How to stop the imdb app from sending you notifications

Harry Guinness
Harry Guinness
Writer

Harry Guinness is a photography expert and writer with nearly a decade of experience. His work has been published in newspapers like The New York Times and on a variety of other websites, from Lifehacker to Popular Science and Medium’s OneZero. Read more.

Recently, the IMDB app started sending out notifications for “Featured Trailers”. As near as I can guess, this is where the production company pays IMDB to push a link to the trailer to a load of people in an effort to promote it. If IMDB isn’t being paid, they’re just annoying their fans for no reason. Whatever their reason, here’s how to turn these notifications off.

Open the IMDB app and go to Menu > Notifications.

Turn off Featured Trailers.

While you’re at it, you might want to turn off all the other notifications too. I’m not sure anyone wants push notifications about how to use IMBD’s app.

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Harry Guinness
Harry Guinness is a photography expert and writer with nearly a decade of experience. His work has been published in newspapers like The New York Times and on a variety of other websites, from Lifehacker to Popular Science and Medium’s OneZero.
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Your laptop battery is low, or Battery saver has been turned On.

If Focus assist (previously known as Quiet Hours) is turned on. Learn how to turn Focus assist off

For some Android devices, your Battery Optimization settings may interrupt your connection. We recommend turning it off for the companion app on your Android device (either Your Phone Companion or Link to Windows). Here’s how to turn it off based on which companion app you have:

If you have Your Phone Companion*:

Open Android Settings > Apps & notifications > App info > Your Phone Companion > Advanced > Battery > Manage Battery Usage > Battery optimization. Scroll down to Your Phone Companion and select Don’t optimize.

If you have Link to Windows*:

Open Android Settings > Apps > Link to Windows Service > Battery > Optimize battery usage. Select All from the drop-down list, scroll to find Link to Windows service, and turn the toggle Off.

*Note: These steps may vary based on your Android device model.

Notifications from items in a Secure Folder

If you have a Samsung device and are using Secure Folders, apps and files saved there won’t display notifications in the Your Phone app. They’ll appear only on your Android device.

My notifications have stopped syncing

Notifications work independently to other Your Phone features like messaging and photos. When they stop working, resetting the notification permissions should start the syncing process again.

On your Android device:

Go to Settings and search for “Notification access.”

Find Your Phone Companion in the list and tap to toggle off/on.

A pop-up will appear. Select Allow when prompted.

Open the Your Phone app and choose Notifications. Wait for your notifications to refresh – they should now sync as normal.

Here’s how to stop Microsoft Edge’s Pop-up Notifications!

If you have been using Windows for a while, then you might know that Microsoft’s Windows 10 OS is full of ads. There are ads on file manager, inside the Start menu, etc. Although these apps don’t interrupt our computer experience, at times they can be annoying.

Microsoft now pushes ads on most of its apps and services like Microsoft Edge. If we talk about the Edge Browser, it’s a great browser, but not worthy enough to be set as a default browser. After switching to Windows 10, lots of users have claimed that they are seeing pop-up notifications from Microsoft edge recommending other apps.

For example, the Edge browser sometimes shows irrelevant pop-ups letting you know that Firefox doesn’t block malware, Chrome isn’t battery efficient, etc. These pop-ups are annoying and can ruin your browsing experience.

Stop Microsoft Edge’s Pop-up Notifications

So, in this article, we are going to share the best method that would help you stop Microsoft Edge’s Pop-up Notifications.

Step 1. First of all, open the ‘Settings’ app on your Windows 10 device.

Step 2. On the Settings page, search for ‘Notifications & Actions’

Step 3. Under the Notifications & Actions, scroll down to the option stating “Get tips, tricks, and suggestions as you use Windows” and from there disable it. You won’t get any tips, tricks, or suggestion notifications while using any of the apps or tasks in the Windows.

Step 3. Once done, scroll down and look at the ‘Get Notifications from these apps’ section.

Step 4. The section will display all apps that can send you desktop notifications. You can disable Microsoft apps like ‘Cortana’, ‘Feedback Hub’, and ‘Microsoft Store’

From Microsoft Edge’s Settings

If you want to block the website notifications, then you need to follow this method. In this method, you need to make some changes to the Notification settings in the Microsoft Edge browser.

