Help — DoNotNotify

1. Introduction

DoNotNotify is an Android app designed to cut down the number of notifications from other apps on your device. While the Android OS itself does offer the ability to block all notifications from apps, or block them from specific channels (if the app has been programmed correctly), this often does not suffice. Most apps still do not use channels correctly (it at all), and DoNotNotify takes a different approach to notification blocking - by specifying rules that either blacklist or whitelist individual notifications depending on the source app and their content.

2. Blacklist vs Whitelist

While creating a new blocking rule in the app, you either have the option to create a whitelist or a blacklist rule. If you create a whitelist rule, then all notifications from the source app will be blocked unless they match a whitelist filter. A blacklist rule, on the other hand, will allow all notifications unless they match a filter in which case the matching notification will be blocked.

3. Triggering a notification's action

When you click on a notification in DoNotNotify's history, it will give you the option to trigger the action associated with that notification. However, sometimes the "Open" button that triggers the notification will not be available. This is because Android does not allow us to store this action (called an Intent) in our database, and it must be kept in memory. Hence, if the memory is cleared for some reason (app closure/reboot etc), then the "Open" button will not be available.

4. My notifications are not being blocked despite creating a rule!

This is an unfortunate side-effect of a feature called Live Update Notifications. Android does not allow us to block notifications from apps that use this feature. You can spot these notifications by looking at the "Blocked" tab in DoNotNotify. These persistent/ongoing notifications will have a warning icon next to them.

5. Feedback & Support

Your feeedback is welcome. Please write to [email protected] with your comments and suggestions. If you have an idea for a rule that would be helpful for other users of the app, please send it to us and we will put it in the list of pre-defined rules that ship with the app.