Better (iPhone like) notifications for Nexus 5?

edokid · Feb 21, 2014

Just wondering as I just got the Nexus 5. Is there an app or way to do notifications better more like iPhone that anyone can recommend? The thing I miss the most is how on iPhone when you get a text the screen just turns on and shows the message. Its a bit weird to me how it just dings and I have to turn the phone on then scroll down to it. Be nice to have to screen light up or what not. I've seen lots of 3rd party apps but wanted recommendations for what might work best on the Nexus 5. Thanks everyone!

Omar Days · Feb 21, 2014

try 8sms for pop up texts

chukka63 · Feb 22, 2014

or handcent

happydundee · Feb 22, 2014

Or EvolveSMS

edokid · Feb 22, 2014

Thanks everyone, but sorry let me clarify. I'm not looking for a different application for text messaging, I'm looking for better notifications for all applications. For example on the iPhone how when you get an email or text message or anything your screen lights up and it showed a preview right on it.

happydundee · Feb 22, 2014

Try nova launcher for pop up notifications

renegad3 · Feb 22, 2014

Try something like DynamicNotifications on the play store.

There are many...

Spec2nirvash · Feb 23, 2014

Textra is another that works well, if you like the iOS style notif. Handcent is highly customizable, looks cool but has wayyy to many menus and submenus to fiddle with and I felt it was too buggy.

I have a question tho... I bought my Nexus 5 yesterday and uh, what's the deal with hangouts as primary SMS now? Yuck.

GuitarG20 · Feb 23, 2014

edokid said:
Thanks everyone, but sorry let me clarify. I'm not looking for a different application for text messaging, I'm looking for better notifications for all applications. For example on the iPhone how when you get an email or text message or anything your screen lights up and it showed a preview right on it.

If you're looking for that kind of functionality I would definitely recommend dynamic notifications. While it is modeled off of motorola's active notifications on their new devices, I have heard great things about it.

Hook · Feb 23, 2014

Spec2nirvash said:
Textra is another that works well, if you like the iOS style notif. Handcent is highly customizable, looks cool but has wayyy to many menus and submenus to fiddle with and I felt it was too buggy.

I have a question tho... I bought my Nexus 5 yesterday and uh, what's the deal with hangouts as primary SMS now? Yuck.

Download 8sms. Great app based on former Android stock messenger and will give you a one click means of setting it as system default.

GuitarG20 · Feb 23, 2014

edokid said:
Thanks everyone, but sorry let me clarify. I'm not looking for a different application for text messaging, I'm looking for better notifications for all applications. For example on the iPhone how when you get an email or text message or anything your screen lights up and it showed a preview right on it.

You guys, OP is not looking for a new SMS app. They're looking for a new way of doing notifications on the lock screen.

charliecc · Feb 24, 2014

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.samr.notificationWallpaper

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.roymam.android.notificationswidget

Sure there are others.

GrenW · Feb 24, 2014

SlideLock is doing it for me at the moment. Free or paid for versions

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.slidelock&hl=en

MartinS · Feb 24, 2014

Have you had a look at Lightflow.

Not exactly what you want but it allows you to customize the colour of the LED so you know which app is notifying. You can also set it to switch the screen on etc.

weysonn · Feb 27, 2014

flash a rom such as mahdi
it has the option for active notifications + lockscreen notifications

exninja · Feb 27, 2014

GuitarG20 said:
You guys, OP is not looking for a new SMS app. They're looking for a new way of doing notifications on the lock screen.

I think this is one of the fundamental differences between iOS and Android, especially Android on Nexus devices. iOS tells you what you want, but Android lets you decide what you want. I don't think there's something that's built into Hangouts that will turn on the screen when you get a text and show you a preview. Maybe sometime in the future. But in the meantime, as people have pointed out, there is a plethora of options available from Google Play that will get the job done, and maybe one of those options does it better than iOS did!

For example, I don't want me screen to turn on when i get a text. But I wouldn't mind a preview on the lockscreen. So I found an app called Dashclock that will do that for me.

MartinS · Feb 27, 2014

It is also argued that iOS notifications are obtrusive and low in security since it switches the screen on and shows the SMS/email and sender.
I haven't seen how iOS 7 handles notifications so please don't shoot me if it has changed. Personally, when I hadan iPhone 3G for a short time I hated that bubble popping up in the middle of the screen when I was doing something else.

Like other posters have said, Android gives you these options with other apps or widgets.

I manage fine normally with 8SMS (or whatever my preferred service is) and Lightflow although I am taking a look at Dash Clock too.

thisISjoel · Feb 28, 2014

NotifierPro seems pretty good so far, gives you bigger banners across the top of the screen.

EDIT: Ugh, NiLS and NotifierPro won't play nice with each other so at the moment I have to choose between cool lock screen notifications or cool banner notifications

Why can't I have both?

I had a looker at LockerPro but having two lock screens is not ideal.

Any other ideas out there?

EDIT 2: I'm using Notify Me! at the moment, it's not 100% what I'd like but it seems to be the best option I've found so far.

critcher · Mar 2, 2014

I've used smspopup in the past - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.everythingandroid.smspopup&hl=en

Now I've switched to handcent which has the popup built in.

AndroidKillsiOS · Mar 2, 2014

This is one of the few features I missed when I switched from iphone to Android a few years ago.

But at the the time iOS was very restricted and did not offer the flexibility that Android does. I have never used iOS 7, but I am happy with Android and I will never choose iOS again.

All the features I missed including this one can be found on the play store, but it's impossible to make an iphone anything like Android.

Espier make some pretty good Android apps for people that miss their iPhone.

Better (iPhone like) notifications for Nexus 5?

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