Step 1. First of all, open Microsoft Edge on your Windows 10 computer.

Step 2. Now click on the three dots as shown in the screenshot below.

Step 3. From the drop-down menu, select ‘Settings’

Step 4. Under the Settings, click on the ‘Site Permissions’

Step 5. Next, click on the Notifications and enable the option ‘Ask Before Sending (Recommended)’ and ‘Quiet Notification requests’

That’s it! You are done. This is how you can disable website notification in the Edge browser.

And this was the method through which you could stop up the pop-up notifications from the Microsoft’s Edge browser. Hope this article helped you, make sure to share it with your friends as well. If you have any other doubt, let us know in the comment box below.

Eric Ravenscraft
Eric Ravenscraft
Writer

Eric Ravenscraft has nearly a decade of writing experience in the technology industry. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, PCMag, The Daily Beast, Popular Science, Medium’s OneZero, Android Police, Geek and Sundry, and The Inventory. Prior to joining How-To Geek, Eric spent three years working at Lifehacker. Read more.

Justin Duino
Managing Editor

Justin Duino is the Managing Editor at How-To Geek. He has spent the last decade writing about Android, smartphones, and other mobile technology. In addition to his written work, he has also been a regular guest commentator on CBS News and BBC World News and Radio to discuss current events in the technology industry. Read more.

Netflix is constantly adding new content, and the company doesn’t want you to forget it. You get emails or notifications when Netflix adds new shows, sends you recommendations, or even adds new features to its apps. Here’s how to turn off all those pestergrams.

How to Stop Netflix from Sending Emails as of 2020

Update: Netflix has changed its website and hidden the Communication Settings options deeper within the streaming service’s menu. The basic instructions are still correct; visit Netflix’s website using your browser of choice, click on your avatar in the top-right corner, and then select the “Account” option.

We’ve now reached the point where the Communications Settings options have been moved. Instead of finding the menu button in the “Settings” section, you’ll first need to click on the main account holder’s profile image to expand and show a number of additional options.

From the bottom of the list, you can now select the “Change” button found to the right of “Communication Settings.”

You can now uncheck all of the email notification boxes and then select “Do Now Send Me Any Emails Or Text Messages” as the directions below instruct.

The Old Way to Disable Email Notifications

There are two main ways that Netflix can annoy you with messages: emails and mobile notifications. To turn off the first, open Netflix on the web, hover over your profile icon in the top right corner and click Account.

Under Settings, click “Communication settings.”

At the bottom of this page, click the check box next to “Do not send me any emails or text messages,” to block all emails and texts. Alternatively, you can selectively turn off emails about updates, recommendations, offers, and surveys by unchecking the boxes for each one. When you’re done, click Update at the bottom of the page to save your preferences.

Turn Off Mobile Notifications

Next, you’ll also want to turn off mobile notifications. You’ll get these if you have the Netflix app installed on your phone, letting you know that you’ve just gotta check out this new show. Thanks, Netflix, but I think I’ll wait ’til I get home.

Update: The process for turning off mobile notifications has changed since this guide was published. In the Netflix app for Android, tap the hamburger menu icon in the bottom-right corner, select “App Settings”, and then toggle off “Allow Notifications.” The Netflix app for iPhone and iPad doesn’t offer notification settings in-app. You have to go into the device’s “Settings” app and adjust them there.

To turn off mobile notifications, open the app and tap the menu button in the top left corner of the screen. Scroll down and tap App Settings.

On this screen, tap to turn off the box that reads “Accept push notifications.”

From now on, Netflix should leave you alone until you decide to watch something. You’ll still get email with important billing or account information—for example, if the card you use to pay for Netflix expires, you’ll be notified—but otherwise, you can stream in peace.

