• Apple’s new software update to iPhones and iPads, iOS 12, arrives on Monday.
  • The update changes the way you receive notifications on your phone, arguably improving one of the worst features of iPhones.
  • Now, notifications will be grouped by topic or app, you can more easily adjust your notification settings, and you can add reactions to iMessages without having to open the app.
  • iOS 12 is available to download on iPhone 5S or later.

This year’s major software update for iPhone and iPad has arrived – and with it comes some helpful changes to how your phone handles notifications.

Notifications on iPhone have always been something of a sticking point. It’s one aspect of Apple’s operating system that hasn’t always felt intuitive – in fact, most people consider Android to have a much smarter approach to notifications.

But Apple seems to be hoping to fix all that in iOS 12. It’s making some significant changes to how you receive and interact with notifications, as well as some subtle tweaks that will make using your phone a lot easier.

Here are all the ways iPhone notifications will change with iOS 12:

  • Grouped notifications. This is the biggest change, and one that brings iOS closer to Android’s approach. Now, rather than your notifications being grouped chronologically, they’ll be grouped according to topic or app. For example, when you pull down from the top of the screen to view your notification center, all your iMessage notifications will show up in a cluster, and all your Instagram notifications will appear in a separate cluster.
  • More control over your settings with something called “instant tuning.” Despite the ambiguous name, this feature is also a game-changer. Now, you’ll be able to control your notification settings when you receive an alert, without having to leave the screen you’re on. It’s not totally clear yet how this feature would work, but being able to quickly and easily change how a notification appears will be helpful.
  • A new feature called “Deliver quietly.” This feature ties into Apple’s new emphasis on spending less time on your device. Now, you’ll be able to have alerts delivered to your notification center silently by default.
  • Siri will give suggestions about how to handle notifications. You’ll now be able to get suggestions from Siri based on how you interact with your notifications over time. Siri will learn which notifications you prefer to have displayed prominently, and which can just be delivered to your notification center.
  • You can opt in for “critical alerts.” Now, you’ll be able to selectively opt in for more important alerts – like one from a doctor’s office – even if your phone is on Do Not Disturb.
  • You can react to a message without opening the app. With iOS 11, Apple included helpful reactions in iMessage that let you respond to a message with a thumbs down, heart, or exclamation point. Now, with iOS 12, you’ll be able to add those reactions to a message by touching and holding the notification.

iOS 12 is available to download for iPhone 5S or later starting on Monday, September 17.