Android 17 Beta 3 Update to Bring Notification Rules With Granular Control for Apps, Contacts: Report

Google is said to be working on a new way to further refine notifications on Android. According to a report, references to a feature dubbed Notification Rules were spotted in Android 17 Beta 3. The system will reportedly provide users with more granular control over notifications from apps and individual contacts, moving beyond existing app-level controls. It is expected to build upon existing features like Notification Channels, Modes, and the recently introduced Notification Organiser.

‘Notification Rules' Feature in Android 17

The feature was discovered during an APK teardown by Android Authority in collaboration with coder AssembleDebug. The teardown reveals code strings referencing a dedicated section for this feature, which includes Notification Rules and an option to Create new rule. As per the publication, the strings suggest that users may be able to define custom behaviours for notifications.

As the name suggests, Notification Rules would allow users to create custom rules for handling notifications. These rules can reportedly be applied to both apps and individual contacts, indicated by the following strings:

Once a rule is created, users will be able to define how notifications behave, as per the report. Five possible actions have been identified: Silence, Block, Silence & Bundle, Highlight, and Highlight & Alert.

While details officially remain under wraps, the aforementioned actions may allow users to silence notifications from certain people without muting all calls or messages, or highlight important contacts to make their alerts stand out. However, the exact behaviour of “Highlight” is yet to be determined.

Apart from this, additional code strings reportedly suggest that the feature will include a searchable interface with options to select, edit, and manage multiple apps or contacts at once. The report mentions that similar strings have also been spotted in leaked One UI 9 builds. This potentially indicates that the feature may not be limited to Pixel devices and could be adopted broadly across other Android OEMs, including Samsung with its One UI firmware.

Since this information comes from an APK teardown, the feature is still under development and has not been officially announced. As with all such findings, there is a possibility that Notification Rules may change before release or may not roll out at all.