How long has this been a feature in NC?

[ardchoille]

I'm on my iPhone 6, iOS 8.3, and I just received an email notification while in Safari. I meant to swipe the notification up to dismiss it but ended up swiping down by mistake. What happened was the notification enlarged to show the entire email message with two buttons at the bottom. I sat there for a second thinking "did I just break something?"

I then tapped the email message/notification and it opened in the mail app.

Now, I'll admit to not keeping up with new features lately, but I'm surprised I missed something like this. When did Apple add a swipe-down-to-read feature to notifications? Does this have something to do with my habit of disallowing previews in notifications?

I didn't see a reply button but it would be nice if Apple added the ability to reply from within the notification so I wouldn't need to open the mail app.

Maybe I should subscribe to a change log somewhere.

 

[J. A.]

I don't see the whole message, but part of it, and these two buttons:

That's a screenshot from my iPad. I get the same result on my iPhone, for Inbox, maybe it's a little bit different for the built in Mail app.

I didn't notice that's possible until you posted it, so thank you for the information!

 

[bear7962]

I don't know how long it has been in effect but it's definitely in the IOS8.3 instructions.
Alerts can also appear on the Lock screen.

Respond to an alert without leaving your current app. Pull down on the alert when it appears at the top of your screen.

Note: This feature works with text and email messages, calendar invitations, and more
I must have fat fingers or something, every time I try to pull the message down, I open it. Lol. I guess I have to remember this feature and keep trying to make it work for me.

 

[ardchoille]

You're welcome, Johanna. I knew nothing about this either until I accidentally swiped in the wrong direction. I'll consider that a good mistake

I don't know how long it has been in effect but it's definitely in the IOS8.3 instructions.
Alerts can also appear on the Lock screen.

Respond to an alert without leaving your current app. Pull down on the alert when it appears at the top of your screen.

Note: This feature works with text and email messages, calendar invitations, and more
I must have fat fingers or something, every time I try to pull the message down, I open it. Lol. I guess I have to remember this feature and keep trying to make it work for me.

Ah, so it is a new feature and I somehow missed it entirely. Respond? So I could have replied to the email without ever opening the mail app? I need to learn about this.. that would have been quite convenient.

We need someone to post some tips about this.. perhaps a tutorial when someone has time. I wonder how many others are missing this feature.

 

[ardchoille]

I just sent myself a test email and the two buttons at the bottom of the notification are Mark as Read and Trash. I see no way of replying to the email. Apple should add the ability to reply from within the notification, without having to open the parent app, that would save time.

Edit: I just received a notification while the screen was locked and I tried a few things. I found that swiping left on a notification in the lock screen reveals a method for dismissing the notification without having to unlock the device. This is another feature I knew nothing about:

 

[ardchoille]

Update: For those interested, I posted this question on another forum and received this in reply

"June of last year
Interactive notifications in iOS 8 Explained iMore

You can swipe down and reply to SMS/iMessage.

You can't reply to email, because emails are typically more long form communications."

Yep, leave it to me to stumble upon a feature a year after its implementation

 

[bear7962]

Thanks for the link. About time I got used to everything before IOS 9 comes along.

 

[ardchoille]

Thanks for the link. About time I got used to everything before IOS 9 comes along.

Yeah, this has me wondering what else is waiting for me to discover it. I love Apple products.. never a dull moment!

 

[bear7962]

I just sent myself a test email and the two buttons at the bottom of the notification are Mark as Read and Trash. I see no way of replying to the email. Apple should add the ability to reply from within the notification, without having to open the parent app, that would save time.

Edit: I just received a notification while the screen was locked and I tried a few things. I found that swiping left on a notification in the lock screen reveals a method for dismissing the notification without having to unlock the device. This is another feature I knew nothing about:

That link you sent said the reponse available was dependant on the app developer. Maybe you and JA have different email providers.

 

[ardchoille]

That link you sent said the reponse available was dependant on the app developer. Maybe you and JA have different email providers.

Neither of us were able to reply to an email via the NC. From what I've read on another forum the reply capability doesn't apply to the default mail app, only to SMS/iMessage.

 

[bear7962]

Yeah, mine don't either.

 

[ardchoille]

I just learned that you can also reply to an SMS/iMessage from the lock screen by swiping left on the notification. Note: this functionality requires that previews for messages be enabled in Settings > Notifications > Messages > Show Previews