If you're anything like me, your phone buzzes all day long, alerting you to completely useless things like app updates, Facebook likes, and chain emails from your grandma. Here's how to keep your phone from bugging you all day without turning your notifications off entirely—but still staying on top of what matters.

We've all experienced phantom vibrations before—that feeling that your phone is ringing when it really isn't. Psychology professor Larry Rosen says this could be a symptom of tech anxiety, and it's probably true—we've gotten to the point where every time our phone buzzes, we feel like we need to pull it out to see what just happened, even if we're so often disappointed by email newsletters, Facebook likes, and other notifications that aren't "need to know". This is annoying, but there's no need to turn off notifications altogether—all it takes is a little pruning.

The process is a little different depending on whether you have an iPhone or Android device, but there's a lot you can do on both platforms to keep annoyances to a minimum while staying on top of what's really important. It takes a bit of setup, but you'll be much happier for it in the end. Here's what you need to do.

Step One: Split Up Apps By Importance

Before we get into the settings, you should take a look at the apps on your device and decide which ones you really want to stay on top of. Generally, I split notifications up into three categories:

• Important: These are the apps I always want to buzz me when something happens. Vibrations, sounds, badges on the home screen, the whole nine yards. SMS usually falls into this category, though it can also include personal or work email, calendar alerts, and to-do apps (like the iPhone's Reminders app).
• Unimportant: These are notifications that I like to have, but I don't want bugging me during the day. If I go to check my phone during a free moment, I like to see them, but I don't want them to vibrate or make noise. This often includes things like Facebook, Twitter, and IMs.
• Useless: These are apps for whom I want to just turn off notifications entirely. If I want to see what they have to tell me, I'll open them up. I don't want them wasting space in my notification center, let alone vibrating in my pocket. That means you, podcast managers, games, and other random apps.

You may find that you have other categories or sub-categories, but this is a good skeleton on which to base your system. Next, it's time to delve into the settings.

Step Two: Tweak Your Notification Settings for Each App

With those categories in mind, we'll now come up with a system for which notification settings we'll apply to each category of apps. Here's how to do it on both the iPhone and Android.

On the iPhone

Head into Settings > Notifications and go into each app one by one. Here are the settings you'll probably want to use for each category:

• Important: I turn everything on for important notifications. The Notification Center, badge app icons, sounds, and the lock screen. I usually stick with banners instead of alerts, but you can tweak this based on your own preferences.
• Unimportant: Unimportant notifications should probably use the same settings as important notifications, minus sounds. That means these notifications will show banners when you're using your phone, they'll show up in the notification center and on the lock screen, and they'll show badges, they just won't bug you with sounds or vibrations when you get notifications.
• Useless: For these, you can go ahead and just turn everything off and set the Alert Style to "none". That should keep the app from ever bugging you or taking up notification space.

Note that the "Sounds" slider in the notification center means sounds and vibrations—there's no way to separate your preferences for each in iOS. If you have sound notifications, you'll get vibrations as long as you have vibrations turned on in Settings > Sounds.

On Android

Android apps manage their notification settings separately from one another. So, to tweak the notification settings for a certain app, open it up, press the menu button, and go to Settings. Search around for the notification settings and tweak them from there (some of them are hard to find, too—Gmail's is hidden in each individual account's settings under "Labels to Notify", for example). Here are some guidelines for what you'll want to set:

• Important: I turn everything on for important notifications. I want them to show up in my status bar, make a sound, and vibrate. These are important notifications and I want to know about them as they happen.
• Unimportant: For these apps, I'll often turn notifications on, but turn vibrations off. I'll leave sounds on, usually, unless I get a ton of notifications from the app (like Twitter), in which case I'll turn sounds off as well.
• Useless: For these, you can go ahead and just turn notifications off entirely.

Note that every app has different notification settings—some will have more than described above, and some will have less. You just have to make do with what you have. For example, if you don't have the option to keep sounds on and vibration off, you're probably better off turning them both off for unimportant notifications.

Step Three: Give Each App Its Own Notification Sound

If you really want to make your life easy, you can give each app its own notification tone. That way, when you get a notification, you know exactly what kind of alert it is without even looking at your device. Here's how to do it.