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• › What Is a ULED TV, and How Is It Different?
• › Why Professionals Will Actually Want a 2021 MacBook Pro
• › How to Add Images to Questions in Google Forms
• › How to Delete Your Photos on Facebook

Eric Ravenscraft
Eric Ravenscraft has nearly a decade of writing experience in the technology industry. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, PCMag, The Daily Beast, Popular Science, Medium’s OneZero, Android Police, Geek and Sundry, and The Inventory. Prior to joining How-To Geek, Eric spent three years working at Lifehacker.
Read Full Bio »
Justin Duino
Justin Duino is the Managing Editor at How-To Geek. He has spent the last decade writing about Android, smartphones, and other mobile technology. In addition to his written work, he has also been a regular guest commentator on CBS News and BBC World News and Radio to discuss current events in the technology industry.
Read Full Bio »

If you hear your phone vibrate or see that little notification ding in the tabs on your browser, you might be getting a push notification. Basically, push notifications are messages that apps and companies send to those who subscribe to them. Push notifications allow for a streamlined communication experience, especially if the app or service in question needs to reach a lot of different users.

Signing up for push notifications can eventually feel like accumulating clutter. So, how do you know which ones are worth it? Learning a little more about push notifications, how they developed, and the tech behind them can help you decide whether or not you want to sign up.

What Are Push Notifications: The Backstory and Different Types

Push notifications were invented in 2008 by Chilean designer, Matias Duarte, but the technology was made available to people via Apple in 2009. Since then, improvements have been made to the technology; in 2013, folks were able to add images to push notifications. Some places that help people develop push notifications of their own are Airship and OneSignal.

To give you an idea of what kind of phones we were using and the technology available to us at the time, here are some fun facts about this time period: 3G was the standard for cell phone reception back when push notifications first came to be. Today, 5G is becoming the norm. It’s almost as if 2009 was the year of three and 2021 was the year of five. In 2009, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 were the standard in gaming, while in 2021 it’s all about the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X (or Series S).

The Blackberry Storm was one of the best-selling phones of 2009. The phone shared company with the LG Envy Touch, the iPhone 3GS, the original Motorola Droid, and the Samsung Eternity. Remember when cell phones used to be keyboard-based? The evolution of screens has helped improve the technology behind push notifications.

Did you know there are different types of push notifications? It depends on what type of technology you’re using. This means you can connect with brands and websites no matter how you’re plugging in. It can get a little confusing as to which type is which, but know what type of push notification you’re signing up for can help keep things organized. Here is a list of different push notifications:

Web Push Notifications: you might be most familiar with this type of push notification. Many websites will have a pop-up notification that asks if you would like to receive notifications from that site on your browser. These can appear on your mobile device or a phone so long as the browser is active.

Desktop Push Notifications: they are a lot like web push notifications, but they exist solely on your desktop. These notifications can be harder for developers to build, so they might not be as common as other devices. When you download an app to your desktop, you can opt to receive these types of notifications.

Mobile App Push Notifications: these are triggered by apps you download on your phone. Common apps like Uber, Doordash, or even Pokemon Go use this all the time. These can also be regulated in the “settings” section on your mobile device.

Push Notifications on Wearables: if you’re wearing an Apple watch or a sport watch, this type of notification will come to you. Wearables have smaller screens, so you would be notified in a different way. The best part about these push notifications is that you can usually regulate them pretty easily on the product itself. If you’re getting too many, a couple clicks of the watch can put a stop to that.

Push Notifications in Pop Culture

To see the concept demonstrated in a real-life setting, television has a prime example. In 2006, Gossip Girl debuted and became the first drama rooted in technology. For those who haven’t caught the show yet, Gossip Girl was about private school students in New York’s lavish Upper East Side neighborhood.

Strangely enough, the show used push notification technology before it had even been developed. It’s as if the writers saw the rapidly evolving technology in cell phones and knew it was only a matter of a time. The character of Gossip Girl was anonymous until the end, so push notification technology helped add to the show’s mystique and character development . Using push notifications to conceal a secret identity was also a focal point of Pretty Little Liars.

Push notifications were often a main driver of the show’s conflict. In similar shows like Dawson’s Creek or The O.C., characters had to travel to each other. But, through the push notification of Gossip Girl’s website, characters were constantly in the know.

