How to Fix Notification Badges Missing on iPhone

Are the notification badges missing on iPhone?

Notifications allow users to stay informed of the latest emails, messages, and updates. In iPhones, you can control how you’d like to receive these notifications on your device and for each application individually. You can modify the options for lock screen notifications, alert sounds, banners, badges, and more.

All these aspects are really important, and if you’re someone who has enabled them all for your convenience, a problem in any one of them may cause you trouble. Particularly talking about the badges, that displays the number of pending notifications in that app. That way, you can keep up with the updates without checking the Control Center or the app itself.

Recently, many iPhone users have reported being unable to view badges on the app icons. This could be due to several reasons, such as an iOS bug, a glitch in the app, misconfigured settings, cache issues, etc. But you can fix notification badges missing on iPhone by simply following the methods listed below.

So without further ado, let’s get started!

1. Ensure Badges are Enabled.

The notification badges from the iPhone Settings app can be activated and deactivated for each app individually. So before you go ahead with the troubleshooting methods, let’s first ensure that the badge notifications are enabled in the first place.

Here’s how to do so:

  1. Head over to Settings from your iPhone. 
  2. Next, tap on Notifications
Notification Badges Missing on iPhone
  1. Select the app that’s facing the missing notification badges problem. 
  2. Finally, turn the toggle on for Badges under the Alerts section. 
Notification Badges Missing on iPhone


2. Turn Off Focus.

Focus modes on iPhone prevent notifications from appearing on your iPhone to help you stay attentive to the ongoing task. But this can become troublesome when the notification badges go missing too. This usually happens in the Do Not Disturb mode, especially when focus filters or automation is enabled.

You can fix this by using the steps below to disable Focus on your iPhone:

  1. Swipe down from the upper-right corner of the screen to go to the Control Center. 
  2. Next, select Focus
  3. Tap on the highlighted mode to turn it off. 
disable Focus mode

This should fix the notification badges missing on iPhone. If the problem persists, move to the next method to solve it. 

3. Force Reboot Your Device.

The issue of notification badges missing on iPhone can also occur due to system bugs, overloaded cache, leftover or junk files, etc. these can be automatically eliminated from the device by restarting it.

This method will restart all apps and services that rely on push notifications. Hopefully, your badge notifications will be restored afterward. Here’s what you need to do:

  1. Press and release the Volume Up button quickly. 
  2. Next, press and let go of the Volume Down button
  3. Then, press and hold the Side button and release it once the Apple logo shows up on the screen. 
restart iPhone

Once the iPhone restarts, check if the problem is resolved. Otherwise, consider reinstalling or updating the app by following the steps mentioned in the following method.

4. Update/Reinstall the App.

If you’re only having the issue of notification badges missing on iPhone for specific apps, the problem may not only be in the device but rather in the program’s software. Usually, outdated applications are more prone to such errors, so it’s best to keep them up-to-date with the latest version release.

To update an app, follow these steps below:

  1. Launch the App Store on your device. 
  2. Next, tap on the profile icon from the top-right corner.
App Store account
  1. Scroll down to Automatic Upcoming Updates and look for the pending update of the app that’s missing the notification badges. 
  2. If there’s an update available, tap on Update next to the app. 
update apps on iPhone

If you don’t have any pending updates, we recommend you delete the app and reinstall a fresh copy of it. Here’s how to do it:

  1. Locate and hold on to the app that has notification badges missing and let go once the pop-up menu appears. 
  2. After that, tap on Remove App
remove apps on iPhone
  1. Confirm the uninstallation by choosing Delete App again. 
  2. Then, head to the App Store from your device. 
  3. Tap on the Search tab from the bottom bar. 
  4. Select the search bar and tap on the app’s name you want to reinstall. 
  5. Finally, tap on the download icon to reinstall the app on your iPhone. 

After you’ve reinstalled or updated the app, the issue should be fixed. 

5. Toggle Notifications for the App.

If there’s a glitch in the application, it could prevent it from registering the push notifications while running in the background. One way to combat this situation is to toggle the notifications on and off for the concerned app and see if that helps.

Use the instructions below to do so:

  1. From the Settings app, go to Notifications
  2. Now, choose the app that’s not showing the notification badges. 
  3. Turn the toggle off for Allow Notifications
Notification Badges Missing on iPhone
  1. Afterward, restart your device and head back to the same settings. 
  2. Lastly, switch on the toggle next to Allow Notifications

6. Enable Background App Refresh.

If you’re receiving notifications for an app while it’s opened but not when your iPhone is locked, or you’re using another app, there are high chances you’ve restricted it from running in the background.

iPhone lets you control what apps consume the network in the background through the Background App Refresh feature that shows you real-time and updated notifications. So make sure it’s enabled for the apps not displaying notification badges.

Follow the steps below to do so:

  1. From Settings, go to General
iPhone general settings
  1. After that, tap on Background App Refresh
Background App Refresh
  1. Select Background App Refresh from the top. 
  2. Now, either tap on Wi-Fi or Wi-Fi & Mobile Data
Notification Badges Missing on iPhone
  1. Head back and turn the toggles on for all the affected apps that are not showing the notification badges. 

7. Disable Low Data Mode.

If you’ve activated the Low Data mode on your iPhone, it will reduce the data consumption for apps that operate in the background to notify you of real-time updates.

For this reason, we recommend you disable the Low Data mode any time you experience notification badges missing on iPhone.

Here’s how:

  1. Go to the Settings app. 
  2. Next, tap on Wi-Fi
  3. Tap on the info icon next to the network you’re connected to. 
  4. At last, switch off the toggle next to Low Data Mode
disable Low Data Mode

Restart your iPhone and check if you’re able to view notification badges. 

8. Get Help.

If you’re still unable to diagnose the root cause and resolve the notification badges missing on iPhone, it’s best to seek professional help. The Apple Support team will take a deeper look into the matter and hopefully resolve the issue.

This sums up our guide on how to fix notification badges missing on iPhone. If you have further queries or confusion regarding this topic, utilize the comments section below. We’ll be more than happy to provide assistance to all our readers. 

If this guide helped you, please share it. 😊

Author

  • Aimen Choudhry

    Aimen Choudhry is an architecture student who has always been fascinated by science. She now finds her therapy researching and writing about the latest technology and the issues that come alongside. Otherwise, you’ll find her playing video games, listening to music, or watching fantasy/sci-fi movies.

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