Top 6 Ways to Fix iPhone App Notification Won’t Go

I hate missing notifications or leaving a lot of them unread. A few days ago, when I opened an app’s notification, the (notification) was still in my iPhone’s Notification Center hours later. The app’s icon bore an even more surprising unread notification badge. Interestingly, I was able to get the notification to go away. I’ll show you (and some other iPhone users) how I did it in this post.

If you find yourself in a similar situation, the first thing you want to do is force close the app; Swipe up from the bottom of your phone’s screen and swipe up on the app to turn it off. This fixed the issue for some iPhone users. If the notification is still stuck on Notification Center or app icon then you should try the solutions listed below.

1. Restart Your Device

Some iPhone users have managed to get rid of stuck notification badge counters in an app by restarting their device. You should do the same and check if the magic works for you. Press and hold the power button and volume up/down button and move the ‘Slide to power off’ slider to the right to turn off your iPhone. Turn your device back on and check if notification badges are now visible in the affected app.

2. Update Apps

If restarting your device does not cause app notifications to disappear, you may want to update apps. This did the trick for me when the notification badge in my iPhone’s Slack app didn’t go away despite turning on and reading notifications. Launch App Store on your device and update the app whose notification refuses to disappear.

If the notification badge counter still appears on the app’s icon after the update, restart your device.

3. Check Notification Badge Settings

You can also get an app’s notification badge by disabling and re-enabling the app’s Badge notification settings. Here’s how.

Stage 1: Launch the iPhone Settings menu and scroll down to select the affected app.

Step 2: Select Notifications.

Stage 3: Turn the Badges option off and back on.

Now go back to the home page and check if the notification badge of the app is still stuck on the app icon.

4. Change App Notifications Settings

If notifications or badges are still stuck on an app’s icon or Notification Center, you should try disabling the app’s entire notification, restart your device, and turn it back on.

Stage 1: Launch the settings menu and select the app that has the notification issue.

Step 2: Select Notifications.

Stage 3: Turn off Allow Notifications.

Step 4: Restart your iPhone, repeat Steps 1 – 3 and turn Allow Notifications back on.

5. Reset All Settings

An effective way to fix some bugs, bugs or malware that won’t leave your iPhone alone is to reset it. Some iPhone users were able to fix the issue of notification badges not disappearing by resetting their device.

If the notification badge counter still remains on the app icon after doing the troubleshooting methods mentioned above, proceed to reset your iPhone’s settings.

Stage 1: Launch the iPhone Settings menu and select General.

Step 2: Scroll to the bottom of the page and select Reset.

Stage 3: Next, select ‘Reset All Settings’.

Step 4: Enter your device password to complete the process.

Note: Your personal data (eg photos, music, apps, etc.) will not be affected when you ‘Reset All Settings’ on your iPhone. However, it has all the network related settings (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth) and audio and video settings, home screen layout etc. You will lose other system configurations such as

6. Update iOS

At least one of the five (5) fixes mentioned above must have helped remove the notification badge on the affected app. Otherwise, you should update your iPhone’s operating system if there are any pending updates. To update your iPhone’s iOS to the latest version, launch the Settings menu and go to General > Software Update > Download and Install.

7. Turn Off In-App Notifications

It’s also important to note that in order to get rid of the notification badge counter for some apps, you may need to manually turn off/on notifications within the app itself. I once managed to get rid of Slack’s notification badge using this method.

Launch the app and check the notification section or settings menu to see if there is an option to turn off unread messages/notifications/texts.

Take Responsibility for Your Notifications

Notifications are important, but they become a problem when they get stuck on your device after you open or read them. This will clog your phone’s Notification Center. You may also lose track of new alerts if notification badges are stuck on an app’s icon.

Follow the above mentioned troubleshooting fixes to get rid of app notifications not disappearing on your iPhone. At least one of the solutions should undo the app’s notifications in order.

Next: If you can’t unlock your device or authorize payments and apps because your iPhone’s Face ID isn’t working, read this guide to fix the problem.