On iPhone

You can tweak the built-in apps' sounds right from Settings > Sounds. This includes new SMS messages, new voicemails, new emails, tweets, calendar alerts, and reminder alerts. Just tap on a category and choose from one of iOS' many tones. You can also create your own tones using iTunes and sync them to your device—as long as they're shorter than 15 seconds, you can assign them to any of these categories as well.

Unfortunately, you need to do a little more work to assign custom tones to non-Apple apps. We've discussed how to do this before, so we won't go into it here—just know that it's a little more work, and since a lot of apps come with their own separate tones anyway, it isn't always worth the trouble. For third party apps that just use Apple's default tri-tone sound, the only way to customize them is to jailbreak your phone and use an app like previously mentioned PushTone, which is a great way to customize your sounds all from one place.

On Android

To assign a notification tone, go back to the notification settings of each app. Within the notification settings, you can tap "Ringtone" (or something similar) to assign a tone from Android's vast library. Don't forget you can also add custom tones to Android by copying short MP3 files to the /media/audio/notifications folder on your SD card (if it isn't there, you can create it). After copying them there, they should show up in the list of possible tones in each app's notification settings.

Other Tweaks to Further Customize Your Notifications

If you really want to go the extra mile, there are a few extra tweaks you can make to make your notifications as unobtrusive to your life as possible. Here are some cool tricks for iOS and Android.

On the iPhone

The iPhone has a cool feature that lets you use custom vibration patterns for each of your contacts, so that when they call, you can tell who it is without even taking your phone out of your pocket. To set them up, just go to Settings > General > Accessibility > Custom Vibrations. Turn it on, and then go into the Contacts app. By editing a contact, you can give them a vibration pattern of your choosing (or even create a new one). Sadly, this only works for calls—not SMS or other notifications—but it's still handy if you get a lot of phone calls from friends and colleagues.

If you're jailbroken, we also like this handy little tweak called Reveal, which makes your notifications scrollable on the lock screen. That way, you can see an entire notification—whether it be a text message, email summary, or something else—without having to unlock your phone. It's simple, but can often save you from having to open up your phone, wait for your inbox to load, and read the message if there's something else you'd rather have your attention on.

On Android

If you want to really get the most out of notifications on Android, you have to check out previously mentioned WhoIsIt, which lets you assign custom ringtones and vibration patterns to all of your contacts. Essentially, you can give each contact a different ringtone and vibration pattern for calls, Gmail, SMS, and MMS, which means you'll always know exactly what that notification is for without taking your phone out of your pocket. It'll definitely take awhile to set up, but once you get all of your contacts customized, you'll be completely on top of every buzz your phone makes.

Update: A lot of you are noting in the comments that WhoIsIt no longer works on many phones, in which case we recommend checking out previously mentioned ViBe. It doesn't do quite as much, but will still let you customize vibration patterns for calls and text messages.

We also like previously mentioned Notifier Pro for Android. It gives you iOS-like banner notifications across the top of your screen that are much easier to read than Android's defaults, which mean it's easier to see whether a specific notification is something you need to open up right now. You can also set it to re-send you unread notifications after a few minutes, which is great if you're the type of person that doesn't always feel your phone vibrating in your pocket (say, if you keep it in your backpack or purse).

This is just the beginning of everything you can do—we could do a whole feature on customizing just your email notifications if we wanted to—but you should find that your phone is much less annoying after putting some of these ideas in place. Got any other cool apps or tweaks for controlling your notifications? Let us know about them in the comments.

If you're anything like me, your phone buzzes all day long, alerting you to completely useless things like app updates, Facebook likes, and chain emails from your grandma. Here's how to keep your phone from bugging you all day without turning your notifications off entirely—but still staying on top of what matters.

We've all experienced phantom vibrations before—that feeling that your phone is ringing when it really isn't. Psychology professor Larry Rosen says this could be a symptom of tech anxiety, and it's probably true—we've gotten to the point where every time our phone buzzes, we feel like we need to pull it out to see what just happened, even if we're so often disappointed by email newsletters, Facebook likes, and other notifications that aren't "need to know". This is annoying, but there's no need to turn off notifications altogether—all it takes is a little pruning.

The process is a little different depending on whether you have an iPhone or Android device, but there's a lot you can do on both platforms to keep annoyances to a minimum while staying on top of what's really important. It takes a bit of setup, but you'll be much happier for it in the end. Here's what you need to do.

