How to view your Android notification history

Seeing your notifications at a glance on your smartphone is super helpful, but sometimes those notifications can get out of hand. If you're like me, you've probably been a bit too aggressive on dismissing or even accidentally deleting messages before you actually looked at them. Well, fear not, because there's a quick and easy way to see what you may have missed. In the steps below, we'll show you how to view your Android notification history, even after you've silenced, dismissed, or deleted them. These steps should work on any relatively recent device, whether it's one of the best Android phones or a dependable budget device.

How to view your Android notification history

The exact steps in Settings may vary slightly based on which Android phone you have, which version of Android you're on, and what skin your phone is running.

For this first example, I'll use Oxygen OS 11/Android 11 on a OnePlus 9.

1. Open the Settings app, or pull down on the notification shade and tap on the Settings icon (gear-shaped).

2. Scroll down and tap on Apps & Notifications.

   

3. Tap on Notifications.

4. Tap on Advanced.

   

5. Tap on Notification history.

6. Toggle the switch at the top of the screen to Use notification history. You will also see a list of your recently dismissed notifications, as well as a reverse chronological list of notifications.

   

7. Now, pull down the notification shade from any screen.

8. You should see a link/button called History at the bottom of the shade. Tap on that. This will take you back to the notification history view we were just looking at in the previous step.

   

In this example, I used Android 12 (Beta) on a Google Pixel 4a.

1. Open the Settings app, or pull down on the notification shade and tap on the Settings icon (gear-shaped).
2. Tap on Notifications.
3. Tap on Notification history.

4. Toggle the switch at the top of the screen to Use notification history. You will also see a list of your recently dismissed notifications, as well as a reverse-chronological list of notifications.

   

5. Now, pull down the notification shade from any screen.

6. You should see a link/button called History at the bottom of the shade. Tap on that. This will take you back to the notification history view we were just looking at in the previous step.

   

In either example, you can also elect to clear your notification history from that notification shade shortcut. However, you can still see your history by going back into your notification settings from the Settings app.

Be sure to check out our roundup of some other great Android 12 tips and tricks for more ways to get the most out of your device's software.

It's important to note that there are also third-party notification history log options, but since the feature is baked-in to Android, you may not need them.