This did become invasive for the characters, since actions from their lives were being sent to strangers and family members, but thankfully, you don’t have to worry about that when signing up to get push notifications from apps and other services.

With that said, it can be helpful to take a close look at what information you’re actually getting from push notifications to see if they’re worth it. If an app or service is being too clingy or their push notifications aren’t telling you something you really want or need to hear, it might make sense to unsubscribe. To quote Salt n’ Peppa, “ah, push it. Push it real good.”

Windows 10 displays system and app notifications at the lower-right corner of the screen. Here’s how to manage how they behave on your screen.

Windows 10 displays notifications from apps and services at the lower-right corner of the screen. They fly out just above the system tray. You’ll get notifications about installed apps, new emails, system updates, and other events.

Starting with Windows 8, Microsoft has allowed you to control the behavior of notifications. You can make them display longer or turn them off completely. Here’s how.

An example of a Windows 10 notification from OneDrive.

Configure Windows 10 Notifications

To configure the number of seconds that notifications display on the screen in Windows 10, head to Start > Settings. You can also open Settings with the keyboard shortcut Windows Key + I.

When the Settings app opens up, click on Ease of Access.

On the following screen, scroll down to the “Simplify and personalize Windows” section. There click the dropdown menu under “Show notifications for” and select the length of time you want app and system notifications to display. It is set to five seconds by default, and you can change it from five seconds to up to five minutes.

Disable App Notifications

You can also choose which app notifications you want to see or turn them off. Go to Settings > System > Notifications & actions. To disable all app notifications, turn off the “Get notifications for apps and other senders” switch.

Or scroll down to the “Get notifications from these senders” section and turn app notifications on or off.

You can also configure specific actions of app notifications on Windows 10. For example, maybe you don’t want to hear a sound or have a banner fly out every time you get a notification from an app.

To do that, while you’re in the Notifications & actions section, click on the app you want to adjust. For example, here I am adjusting notifications from the Mail app. On the next screen, you’ll have a few different options. You can have notifications show up as a banner, show them in Action Center, or both.

You have the option to show content for a notification on the Lock Screen or not and choose whether or not to allow a sound when a notification arrives.

Below that, you can adjust the number of visible notifications in Action Center — from three to up to 20. And you can also set the priority of notifications in Action Center.

Summing Up

If you rely on app notifications, it’s good to go through and adjust how they behave. For example, if you need to know when an important event is coming up in the Calendar app, you might want the banner to display longer than five seconds.

On the other hand, you probably can do without Amazon Music or Spotify displaying every song being played. Or, maybe you don’t want every Twitter notification showing up and distracting you. For more on getting things done on Windows 10 without being distracted by notifications, reminders, or alarms, check out the Focus Assist feature. It allows you to set times during the day when notifications are displayed.

If you’re in the market for a non-root ad-blocker, developer Julian Klode has an app that you’ll definitely want to check out. It uses Android’s VPN system in a similar manner to alternative apps like NetGuard and AdGuard, but it’s got a new twist that should save lots of battery life in the process.

Unlike its competitors, Klode’s ad-blocking app works at the DNS level, meaning that it only filters traffic for a brief moment when connections are first made, which is where all of the battery saving comes into play. To top that off, it’s completely free and open-source, so it’s an instant contender for best no-root ad-blocker.

• Don’t Miss: How to Automatically Skip Ads in Android’s YouTube App Without Root

Requirements

Step 1: Install DNS66

The app that will block all ads on your non-rooted device without excess battery drain is called DNS66, and it’s available for free on the F-Droid Repository. This site is a trusted home for free and open-source Android apps, so tap the following link from your Android phone or tablet to begin:

• Download DNS66 from the F-Droid Open-Source Repository

From there, scroll down to the Packages section on the page, then tap the link that says “download apk.” Next, simply tap the Download complete notification to launch the APK, then press “Install” when prompted.

Step 2: Choose Domain Filters

When you first launch the app, you’ll land on the Start tab. You can adjust a few settings here if you’d like, but for most users, I’d recommend leaving the options set as they are.