Step One: Split Up Apps By Importance

Before we get into the settings, you should take a look at the apps on your device and decide which ones you really want to stay on top of. Generally, I split notifications up into three categories:

• Important: These are the apps I always want to buzz me when something happens. Vibrations, sounds, badges on the home screen, the whole nine yards. SMS usually falls into this category, though it can also include personal or work email, calendar alerts, and to-do apps (like the iPhone's Reminders app).
• Unimportant: These are notifications that I like to have, but I don't want bugging me during the day. If I go to check my phone during a free moment, I like to see them, but I don't want them to vibrate or make noise. This often includes things like Facebook, Twitter, and IMs.
• Useless: These are apps for whom I want to just turn off notifications entirely. If I want to see what they have to tell me, I'll open them up. I don't want them wasting space in my notification center, let alone vibrating in my pocket. That means you, podcast managers, games, and other random apps.

You may find that you have other categories or sub-categories, but this is a good skeleton on which to base your system. Next, it's time to delve into the settings.

Step Two: Tweak Your Notification Settings for Each App

With those categories in mind, we'll now come up with a system for which notification settings we'll apply to each category of apps. Here's how to do it on both the iPhone and Android.

On the iPhone

Head into Settings > Notifications and go into each app one by one. Here are the settings you'll probably want to use for each category:

• Important: I turn everything on for important notifications. The Notification Center, badge app icons, sounds, and the lock screen. I usually stick with banners instead of alerts, but you can tweak this based on your own preferences.
• Unimportant: Unimportant notifications should probably use the same settings as important notifications, minus sounds. That means these notifications will show banners when you're using your phone, they'll show up in the notification center and on the lock screen, and they'll show badges, they just won't bug you with sounds or vibrations when you get notifications.
• Useless: For these, you can go ahead and just turn everything off and set the Alert Style to "none". That should keep the app from ever bugging you or taking up notification space.

Note that the "Sounds" slider in the notification center means sounds and vibrations—there's no way to separate your preferences for each in iOS. If you have sound notifications, you'll get vibrations as long as you have vibrations turned on in Settings > Sounds.

On Android

Android apps manage their notification settings separately from one another. So, to tweak the notification settings for a certain app, open it up, press the menu button, and go to Settings. Search around for the notification settings and tweak them from there (some of them are hard to find, too—Gmail's is hidden in each individual account's settings under "Labels to Notify", for example). Here are some guidelines for what you'll want to set:

• Important: I turn everything on for important notifications. I want them to show up in my status bar, make a sound, and vibrate. These are important notifications and I want to know about them as they happen.
• Unimportant: For these apps, I'll often turn notifications on, but turn vibrations off. I'll leave sounds on, usually, unless I get a ton of notifications from the app (like Twitter), in which case I'll turn sounds off as well.
• Useless: For these, you can go ahead and just turn notifications off entirely.

Note that every app has different notification settings—some will have more than described above, and some will have less. You just have to make do with what you have. For example, if you don't have the option to keep sounds on and vibration off, you're probably better off turning them both off for unimportant notifications.

Step Three: Give Each App Its Own Notification Sound

If you really want to make your life easy, you can give each app its own notification tone. That way, when you get a notification, you know exactly what kind of alert it is without even looking at your device. Here's how to do it.

On iPhone

You can tweak the built-in apps' sounds right from Settings > Sounds. This includes new SMS messages, new voicemails, new emails, tweets, calendar alerts, and reminder alerts. Just tap on a category and choose from one of iOS' many tones. You can also create your own tones using iTunes and sync them to your device—as long as they're shorter than 15 seconds, you can assign them to any of these categories as well.

Unfortunately, you need to do a little more work to assign custom tones to non-Apple apps. We've discussed how to do this before, so we won't go into it here—just know that it's a little more work, and since a lot of apps come with their own separate tones anyway, it isn't always worth the trouble. For third party apps that just use Apple's default tri-tone sound, the only way to customize them is to jailbreak your phone and use an app like previously mentioned PushTone, which is a great way to customize your sounds all from one place.

On Android

To assign a notification tone, go back to the notification settings of each app. Within the notification settings, you can tap "Ringtone" (or something similar) to assign a tone from Android's vast library. Don't forget you can also add custom tones to Android by copying short MP3 files to the /media/audio/notifications folder on your SD card (if it isn't there, you can create it). After copying them there, they should show up in the list of possible tones in each app's notification settings.

