10 Ways to Fix Notification Issues on Galaxy S21/S21+/S21 Ultra

Notification issues on Samsung Galaxy S21/S21+/S21 Ultra spell trouble when alerts don’t show up or when notifications arrive without a sound.

The good news is that though the problem can be pesky, there are quick fixes that can get you going in no time. 

In this post, we’ll show you how to fix Galaxy S21/S21+/S21 Ultra notification issues in record time. Indeed, our detailed instructions should get your S21 sounding out your notifications in about 10 minutes — maybe even less. 

1. Disable “Do Not Disturb” mode.

Difficulty	Easy
Number of Steps	5
Completion Time	8 seconds

Do Not Disturb (DND) limits phone interruptions by muting sound alerts, disabling vibration, and blocking notification pop-ups. In case you’ve accidentally turned this mode on, turning it back off will allow your phone’s notifications to work as usual.

Follow these steps to disable DND:

• Swipe down the home screen to access the quick settings panel.

• Toggle Do not disturb off.

Note: If you want to keep DND on and still receive some notifications, you can customize it to allow some exceptions. With this, you’ll still be able to receive alerts from your chosen apps or calls from specific contacts.

Follow these steps to customize DND:

• Open the quick settings panel.

• Press/hold the DND tile.

• Choose/set up your desired customization option.

2. Turn off Power Saving mode.

Difficulty	Easy
Number of Steps	2
Completion Time	4 seconds

Using the Power saving mode is the most effective way to extend the Samsung Galaxy S21’s battery life. Unfortunately, this mode disables some features and functionalities on your phone including notifications from apps.

Turning this mode off should help fix Galaxy S21 series notification issues.

Follow these steps to turn off power saving:

• Open the quick settings panel.

• Toggle the Power saving mode off.

3. Disable Data Saver mode.

Difficulty	Easy
Number of Steps	4
Completion Time	10 seconds

Data Saver mode prevents background apps from using your mobile data when you’re not connected to the Wi-Fi. While this allows you to cut down on data usage, this may stop apps from receiving data and sending you notifications.

Disable data saver mode using the steps below:

• Open Settings.

• Click Connections.

• Click Data saver.

• Toggle the switch off.

If you were unable to straighten out Galaxy S21/S21+/S21 Ultra notification issues until this point so far, try changing your phone’s settings using the methods that will follow.

4. Set notification alerts to sound.

Difficulty	Easy
Number of Steps	3
Completion Time	7 seconds

Putting your phone on either vibrate or mute will disable sound alerts which can cause you to miss important notifications. Make sure your phone’s notification alerts are set to sound to remedy this.

Use these steps to set your notification alerts to sound:

• Open Settings.

• Click Sounds and vibration.

• Choose Sound.

5. Adjust notifications volume settings.

Difficulty	Easy
Number of Steps	4
Completion Time	10 seconds

Even when not muted, you may still fail to notice any sound alerts on your phone if the notification volume is on a low level. Always keep it at a level that you can easily hear so you don’t miss any notifications.

Adjust the volume level of notifications by following the steps below:

• Open Settings.

• Click Sounds and vibration.

• Click Volume.

• Swipe the Notifications volume bar left/right to adjust.

6. Turn on app notifications.

Difficulty	Easy
Number of Steps	5
Completion Time	13 seconds

Notification settings can be modified for individual apps on your Samsung Galaxy S21 device. As such, some apps may not be able to send you notifications unless you manually turn on app notifications for them.

H3: Turn on App Notifications using these steps:

• Open Settings.

• Click Notifications.

• Scroll down/click More under Recently used.

• Scroll down/choose an app.

• Turn on the switch beside the desired app.

7. Modify app restrictions.

Difficulty	Easy
Number of Steps	8
Completion Time	20 seconds

Are you not getting notifications on a particular app? If this is the case, you may have to check if said app has some restrictions that need to be lifted before it can send notifications properly.

Do these steps to check and modify app restrictions:

• Open Settings.

• Click Apps.

• Choose/click the app.

• Click Mobile data.

• Turn on Allow background data usage.

• Tap the back arrow to return to App Info. 

• Click Battery.

• Choose either Unrestricted or Optimized.

8. Reset all settings.

Difficulty	Easy to Moderate
Number of Steps	7
Completion Time	50 seconds

If you think that the notification issue on your device was a result of some prior changes you’ve made in the settings, you can fix it by performing a reset to revert every setting to default.

Follow the steps below to reset all settings.

• Open Settings.

• Scroll down/click General management.

• Click Reset.

• Click Reset all settings.

• Click Reset settings.

• Click Reset.

• Wait for the device to restart and reset its settings.

If this method still didn’t help fix Galaxy S21/S21+/S21 Ultra notification issues for you, proceed with the two solutions below that involve clearing and wiping corrupt data on the phone.

9. Wipe the cache partition.

Difficulty	Moderate
Number of Steps	11
Completion Time	1 minute and 30 seconds

Temporary data, logs, and settings stored on your phone’s cache partition can sometimes become corrupted. When this happens, it can cause errors and malfunctions on your device which you can only solve by manually wiping the cache partition.

Follow these steps to wipe the cache partition:

• Press/hold the side button.

• Tap Power Off on the pop-up menu.

• Wait for your phone to shut down.

• Use a USB cable to plug your phone into a PC.

• Press/hold the volume up button and the side button simultaneously.

• Hold until you boot into Recovery Mode.

Note: Press the volume buttons to highlight a selection. Press the side button to confirm a selection.

• Select Wipe cache partition.

• Press the side button to confirm.

• Select Yes and press the side button.

• Press the side button to confirm the Reboot system now.

• Allow the device to boot up completely.

10. Factory reset your phone.

Difficulty	Moderate
Number of Steps	13
Completion Time	15 minutes

If resetting all the settings on your phone wasn’t enough to fix Galaxy S21/S21+/S21 Ultra notification issues, your last course of action is to perform a factory reset.

This action will reset your phone’s settings and wipe your data.

For this reason, a factory reset is treated as a last resort when troubleshooting. We recommend backing up your data on a Samsung Cloud or a PC for restoration after the factory reset process.

Perform a factory reset using the steps below:

• Press/hold the side button.

• Tap Power Off on the pop-up menu.

• Wait for your phone to shut down.

• Use a USB cable to plug your phone into a PC.

• Press/hold the volume up button and the side button simultaneously.

• Hold until you boot into Recovery Mode.

Note: Press the volume buttons to highlight a selection. Press the side button to confirm a selection.

• Select Wipe data/factory reset.

• Press the side button to confirm.

• Select Factory data reset.

• Press the side button to confirm.

• Wait for the screen below to say “data wipe complete.”

• Press the side button to confirm the Reboot system now.

• Allow the device to boot up completely.

That should do it. If by now, you’re still dealing with a notification issue, it would be a good time to visit a Samsung-certified repair center or to get in touch with Samsung support. 

Wrapping Things Up

The steps above are comprehensive and should suffice. While there may be other reasons your Samsung Galaxy S21 is not working, following the detailed instructions should get you going in 10 minutes or less. 

Galaxy S21/S21+/S21 Ultra Notification Issues FAQs