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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 deny, allow, or stack individual notifications depending on the source app and their content.

2. DenyList, AllowList & Stack

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

A Stack rule does not block anything. Instead, matching notifications are removed from the source app and re-posted by DoNotNotify as a single grouped notification — one summary entry you can expand to see the individual items. It's ideal for chatty apps you don't want to silence entirely: you keep all the information, but as one tidy, collapsible entry instead of a constant stream.

On Android 13 and newer, stacking needs DoNotNotify's own notification permission — the setup wizard asks for it, and any Stack rule will show an inline warning with a one-tap fix if it has been turned off.

3. Match types: Contains vs. Regex

When you create a rule, each field (title and text) has a match type toggle next to it: Contains or Regex.

Contains (the default) is a simple case-insensitive substring check — the notification field just needs to include the text you typed, anywhere. For example, the filter promo will match "Big Promo Deal" or "PROMO Code".

Regex lets you use a regular expression for more precise matching. The pattern is matched against the field in the same way as the Unix grep command — it searches for the pattern anywhere in the field, and the match is case-sensitive by default. A few practical examples:

• ^- — matches any title that starts with a hyphen. Useful if you name calendar tasks like -taskname to flag them for blocking.
• \d{6} — matches any title containing a 6-digit number. A quick way to catch OTP / verification code notifications.
• (?i)sale — case-insensitive match for "sale" (the (?i) prefix enables case-insensitive mode for the whole pattern).
• \Aprice drop\z — matches only the exact text "price drop" with nothing before or after. Use \A and \z when you need a strict whole-field match.

The ^ anchor matches the start of the field and $ matches the end (note: $ also matches just before a trailing newline, so use \z if you need a truly strict end-of-field anchor). Patterns that contain a syntax error are silently ignored — if a regex rule does not seem to be working, double-check the pattern for typos.

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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.