5 Ways to Fix Lock Screen Notifications Not Showing on iPhone

Quick Tips

• Ensure lock screen notifications and background app refresh are enabled for your favorite apps.
• Turn off the Notification Summary feature and ensure Focus mode isn’t scheduled to turn on automatically.
• Update your apps and install any pending iOS updates to fix issues caused by bugs.

Try Basic Fixes

• Disable Low Power Mode and Low Data Mode: Enabling battery restrictions on your iPhone can stop notifications from working. Similarly, enabling Low Data Mode can prevent apps from syncing new data and sending notifications to the lock screen. Hence, it’s a good idea to disable Low Power Mode and Low Data Mode on your iPhone.
• Update your apps: If the lock screen notification problem is limited to one or two apps, update them from the App Store and see if that helps.
• Install iOS updates: Updating your iPhone to the latest iOS version is as important as updating your apps. This should help fix any bugs causing the lock screen notifications to stop working.

Fix 1: Enable Lock Screen Alerts for Your Apps

Another thing you should do is ensure that lock screen alerts are enabled for your favorite apps. Here’s how to check.

Step 1: Open the Settings app > tap on Notifications.

Step 2: Scroll through the list to locate the app you want to enable lock screen notifications and tap on it. Under Alerts, tick the Lock Screen option if it isn’t already.

Repeat the above steps for each app that fails to display notifications on the lock screen.

Fix 2: Enable Notification Center on Lock Screen

Notification Center on iOS lets you view and manage notifications from the lock screen. However, if you accidentally disable the Notification Center feature, you won’t see any notifications when you swipe up from the middle of the lock screen.

To enable the Notification Center on your iPhone:

Step 1: Open the Settings app > scroll down to tap on Face ID & Passcode > enter your passcode to verify your identity.

Step 2: Under the Allow Access When Locked section, enable the toggle for Notification Center.

Fix 3: Disable Notification Summary

Notification Summary is a nifty feature in iOS that prevents certain apps from sending notifications. While this keeps your phone from buzzing all day, it may cause notifications to arrive late on your iPhone. If you don’t want that, here’s how to disable the Notification Summary feature on your iPhone.

Step 1: Launch the Settings app > head to Notifications > Scheduled Summary.

Step 2: Disable the toggle for Scheduled Summary.

Fix 4: Enable Background App Refresh

When you enable Background App Refresh on your iPhone, apps can fetch new data even when you are not using them. If you’re not receiving notifications from apps while your iPhone is locked, the Background App Refresh feature is most likely disabled for those apps. Here’s how to enable it.

Step 1: Open the Settings app > go to General > Background App Refresh.

Step 2: Use the toggles next to your apps to enable Background App Refresh for them.

Fix 5: Disable Scheduled Focus Mode

On iOS, you can set Focus Mode to activate automatically at specific times. This can keep your iPhone from displaying notifications for a specified period. To avoid this, disable scheduled Focus Mode on your iPhone.

Step 1: Open up the Settings app > go to Focus.

Step 2: Tap on Do Not Disturb.

Step 3: Scroll down to select your Focus schedule and turn off the toggle in the following menu. Repeat this step for each of your Focus schedules and disable them.