Your iPhone 13 has a variety of different notification types that it can use to alert you about things. Some of them like alerts and banners are pretty clear, but you may be asking “what are badges on iPhone 13?” if you see that option listed.
You have probably seen the alerts pop up on your lock screen, or banners that appear at the top of the screen while you’re using your device.
But if you have gone into the notification settings menu on your Apple device, you probably saw a couple of options in there that you weren’t familiar with.
One of these options is called “Badges”, and it’s not immediately obvious what role it plays on the smartphone.
Notification badges indicate that you have some kind of unread information for the individual app on which the badge appears.
For the Phone app, it will indicate missed calls, while for the Messages app it indicates a new message.
If you open the app and review the item that caused the badge notification, it will go away when you return to the Home screen.
Our tutorial below continues with more information about badges on the iPhone, as well as information about push notifications and sound notifications on the device.
What is a Badge App Icon on an iPhone 13?
A badge app icon on your iPhone is a red circle with a white number inside of it that appears on the upper right hand corner of the app icon. I have pointed one out that is on the Settings app in the picture below.
It’s a type of notification that is useful because it stays on the app until you have addressed the item that caused the notification.
Basically, if you are on your iPhone Home screen and you see a white number with a red background on one of your apps, you can assume that there is an important notification within the app that you should address.
How to Enable or Disable Badges on an iPhone (Guide with Pictures)
The steps in this article were performed on an iPhone 13 in the iOS 15.4.1 operating system.
Step 1: Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
Step 2: Select the Notifications option.
Step 3: Choose the app for which you would like to turn on or turn off the badge app icon.
I am going to adjust the badge app setting for the Messages app in this guide, but you can pick whichever app you want. The process is the same for most of the apps on the device.
Step 4: Find the Badges option on the menu, then tap the button to the right of it to turn it on or off.
The badge is enabled when there is green shading around the button.
Did you know that there is a flash notification on the iPhone that makes the camera light on the back of the device go off?
Our tutorial continues below with additional discussion about iPhone badge app notifications.
More Information on iPhone Badges
Regardless of the options that you apply for push notification settings in things like the Messages app, you can almost always find your notifications in the Notification Center.
This is a drop down menu that you open by swiping down from the top of the screen. There you will see all of the unread notifications on your device. If you tap one of those notifications it will open the app that triggered the notification, allowing you to see what it was for.
Aside from the app badges that we discussed in this article, you can change the way that each app alerts you to the different notifcations that it can produce. The exact options will vary between apps, but typically includes some combination of the following iPhone notifications:
- Allow Notifications – this option lets you turn notifications on or off completely for the app
- Time Sensitive Notifications – these types of notifications arrive immediately, and stay on your lock screen for an hour, or until you open them or dismiss them.
- Alerts types – Lock Screen, Notification Center, Banner – You can choose which combination of these types of alerts you want to use for the particular app.
- Banner Style – you can use this to decide whether or not your banners are temporary, or stay visible at the top of the screen
- Sounds – you can use this to pick the vibration options and the notification tone
- Badges – this controls the white number with the red background
- Show in CarPlay – choose whether or not notifications from this app appear on the screen when your iPhone is connected to CarPlay
- Announce Notifications – this can cause Siri to read the content of a notification to you if you are listening to headphones
- Lock Screen appearance – Show Previews and Notification Grouping
- Customize Notifications – lets you choose various settings like whether or not your alerts should repeat
Note that the badge app icon on the Settings app is something that you can’t change. If you see a badge on the gear icon, it means that there is an iOS update available. That badge app icon will remain until you install the update on your phone.
Conclusion on What are Badges on iPhone 13?
The steps in our article above have provided information on various iPhone notifications such as alerts, banners, and badges.
Additional Sources
Matthew Burleigh has been writing technology how-to articles and tutorials for over a decade. He has extensive experience in information technology both in small business and as a consultant.
His articles have appeared on dozens of websites and been read millions of times.
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