Help What version of Android did the notification changes happen in?

[MarkC1970]

I purchased and returned a Pixel 7 Pro and an S23 before I found out they were not faulty/buggy but Google had changed the way Android works at some point between my P20 Pro and the new phones. The older phones showed an unread message count and the new ones show a one time notification and no reminder of unread messages.

I will therefore buy the newest used Android I can that works the old way. Can someone tell me what version Google implemented the 'update' and I can look for a phone from before this version? Thanks.

 

[AugieTN]

I'm having a hard time understanding your issue. Maybe I'm missing something. On my Pixel 7 I get a notification on new text messages. and unread text messages are highlighted when I open text messages.

I've been using Pixel phones for a while and i don't remember an unread message count, maybe that was something that Huawei added.

 

[MarkC1970]

I'm having a hard time understanding your issue. Maybe I'm missing something. On my Pixel 7 I get a notification on new text messages. and unread text messages are highlighted when I open text messages.

I've been using Pixel phones for a while and i don't remember an unread message count, maybe that was something that Huawei added.

It wasn't Huawei it was a change to Android. What used to happen was if I had 3 new text messages from Tom, Dick and Harry a number 3 would appear on the messages icon. It does the same today. However, the difference is that if I go into my messages on an older Android phone and read just Tom's message, the number changes to a 2 to remind me that I still have to deal with Dick and Harry when I get 5 minutes. On the new Android the number is deleted and you get no visual reminder that Dick and Harry are waiting for you to reply.

There used to be third party apps like TeslaUnread that worked with the Nova launcher to do the same job but after another update they no longer work either. Nova tech support told me that unless Google changes the code back, which appears unlikely, then the feature is dead.

 

[olbriar]

What you are describing is called badges. In your settings you need to allow badges. The icons will then show the count of activity.

 

[MarkC1970]

What you are describing is called badges. In your settings you need to allow badges. The icons will then show the count of activity.

Correct. In older versions of Android the activity they counted was unread messages, in newer versions the activity they count is notifications. When did this change is what I need someone to tell me. Thanks.

 

[AugieTN]

Correct. In older versions of Android the activity they counted was unread messages, in newer versions the activity they count is notifications. When did this change is what I need someone to tell me. Thanks.

I understand what you're saying.

1. I saw posts where people going all the way back to Pixel 3, Android 9 complaining about no number on notifications

2. Then I see a video showing a guy setting up number notification on a new Galaxy S22, Android 12.

 

[MarkC1970]

The explanation from Nova support when I asked why the Nova 7 launcher didn't act like the Nova 6 was as follows.

That's because "unread badges" aren't a thing. They are "notification badges". That means, when the notification in the notification bar at the top of the screen is gone, so is the notification badge on the app icon. That's not something Nova or any other 3rd party launcher can change as Google made the switch to notification badges a few years ago and killed off unread badges"

I just need to find out when the switch happened so I can buy a good used phone that meets my needs.

 

[K4sum1]

I think this functionality exists in RR 10 or BlissROMs 12.12, unless I'm misunderstanding the question.

Edit: I don't see it in BlissROMs 12.12. If you have an old phone that has Treble, you could try the RR 10 GSI and see if it has what you need.

Edit 2: I am blind

 

[Hadron]

It happened around Android 8 - which unfortunately means that any phone newer than your old one is going to behave this way.

More precisely, prior to that the Android OS itself didn't have that functionality at all, though some manufacturers and third party launchers did provide this. Then Google added it, but in a way that was linked to notifications, and for whatever reason at least some of the manufacturers who had implemented their own version switched to Google's (e.g. Samsung).

Nova used to have the functionality you want via its TeslaUnread plug in. As they explain here, it's no longer available from the Play Store, but can still be downloaded. However it does not work with the current versions of Nova (Nova 7), so you'd need to use an old version of the launcher too. From their explanation it seems likely that any other third party implementation will be in a similar situation.

Yes, it's inferior to previous solutions. What can I say? Google are not good at some things. But at some point you'll have to live with it, unless this matters enough for you to change platform, because any workaround using old phones or old apps will eventually fail.

 

[MarkC1970]

Thanks all. It seems from comments on the forums that Android 10 was the last one that works for unread messages. I know the last update of my P20 Pro works and that is based on 10.

My daughter has dug out her old S10 plus for me. It has 12 on and doesn't work but can can flashed back to 10 so I will have a play and report back.

I also have an iPhone 12 from a mate that I will have a play with. I don't really care if what OS my phone uses. I just care that it works to help not hinder me.

 

[Hadron]

Bear in mind that it might be that Huawei carried on using their own notifications rather than Google's, and that is the reason it still worked that way with Android 10. I'm pretty sure I remember people complaining about Samsung before then, and certainly Google introduced their notification badges in Android 8 (I checked), so flashing back might not do it (though we can hope).