Android Q annoyingly hides some notifications; Here's how to turn it off

I am loving Android Q Beta 3. Between the new gesture bar and system-wide dark theme, this update packs some significant changes. One thing that I don’t like though is a new automatic notification prioritizer that is hiding notifications.

After installing the new firmware on my Pixel 3a, I noticed that I was missing notifications. It was only after digging through the phone’s settings menu that I realized that Android’s new Notification Assistant was hiding “less important” alerts.

You can see the notification suppression below:

If you’re like me and don’t want Android Q from deciding which notifications to show you, you can turn the feature off. Here’s how.

How to disable the notification prioritizer

The new “Automatic Notification Prioritizer” feature is hidden within Android’s notification menu. To find it, launch the Settings menu on your phone, select Apps and notifications, and choose Notifications. Toggle the feature off and your notifications will start streaming in. 

The other setting you might want to take a look at is “Hide silent notification status icons.” This option is what hides the low-priority notifications from the status bar. With it turned off, you will still be made aware of the notifications even if you manually silence an app or you leave Android Q’s prioritizer enabled.

I completely understand why Google has implemented this feature, but it shouldn’t be enabled by default. In my opinion, this would be the perfect companion to some of the other Digital Wellbeing features introduced at Google I/O.

One thing to keep in mind is that this is still a beta build of Android Q. Here’s hoping that Google doesn’t keep its aggressive “Notification Assistant” turned on by default once the firmware is finalized.