Advanced iOS Settings
These settings help fine-tune how your push notifications are presented and prioritized on iOS devices, ensuring that critical or urgent information reaches users effectively, while less important messages are delivered more passively.
Relevance Score
The Relevance Score is a numerical value ranging from 0 to 1 that determines the importance level of a push notification on iOS devices. Notifications with higher scores appear more prominently in the notification summary, improving visibility and user awareness.
0.0 – 0.3
Low importance
0.4 – 0.7
Medium importance
0.8 – 1.0
High importance
Purpose This score enables apps to sort notifications based on relevance and ensure that critical messages do not get buried under less urgent ones.
Example Use Case
A suspicious transaction alert may receive a relevance score of
0.95, placing it at the top of the user’s notification stack.A holiday announcement may receive a score of
0.2, appearing further down in the summary.
Tip: Use higher relevance scores for time-sensitive, security-related, or highly personalized notifications. Lower scores are suitable for informational or promotional messages.
For more technical details, you can refer to Apple’s documentation on iOS Relevance Score or our blog post below.
Interruption Level
Interruption Level controls how a push notification interacts with iOS Focus Modes such as “Do Not Disturb,” “Work,” “Sleep,” or “Personal.” By selecting the appropriate level, you can balance between urgency and user experience.
Passive
Silent delivery with no sound or vibration. For non-urgent, informative content.
❌
Active
Sounds, vibrates, and turns on the screen. Used for general notifications (non-focus mode).
❌
Time Sensitive
Overrides focus modes. Vibrates, makes sound, and turns on the screen. Requires justification.
✅ Requires enforcement
Critical
Overrides silent and focus modes. Reserved for emergencies. Requires Apple approval.
✅ Apple review
iOS Focus Modes Overview
iOS < 15: Users can enable Do Not Disturb, silencing all notifications.
iOS ≥ 15: Users have granular control via Focus Modes for work, sleep, and personal time.
Example Use Case
App update announcement
Passive
New message notification
Active
Fraud alert or OTP
Time Sensitive
Earthquake warning
Critical
Critical notifications must be registered with Apple and approved. Use them only for situations like health, security, or natural disasters.
Learn more about notification prioritization in our detailed blog post to discover how to implement these levels effectively.
Last updated
Was this helpful?