Next, head to the Hosts tab at the top of the screen. From here, you’ll have to pick at least one ad-blocking hosts file, which is basically a list of known ad servers that DNS66 will block for you.

alt=”How to Block Ads in All Your Android Apps Without Root or Extra Battery Drain” width=”532″ height=”532″ />

Several different hosts sources are enabled by default, but some will occasionally fail to download. So to make things more consistent, I’d recommend enabling only the “Adaway hosts file” here. It’s a great ad-blocking list and it doesn’t create issues like some of the other hosts files you’ll see.

So tap the shield icon next to any of the sources to enable or disable the hosts file. When the shield icon is filled in, the hosts source is enabled. Once you’ve selected at least one hosts file source, tap the refresh icon to download the hosts file(s).

alt=”How to Block Ads in All Your Android Apps Without Root or Extra Battery Drain” width=”532″ height=”532″ />

Step 3: Enable the VPN Service

From here, head back to the Start tab from the top menu, then tap the “Start” icon near the bottom of the screen to start the VPN ad-blocking service. From there, press “OK” on the popup to set DNS66 as your phone’s VPN service.

alt=”How to Block Ads in All Your Android Apps Without Root or Extra Battery Drain” width=”532″ height=”532″ />

Step 4: Enjoy Your Favorite Apps Without Ads

From now on, ads will be blocked in your browser, as well as all of your other apps, thanks to DNS66’s VPN service. When the service is active, you’ll see a small key icon in your status bar, which should now be present at all times:

alt=”How to Block Ads in All Your Android Apps Without Root or Extra Battery Drain” width=”532″ height=”532″ />

Unlike other VPN-based ad-blockers, DNS66 blocks ads at the DNS level. This means that only DNS traffic is redirected through DNS66 and filtered for ads, as opposed to the method employed in similar apps, which filters all data traffic for ads.

What this boils down to is that all ads will be blocked system-wide—but, because only the tiniest bit of data is being filtered, DNS66 has a very minimal battery footprint. Compared to a similar app in Adguard (which filters ads in all traffic), you can see that DNS66 doesn’t even show up in my battery stats, whereas Adguard ranks at the top of battery-draining apps:

alt=”How to Block Ads in All Your Android Apps Without Root or Extra Battery Drain” width=”532″ height=”532″ />

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Users on Android could customize their app icons for some time, but it’s a relatively new addition to the iPhone. You could change icons since iOS 12, but it really took off in iOS 14 and got even better in iOS 14.3. Still, it’s not as easy as on Android, and you’ll see a notification every time you open an app with your custom icon. However, there is a workaround to stop those annoying notifications.

In iOS 12 and 13, you could set up bookmarks as custom app icons using Shortcuts, but the apps they redirected to would still show up on your home screen. In iOS 14, that issue was solved since you can banish any app icon to the App Library. That way, only your custom alias icons show up on the home screen. But tapping one would briefly open the Shortcuts app before sending you to the app it’s supposed to open. That was fixed in iOS 14.3, but now you’re stuck with the banner notification.

• Don’t Miss: Use Custom App Icon Images to Modify Your Home Screen

There is a secret way to disable notifications for Shortcuts, but those banner alerts that appear when opening apps via your custom home screen bookmarks persist. They’re large, distracting notifications that let you know that Shortcuts successfully redirected you to the target app, but the experience should be seamless — without any annoying interruptions.

Fortunately, there is a way to disable pop-up banners when you tap on your custom-designed app icons. With the help of Screen Time and Shortcuts automation, you can turn off these bothersome notifications for good on your iPhone.

Step 1: Turn Off Notifications in Screen Time

Yes, that’s right. For some reason, Apple has hidden Shortcut’s notification settings within Screen Time. The feature is usually used to view reports on how much time you or your kids spend on your iPhone, where you can then set usage limits. It’s a useful tool to help curb your screen time, but it can also be used to stop notifications when you run automations.