Other Tweaks to Further Customize Your Notifications

If you really want to go the extra mile, there are a few extra tweaks you can make to make your notifications as unobtrusive to your life as possible. Here are some cool tricks for iOS and Android.

On the iPhone

The iPhone has a cool feature that lets you use custom vibration patterns for each of your contacts, so that when they call, you can tell who it is without even taking your phone out of your pocket. To set them up, just go to Settings > General > Accessibility > Custom Vibrations. Turn it on, and then go into the Contacts app. By editing a contact, you can give them a vibration pattern of your choosing (or even create a new one). Sadly, this only works for calls—not SMS or other notifications—but it's still handy if you get a lot of phone calls from friends and colleagues.

If you're jailbroken, we also like this handy little tweak called Reveal, which makes your notifications scrollable on the lock screen. That way, you can see an entire notification—whether it be a text message, email summary, or something else—without having to unlock your phone. It's simple, but can often save you from having to open up your phone, wait for your inbox to load, and read the message if there's something else you'd rather have your attention on.

On Android

If you want to really get the most out of notifications on Android, you have to check out previously mentioned WhoIsIt, which lets you assign custom ringtones and vibration patterns to all of your contacts. Essentially, you can give each contact a different ringtone and vibration pattern for calls, Gmail, SMS, and MMS, which means you'll always know exactly what that notification is for without taking your phone out of your pocket. It'll definitely take awhile to set up, but once you get all of your contacts customized, you'll be completely on top of every buzz your phone makes.

Update: A lot of you are noting in the comments that WhoIsIt no longer works on many phones, in which case we recommend checking out previously mentioned ViBe. It doesn't do quite as much, but will still let you customize vibration patterns for calls and text messages.

We also like previously mentioned Notifier Pro for Android. It gives you iOS-like banner notifications across the top of your screen that are much easier to read than Android's defaults, which mean it's easier to see whether a specific notification is something you need to open up right now. You can also set it to re-send you unread notifications after a few minutes, which is great if you're the type of person that doesn't always feel your phone vibrating in your pocket (say, if you keep it in your backpack or purse).

This is just the beginning of everything you can do—we could do a whole feature on customizing just your email notifications if we wanted to—but you should find that your phone is much less annoying after putting some of these ideas in place. Got any other cool apps or tweaks for controlling your notifications? Let us know about them in the comments.

This week on the podcast we're talking about phantom vibrations in your pocket, free Wi-Fi for everyone (with cable internet), and life at your local hackerspace. Also, we're solving Apple TV jailbreak problems, speeding up slow Windows boot times, and getting Chrome to keep your activity a secret.

How to Watch or Listen to This Week's Episode

You can watch the episode by clicking the play button above, but there are plenty of other ways to get it:

• Directly download the video (MP4) or audio (MP3) version.
• Watch it on our YouTube Channel.
• Watch it on Revision3.
• Listen to it on SoundCloud.
• Subscribe to the HD, SD, or phone-sized, and audio-only feeds on iTunes.
• Subscribe to the HD, SD, phone-sized, or audio-only (MP3) RSS feed.

News and Discussion

Phantom Cellphone Vibration Syndrome
Phantom cellphone vibration syndrome describes that moment when you think your phone is vibrating but you've just imagined it. It's easy to develop a habit that encourages to check our phones often when there are constant notifications. The trick to eliminating—or at least minimizing—this effect is limiting your notifications.

Google Chrome Becomes the Number One Web Browser
Google Chrome has displaced Internet Explorer as the most popular browser on the web. This is pretty big, considering Microsoft held the majority long after Internet Explorer became pretty widely hated. Although IE9 is definitely an improvement over past versions, it's still not that great. Another browser's assumption of the number one title has been long overdue. As mostly Chrome users here at Lifehacker, we're happy to see it take the top spot.

Cable Companies Are Bringing Free Wi-Fi "Everywhere"
Want Wi-Fi virtually anywhere you go? Major cable providers are banding together to offer free Wi-Fi for their collective customers. That means if you subscribe to any of the participating cable providers for internet access, you'll receive access to any of their Wi-Fi hotspots around town. This is really great if you use Wi-Fi on the go, and at least a nice bonus if you don't. It also serves to demonstrate how uncompetitive the cable companies are, which has always been a problem. At least this time around we're reaping a benefit of it.

