the following;

• Verifies your startup disk and attempts to repair directory issues, if needed

• Loads only required kernel extensions (prevents 3rd party kernel/extensions from loading)

• Prevents Startup Items and Login Items from opening automatically

• Disables user-installed fonts

• Deletes font caches, kernel cache, and other system cache files

Aug 1, 2021 8:52 AM in response to wdavidbrown

wdavidbrown what you're seeing are "alerts" not "banners." Alerts do not disappear until you dismiss them (the x in the corner of the alert is VERY hard to see, but it's there). Go to System Preferences>Notifications and you can change alerts to banners that disappear after a few seconds. You have to do that individually for each application. For unknown reasons, Big Sur defaults banners to alerts when you update.

Sep 9, 2021 11:50 AM in response to JaypeHere

Go to Apple Logo ---> System Preferences ---> Notifications ---> Check each app and select Banner where Alert is already selected.

Banner appears in the upper-right corner and go away automatically.

Alerts stay on screen until dismissed

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Notification banners won't go away on MacBook Air