In practice, the difference between Apple's scattershot approach to notification management and Google's more systematic approach has had a profound impact on my ability to figure out which of the dozen recent incoming notifications on my phone need my immediate attention and which are just coming from some lifestyle app alerting me to unimportant stuff. I can try to compensate for Apple's lack of consideration by going to my productivity folder first, but that's just a hedged bet rather than an informed choice.

In short, I'm joining the chorus of critics who've expressed their disdain for Apple's half-baked iOS notifications. I had harbored hope that the most recent iOS update could possibly include an improvement to the system, but of course that didn't happen. And because Apple doesn't comment on products under development, I have no way of knowing if it ever will happen. In the meantime, I think I'll be returning to the smarter notifications of Android until Apple has a change of heart.