How to Customize Notification Summary on iOS 15

iOS 15 introduced the Scheduled Summary feature to help users minimize daily distractions by bundling non-urgent notifications into organized digests delivered at specific times. This guide explains how timing customization functions within the Scheduled Summary, how to set your preferred delivery windows, and how the system prioritizes incoming alerts throughout the day.

How Notification Summary Timing Works

Instead of interrupting you with real-time pings for every app update, iOS 15 lets you schedule specific times to receive batched alerts. You define the cadence—such as once in the morning, once at lunch, or once in the evening—and iOS automatically holds non-critical notifications until those designated windows arrive.

Setting Up and Customizing Delivery Times

To adjust the timing of your notification summaries:

  1. Open Settings on your iPhone running iOS 15.
  2. Tap Notifications.
  3. Select Scheduled Summary.
  4. Toggle the feature on if it is not already active.

Under the Schedule section, you can fully control when your digests appear:

  • Adjusting Existing Summaries: Tap the time next to "1st Summary" or "2nd Summary" to change the exact hour and minute using the time picker.
  • Adding Multiple Summaries: Tap Add Summary to create additional delivery slots throughout the day. You can configure up to 12 distinct summary times per day.
  • Removing a Summary: Tap the red minus icon next to any summary slot to delete it.

Selecting Apps for the Schedule

Below the timing controls, the Apps in Summary section displays your installed apps, ordered by the average daily notification volume. Toggling an app on adds its notifications to your scheduled batches. Any app toggled off will continue to deliver alerts immediately as they arrive.

Urgent Notifications and System Behavior

Timing customization does not apply uniformly to all communications. Time-Sensitive notifications (such as ride-share updates or food delivery alerts) and direct interactions (such as phone calls, text messages, or direct messages) automatically bypass your scheduled summary times and appear immediately on your Lock Screen.

When your scheduled time arrives, the summary appears on your Lock Screen as an expanded, multi-layered card. iOS uses on-device intelligence to organize the items within the summary, placing the most relevant and frequently used apps at the top of the batch.