How to change the way notifications are displayed on your iPhone Lock Screen in iOS 16

Don’t like how new notifications appear on your iPhone Lock Screen? In this tutorial, we guide you through the steps to change the way notifications are displayed so you get to choose between Count view, Stack view, or the classic List view. 

Three notification display styles named Count, Stack, and List on iPhone Lock Screen in iOS 16

Notifications on iOS 16 Lock Screen

iOS 16 has significantly modified the Lock Screen experience, and along with it, the notification style has been revamped. New notifications now appear at the bottom of the Lock Screen, which makes space for widgets below the clock.


Related: Everything you need to know about using widgets on your iPhone Lock Screen in iOS 16


Notifications at the bottom of the screen are easy to reach, but you may not always like how they are displayed. To address this, you’re given three options to choose from. You can set the one you like and even go back to viewing notifications as a list, just like it was before 16.

Change how notifications appear on iPhone Lock Screen

  1. Open the Settings app in iOS 16 and tap Notifications.
  2. Under Display As, choose Count, Stack, or List.

Here’s how they look:

Count

This shows the number of unattended messages on your iPhone Lock Screen.

If you choose the Count style, new notifications will appear on the bottom of the iPhone screen and be visible. But after you wake the Lock Screen a couple of times without attending to those notifications, they will hide and show the number of recent unread notifications. You can tap N Notifications or swipe up on the Lock Screen to see unread notifications.

Count notification style on iPhone Lock Screen

Stack

This is the new default display view on iOS 16. When you select Stack, notifications will pile up over one another. If you receive a notification from another app, they will stack up over the other, but you will see a demarcation. Irrespective of how many notifications you receive, they all stay bundled as a short stack.

Notifications displayed as Stack on iPhone Lock Screen

List

Finally, if you choose List, you will see notifications displayed the way you used to before iOS 16. New notifications will appear as individual notifications. But once you have too many unread ones, they are grouped based on app and person.

List notification style on iPhone Lock Screen

Notifications go away from the Lock Screen after a while

Whether you choose Count, Stack, or List, unopened notifications won’t stay permanently on the iPhone Lock Screen. After you wake your screen a few times or use your iPhone and ignore the unread notifications, they will automatically hide from the Lock Screen and stay in the Notification Center. You can see them anytime by swiping up on the Lock Screen.

Swipe up on iPhone Lock Screen to see the Notification Center with unread notifications

Other iOS 16 Lock Screen tips: