How to set Conversation priority on an Android device to organize your messages

• You can set Conversation priority on an Android running Android 11 to better organize your messages.
• Phones running Android 11 make it easy to see message notifications at the top of the notification shade.
• You can change where and how conversations appear in notifications by changing its priority.

Google has made a subtle but important change to the way notifications work in the latest version of the Android OS. If you have Android 11 or later, your phone will now better organize conversations in apps like your texting app, WhatsApp, Slack, and others.

It's a small change, but a handy one: All conversations now appear in their own section, separate from other notifications. This way, they won't get mixed in with your other notifications.

How to set Conversation priority on Android

The default settings for Android 11's conversation priority are pretty good, but you can tweak them to suit your own needs. There are three priority levels you can choose from:

• Default: The notification appears in the order it occurred and you'll hear a notification if your preferences are configured for that.
• Priority: This kind of message will always appear at the top of the Conversation notifications.
• Silent: These messages will appear at the bottom of the Conversation notification and will arrive silently, without a notification sound.

Here's how to control this setting:

1. Swipe down to see notifications.
2. Swipe a conversation partially to the left until you see the Settings icon (shaped like a gear).
   
   

   

3. Tap the Settings icon.
4. Tap the priority level you want: Priority, Default, or Silent. Then tap "Apply."
   
   

How to view or change Conversation notification settings on Android

Your phone also allows you to customize notifications about specific conversations. You can choose whether conversations should appear as bubbles over other apps, for example, change the notification sound, and even tell your phone that this conversation shouldn't appear in the Conversation notification at all, if you prefer.

Here's how:

1. Start the Settings app.
2. Tap "Apps & notifications."
3. Tap "Conversations."
4. Here's a list of conversations you've recently modified. Tap the conversation you want to customize.
   
   

   

5. On this page you can change many aspects of the conversation:
   

   
   - At the top of the page, you can change the message priority (which determines how it appears in the Conversation notification).

   - Tap "All Bubble settings" to control whether the conversation can bubble.

   - Tap "Not a conversation" if you don't want it to appear in your Conversation notification.

   - Tap "Advanced" for additional options, including notification sound and whether the conversation should appear on the lock screen.