• Read More: Block Shortcuts Notifications from Showing Up Every Time You Run an Automation on Your iPhone

To start, launch Settings and enter “Screen Time.” If it’s disabled, turn it on and use your iPhone for a few hours, because it won’t have any activity logged, and you’ll need that to turn off notifications. If it’s already enabled, tap on “See All Activity” and scroll to the bottom. Under Notifications, you should see “Shortcuts.” However, it may not be actionable, meaning you won’t be able to tap on it.

If the “Shortcuts” app under Notificatiions does not have an arrow on the right side, scroll all the way back up and choose a different day or week. Scroll back down and the “Shortcuts” option should have the arrow next to it. Tap it.

The last thing you’ll need to do here is toggle off “Allow Notifications.” If you have any questions, need further help, or want to read more about how this works and how to turn it back on, check out our guide on disabling automation notifications.

Step 2: Create an Automation for Each Custom App Icon

Disabling notifications in Screen Time won’t completely disable notifications in Shortcuts, but it will kill automation alerts. That’s why this step is necessary. For some reason, when an automation is triggered, and Shortcuts notifications are off, you won’t see any banners. And this trumps regular shortcut notifications, including the banners for custom app icon bookmarks.

In the Shortcuts app, tap the “Automation” tab, then select “Create Personal Automation.” If you don’t see that, tap the plus (+) button first.

Next, scroll down and tap “App,” then hit “Choose” on the next screen. Now, pick an application that you’ve created a custom app icon shortcut on your home screen for. In my case, I’m choosing “Zoom.” Leave “Is Opened” as the only checked item, and tap “Next” to continue.

Next, tap “Add Action” and choose any action you want. The action doesn’t matter — but it should either be something you want to happen when you open the app or something that you won’t notice. For me, I’m using the “Set Zoom” action since I don’t use Zoom for anything like dropping screen brightness. In its action card, tap “On” and switch it to “Off” so that Zoom always turns off when the app in question is opened, then hit “Next.”

For something discreet that will never bother you in any way, another good action to pick is “Number” for the Calculator. Choose that, don’t adjust anything in the action card, and hit “Next.” This will ensure that your automation won’t do anything at all except block the banner notification.

Finally, toggle off “Ask Before Running” to ensure you don’t get any notifications. A pop-up will appear, warning you that turning this off will allow the automation to perform actions without asking you first. Tap “Don’t Ask,” then “Done” in the top right to finish creating your automation.

There is no way to set up an automation that will run no matter which app you open up, so you’ll have to build separate automations for every custom home screen app icon you have set up. Yes, it’s very inconvenient, but it’ll be worth it in the long run.

Step 3: Open the App with Your Custom Icon Shortcut

Now it’s time to run a home screen bookmark that opens up an app you set up in Step 2 above. Below, you can see the alias icon in action before (left) and after using this guide (right). Unfortunately, as mentioned previously, you must create an automation for every single home screen app shortcut you have, which might take a while if you have dozens of custom icons.

If you still see the banner alert, try force-closing the target app, Shortcuts, and Settings, then try again. It should be working smoothly now.

Keep Your Connection Secure Without a Monthly Bill. Get a lifetime subscription to VPN Unlimited for all your devices with a one-time purchase from the new Gadget Hacks Shop, and watch Hulu or Netflix without regional restrictions, increase security when browsing on public networks, and more.

Twitter quietly rolled out Recommendation Notifications which have been spamming users Twitter accounts with useless and beyond annoying notification alerts of people we don’t follow or care about.

If you have been looking around online how to disable recommended notifications, several articles reference to disable recommendations in the iOS Twitter app settings. The latest version of Twitter does not have “disable recommendations” setting anymore. As you can see below, the only notifications options (Settings and privacy) in the iOS Twitter app are pictured.

Twitter App -> Settings and privacy -> Notifications (Pictured Below)

Twitter App -> Settings and privacy -> Notifications -> Advanced filters (Pictured Below)

It is not confirmed if enable all Advanced Filters and or enabling/disabling the Quality filter actually does anything to recommended notifications from Twitter. User are reporting mixed results with these options.

In addition, logging into your Twitter account from a Desktop computer on the official Twitter website, there are no Recommended Notifications settings displayed.

Please let us know if you are experiencing this issue and if you have found a workaround by using the comment form below.