How to Get Involved with a Local Hackerspace
Last week Alan took a look at Hackerspaces and showed us how to get involved. What's a Hackerspace? It's a place you can go in your local community to complete projects with other DIYers. It's a good place to get help from others plus share tools.

Questions and Answers

Each week we answer a few questions from readers and listeners. Here's what we tackled this week.

How can I speed up my sluggish Windows boot time?
Whitson offers up a bunch of solutions. For a rundown, check out our Top 10 Ways to Speed Up Your Computer's Boot Time.

How can I automatically delete my web history and cache when closing Chrome?
Go to chrome://settings/content and check the box next to "Clear cookies and other site and plug-in data when I quit my browser." We offer a couple of alternatives in the podcast, but that's the specific answer to the question.

Can I jailbreak an Apple TV 3? If not, is there any disadvantage to buying the Apple TV 2?
There is no jailbreak for the Apple TV 3 yet, and the most recent 5.1.1 jailbreak doesn't include one. On the plus side, the latest jailbreak includes a method for iOS 5.1.1 on the Apple TV 2. Additionally, Seas0nPass, the primary jailbreak for the Apple TV 2, now supports iOS 5. Learn how to install it and install XBMC—the main reason to jailbreak in the first place.

Because the Apple TV 3 has yet to be jailbroken, Apple TV 2s are currently fetching a high price on the resale market. If you're really set on a jailbroken Apple TV 2 you might want to consider waiting around. That said, there are plenty of other awesome set top boxes. The Verge offers an in-depth comparison of most of them. If you're looking for an XBMC-like experience, Google TV can run Plex and it's basically the same thing (and, in some ways, better). You can also just build an XBMC box on the cheap.

Downloads of the Week

Each week we talk about our favorite downloads. Here are our picks for this week.

Lifehacker Mini Apps
We've been working together to create some posts with built-in mini apps to help you learn if it's legal to use headphones in your state, get a good workout in just 20 minutes, and customize your function keys. Be sure to check them out.

MailStore (Windows)
MailStore is a single-purpose app that connects to your email, backs it up, and doesn't bother you otherwise. It's just about perfect.

Download MailStore

Windownaut (OS X)
Windownaut overhauls window management on your Mac so you can arrange your windows in a multitude of ways, customize the functions of its title bar buttons, and lots more.

Download Windownaut

Sworkit (Web/iOS/Android)
Sworkit generates random workouts that focus on various parts of the body (or all of it) that can last anywhere from five minutes to an hour. It's a lot like our 20 minute workout mini-app, but it works for variable timeframes and you can take it with you on your mobile device.

Download Sworkit

ReadyForZero (iOS)
Previously mentioned debt-management webapp ReadyForZero has come to the iPhone to help you stay on top of your financial obligations anywhere you take your mobile device. It assists by tracking payment due dates, showing you an overall look at your current debt situation, and reminding you when it's time for a payment so you can ensure you don't miss it.

How Do I Submit a Question?

There are three ways to send in your question:

• Record a video, upload it somewhere, and send a link to tips+asklhshow@lifehacker.com
• Call (347) 687-8109 and record a question. Calls are awesome! We like them!
• Email your question to tips+asklhshow@lifehacker.com.

Please keep your questions as brief as possible. This means about 3-5 sentences for emails and 30-60 seconds for calls and videos. Your questions can be specific, but broader questions are generally better because they'll apply to more people. For example, "how can I breathe new life into my old PDA?" is much better than "what can I do with an old HP iPAQ 210?" Either way, we look forward to hearing from you!

This podcast was edited by Kyle J. Norris.

Newspaper, Computer, and Clock (by Brandon Hopkins) provided by the Noun Project.

iOS (Jailbroken): Have you ever gotten a notification on your iPhone and wished you could just see the last few words of the message instead of having to open up the app? Reveal will make your lock screen and banner notifications scrollable and expandable, so you you can read the whole thing at a glance.

This is an especially fantastic tweak for apps like Sparrow, Google Voice, and other non-Apple apps that have to reload the inbox entirely when you open them up. With Reveal, you can read the entire notification right from your lock screen, or on the banner that appears along the top of the menu bar. Check out the video to see it in action, or head to Cydia and search for it to try it yourself.

Reveal is a $1.99 download for jailbroken iOS devices.

Reveal: No More Shortened Notifications! | BigBoss via Cult of Mac