Do you often dismiss notifications by accident, and then have no idea what the notification was about? Well, there’s a way you can ensure that never happens again. Android comes with a built-in history for your notifications. That history was turned off by default up to this point, but that is no longer the case, at least not from what we’ve seen. In this article, we’ll show you how to view your notification history in Android 12. Also, if it’s not visible, for whatever reason, we’ll show you how to change that. In all Android 11 builds it was disabled by default. When it comes to Android 12, we’re not exactly sure, but on our units, it’s enabled, so, there you have it. In any case, let’s get started.
How to view your notification history in Android 12
Presuming your notification history is enabled by default in Android 12, checking it out is really simple. All you have to do is scroll to the end of your unread notifications. So, swipe from the top of your display, and scroll down to the end of your notifications. You will see the “History” button in the bottom-left corner, tap it.
Once you do that, your notification history will open. Here you’ll see all the notifications that you dismissed/read, in chronological order (from the latest).
If you happen to see “Manage” instead of “History” at the bottom of your notifications, well, that means that your notification history is not enabled. So, let us show you how to enable it.
How to enable your notification history in Android 12
The first thing you need to do is swipe up on your homescreen, to access your app drawer. There you’ll need to find the “Settings” app/menu, and tap it.
In the Settings menu, track down the “Notifications” menu, and navigate there.
In there, you’ll see the “Notification history” option, tap it.
The first option you’ll see at the top, right below the “Notification history” title, is the “Use notification history” toggle. You’ll need to flip the switch and enable notification history. There you have it. From now on your phone will remember every notification you dismiss.
This is also the place you’ll be able to see all those notifications. You can navigate here even if you don’t have any notifications, as the “History” button does not show if you don’t have any unread notifications.