Google News will happily send you alerts whenever the latest breaking news is occurring. This can be useful if you want to keep abreast of current events, but should you prefer to access headlines in a time of your own choosing then it’s a good idea to turn off the notifications. We show you how to keep the world’s news under control on your device.
How to turn off Google News notifications
If you want to cease all notifications from Google News, then this is easily achievable. Open the app on your device and tap on your profile picture in the upper right corner. From the menu that appears, tap Settings > Notifications and you’ll be presented with quite a comprehensive selection of options.
At the top of the list you’ll find Get notifications. Turning off this setting will silence any alerts and leave you in peace.
How to reduce the number of notifications from Google News
If you want a selection of all subjects but just less alerts throughout the day, you can use the slider control near the top of the page. This is entitled Number of notifications and while you can move the setting along the entire line to choose the frequency of news, we suggest dragging it to the Low indicator rather than the Standard which is the default.
How to fine tune Google News notifications
Should you prefer to still get some notifications, but only on certain topics, you can use the various settings to fine tune your selection. As above, open the app, tap your profile picture and navigate to Settings > Notifications.
Now, read through the settings, turning off the ones that are not relevant to your needs. For example, if you want to receive alerts when the latest big stories occur, leave the Breaking news option enabled but should you not want articles that Google staff has selected as the most interesting, disable Featured content. It might take a bit of fiddling to get the right blend of stories, so expect to return to these settings a few times before you get the mix that satisfies your particular reading habits.
If your problem is pop-ups from websites that you’ve agreed to get news and updates for, here’s how to disable notifications in Chrome, Firefox and other browsers.
Author: Martyn Casserly, Contributor
Martyn has been involved with tech ever since the arrival of his ZX Spectrum back in the early 80s. He covers iOS, Android, Windows and macOS, writing tutorials, buying guides and reviews for Macworld and its sister site Tech Advisor.