Disabling notifications in the lockscreen, disable the pin/pattern initially, other issues?

[markm75]

These are more generic to Lollipop/android, so i figured this was a good spot to ask..

Using an S6 Active as a bit of background..

I'm trying to find out if there are any methods that can be used to disable certain "android system" notifications from filling up the lockscreen..
For instance.. Wifi Connected to SSID XYZ is one that comes up, i've tried tapping the info for it but there is no way to disable this..

Another thing that is more of an inconvenience than anything, is that in order to see all the lockscreen widgets, particularly the calendar events widget generated from the Calendar Events notify app.. you often have to swipe down to override the pin area or the pattern security area.. it would be nice if there was a way to bring that up but only after pressing another sequence.. or if it was translucent, overtop/behind the widgets, so the widgets were view only basically.

The other thing that works great on Windows Phone 10 (moved away due to various other issues, so new to Android at the moment), is when you receive an sms.. i dont want to disable viewing the content completely, i'd like it, if the sms message on the lockscreen were "collapsed" and could then be viewed by simply tapping a down arrow to expand the message.. this is lacking and i cant find a work around, though minor as it may be.

Another gripe, minor again, is that you cant seem to change the ringer volume level from the lockscreen (phone locked).. on wp10, you can just tap the vol up / down and it would set.. the only option seems to be to do a pull down and turn the phone to vibrate or off.

For SMS messages.. it seems too, if you select preview message in messages notifications.. it shows a preview of received messages on the bar AND on the lockscreen.. there doesnt seem to be a way to separate these two.


The last thing is on sound notifications for the email app.. there doesnt seem to be a way to set the notifications as silent, without turning them off completely (from the lockscreen). EDIT: i see if you set the notification sound to silent this addresses this one at least for the email client, not sure on gmail.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

 

[SpookDroid]

Hi there,

Coming from a different OS is not without it's hassles, as I'm sure you've already found out Fortunately, some things can be mimicked, and unfortunately, some cannot.

1) Unless you root your device and install a custom ROM, this is one of those things that are baked into the system. I'm guessing you're using a carrier-branded version of the S6? This persistent WiFi notification, I believe, is not present in stock Android, so the carrier added that one.

2)Another one that cannot be overridden, and one I agree with you: It's stupid the way they did it. For some reason someone in Google decided that using up just a third of your screen's lockscreen real estate was enough to display notifictions without the need to swipe down. Even if you use an unsecure lockscreen (swipe to unlock, for instance) the notifications only take up that small space. There are lockscreen replacements, however, that give you better control over what (and how) things are shown on the screen. You can also set the Calendar app as a priority notification, which would put its notifications at least always at the top.

3)Like I mentioned in another post, not on the stock options. There might be 3rd party messaging apps that display things differently, but I can't think of any I've used. The only way the preview 'disappears' is if you have enough notifications to clutter the lockscreen space (which doesn't take more than a couple, really) for it to need the swipe-down with two fingers to expand the message preview.
EDIT: On your other question an user added a way to individually block content from the lockscreen. This will hide the message there, but it won't let you 'expand' the content to be shown in the lockscreen like you want, so it's a partial solution. (Notification bar notification, though, should be unchanged).

4)Not sure if this is a carrier thing or a Samsung one. Samsung locked a few things up if you use a secure lockscreen. It might be that they decided that changing a phone's volume was one of them.

5) Again, not on stock, but some apps DO give you the option to hide the notification bar preview. You can also use HeadsOff, which lets you control the pop-up messages introduced in Lollipop (heads-up notifications) and also lets you control what is displayed on the notification bar, including message previews or just the app's name.

6) Yup, you can also set it to Silent that way. Unfortunately these settings are app-dependent and each dev might do it differently, but usually all apps that let you set custom notification sounds will let you select a SILENT option or have a NO SOUND option somewhere.

Hope this helps! I know sometimes the answers aren't exactly what we want to hear, but it is what it is. We're here to help ease the 'transitional pains' and who knows, maybe a dev will read these and come up with 3rd party solutions for those! After all, they do copy iOS a lot...why not Win10, right?

 

[markm75]

Hi there,

Coming from a different OS is not without it's hassles, as I'm sure you've already found out Fortunately, some things can be mimicked, and unfortunately, some cannot.

1) Unless you root your device and install a custom ROM, this is one of those things that are baked into the system. I'm guessing you're using a carrier-branded version of the S6? This persistent WiFi notification, I believe, is not present in stock Android, so the carrier added that one.

2)Another one that cannot be overridden, and one I agree with you: It's stupid the way they did it. For some reason someone in Google decided that using up just a third of your screen's lockscreen real estate was enough to display notifictions without the need to swipe down. Even if you use an unsecure lockscreen (swipe to unlock, for instance) the notifications only take up that small space. There are lockscreen replacements, however, that give you better control over what (and how) things are shown on the screen. You can also set the Calendar app as a priority notification, which would put its notifications at least always at the top.

3)Like I mentioned in another post, not on the stock options. There might be 3rd party messaging apps that display things differently, but I can't think of any I've used. The only way the preview 'disappears' is if you have enough notifications to clutter the lockscreen space (which doesn't take more than a couple, really) for it to need the swipe-down with two fingers to expand the message preview.
EDIT: On your other question an user added a way to individually block content from the lockscreen. This will hide the message there, but it won't let you 'expand' the content to be shown in the lockscreen like you want, so it's a partial solution. (Notification bar notification, though, should be unchanged).

4)Not sure if this is a carrier thing or a Samsung one. Samsung locked a few things up if you use a secure lockscreen. It might be that they decided that changing a phone's volume was one of them.

5) Again, not on stock, but some apps DO give you the option to hide the notification bar preview. You can also use HeadsOff, which lets you control the pop-up messages introduced in Lollipop (heads-up notifications) and also lets you control what is displayed on the notification bar, including message previews or just the app's name.

6) Yup, you can also set it to Silent that way. Unfortunately these settings are app-dependent and each dev might do it differently, but usually all apps that let you set custom notification sounds will let you select a SILENT option or have a NO SOUND option somewhere.

Hope this helps! I know sometimes the answers aren't exactly what we want to hear, but it is what it is. We're here to help ease the 'transitional pains' and who knows, maybe a dev will read these and come up with 3rd party solutions for those! After all, they do copy iOS a lot...why not Win10, right?

Thanks very much for that reply.

I have yet to find a lockscreen app that does a good job.. got any suggestions..? I've tried a bunch, inclusive of microsofts Next, but that one seemed quirky or didnt show enough info..

Ill have to check out HeadsOff..

On the custom rom thing.. i guess if i knew going the custom rooted rom route would give me some of what is lacking i would root it.. i'm assuming though, like with iphone, if you root the device you cant just do automatic system updates?

Hard to justify a rooting to gain say, larger non obstructed lockscreen notifications (if exist) and maybe a pull down arrow for sms reading (and maybe sms replying from that pull down as well).

Maybe Android 6.0 will address some of this..

EDIT: i found floatify which supposedly allows for quick replies from the lockscreen, however, pressing reply there only seems to prompt to unlock the phone.

 

[SpookDroid]

Again, a 'con' of having a secure lockscreen. Samsung decided to put most fucntionality behind it if you chose to be 'secure'. Other apps should support quick replies from the notification, though, like Google's Messenger and soon Hangouts too. Not sure if the stock Messaging app allowed for it to, but I kinda remember it did.