How the new lock screen works on Android 5.0 Lollipop

Google’s latest mobile operating is now making its way to a variety of smartphones and tablets. Android 5.0 Lollipop completely revamps the look and feel of the operating system, and includes a number of new features and enhancements. One of the first things you will notice is an updated lock screen.

Notifications are now displayed front and center on the screen. They can be swiped either to the left or to the right to be dismissed, or you can double tap them to jump right into an app. A simple swipe up from the bottom will unlock your stock Android device, while sliding your finger from left to right will open the phone app and a swipe from right to left will open the camera.

It’s convenient to have notifications displayed right on the lock screen, but not everyone is going to like this new feature. Luckily there are a few options to limit notifications or disable them from appearing on the lock screen.

Head to Settings and click Sound & Notification. There are three options to choose from in the “When device is locked” option at the bottom of the page: show all notifications, don’t’ show notifications at all and hide sensitive notification information. The last option — which will still show an incoming notification, but not any of the content — is available on the Nexus 6, however it wasn’t available on my Nexus 5.

There is also an option to block specific app notifications entirely. In the Sound & Notification section of the settings menu, select App Notifications, tap the app you no longer want to get notifications from and choose to block it. Alternatively, you can choose to mark an app as “Priority” to have it displayed at the top of the list and even come through when the device is set to priority mode. These options can also be accessed with a long-press on a specific notification on the lock screen.

For more Lollipop tips, please see CNET How To’s guide to Android 5.0 Lollipop.