How to get iOS style notifications on the Nexus 4?

There are dozens and dozens of widgets that will show your unread mail count. No need to install a whole launcher just for that (although I heartily recommend Nova Launcher. Just go the Play store and search on "email unread count".

As for why Android doesn't do that... there's lots of things that Android doesn't do that iOS does. The "there's an app for that" phrase was coined early on in the iOS world, but I think it's more apropos to Android. Just about anytime somebody asks something like "why doesn't android...", the answer is almost always that there's an app/widget/launcher/etc - it's much more customizable than iOS.
 
Funnily enough a friend of mine who switched from iPhone said the same thing. I find the notifications pop up incredibly annoying personally, but to each his own. I think the question has been answered, but in would also suggest giving yourself some time to get used to the notifications in android.

My friend found that he likes them better once he got used to them. They are more subtle, which personally I like. They doesn't make the notification system better or worse than iOS, just different.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Android Central Forums
 
I liked the number on the email in ios as well. After a while though I stopped missing it. In fact since most of my emails are spam, I like now that it does not constantly remind me of them...

So I look up at the notifications at the top of the screen and it shows icons for email,calls,voicemail etc. A simple swipe down and they are all accessible. I like this a lot better. If you give it a few weeks it might grow on you.

That one little email icon at the top leads you straight to the number of emails you have. If it's more then one you'll see it there. It amounts to the same thing.

I spent a lot of time Jailbreaking ios to get it to look and feel like Android. If you want you can spend a bit of time making it look like ios...thats the nice thing about Android and why we use it. We can make it unique to our selves.
 
Hmm nobody has mentioned SMS Popup. Download it from the play store it'll give you the popup notification you want and allow you to have the screen turn on.
 
As others have said, you can use Nova Launcher Prime (3 dollars I think) and TeslaUnread (free) for notification badges on the home screen. I use it and it works flawlessly. It does cost a few dollars or pounds or euros or whatever your currency is, but considering the hundreds of dollars saved when buying an N4?
 
As a new switch from iOS to Android, I found this thread helpful and will be looking into Nova Launcher.

I just wanted to comment that all the "Go back to iOS if you want your phone to be exactly like an iPhone" and "zomg if you love iOS so much why don't you marry it?" comments are completely unhelpful, annoying, and make you look silly. OP asked for one feature, not the whole iOS experience. And even my old Nokia "AT&T Go" phone, that little brick, told me how many unread messages I had when I picked it up. This is not an unreasonable feature for anybody to want.
 
I'll also recomend Nova Launcher, I've found it's close enough to stock to not be overwhelming but still allows customization, putting the little numbers next to app icons is only for the prime version, the free version also has plenty of options. And the best part about android is if you get sick of any notification system you can just change it!

As a new switch from iOS to Android, I found this thread helpful and will be looking into Nova Launcher.

I just wanted to comment that all the "Go back to iOS if you want your phone to be exactly like an iPhone" and "zomg if you love iOS so much why don't you marry it?" comments are completely unhelpful, annoying, and make you look silly. OP asked for one feature, not the whole iOS experience. And even my old Nokia "AT&T Go" phone, that little brick, told me how many unread messages I had when I picked it up. This is not an unreasonable feature for anybody to want.
 
Tbh I have the global badge notifications but never notice them. I have dashclock widget so when on the lockscreen I can see how many unread messages I have and can also launch the app from there.. I mostly look at my notifications through the notification bar which also shows the unread count for the notification. The only real benefit it has is that if you accidently swipe away a unread message, the number will still stay on the icon making sure you dont forget you have a message.
 
I have both and I find android isn't as robust as it doesn't provide the option. Some users may not want those notifications, but it would be nice to have the option. I guess some like living with fewer choices. Android will allow those choices some day I am sure.

They are not available natively, but they are available through third party extension. That's the beauty of Android, flexibility. The advantage of iOS, i think many would say, is simplicity - it just works - at the cost of flexibility.
 
My problem is that my Nexus 4 (Google) does not notify me of messages from iPhones. I know this because my wife and daughter have Iphones and I do not get a message notification when they send me a text message. I get notifications from everyone else, unfortunately not those closest to me. What gives?
 
My problem is that my Nexus 4 (Google) does not notify me of messages from iPhones. I know this because my wife and daughter have Iphones and I do not get a message notification when they send me a text message. I get notifications from everyone else, unfortunately not those closest to me. What gives?

Do you get the actual text, just no notification?

GS4/iPhone5
 
I've heard of this before when people switch from iPhone to Android. The solution (if I remember correctly) has to do with you iMessage account or something. That when they were sending you a text, it still tried to send it through iMessage, which obviously wouldn't go through to your Android. I wish I could tell you more, but I've never had an iOS device to have to worry about this, but maybe it will give you a starting place for a good ol' google search!
 

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