I found three Apple Community discussions describing the same or very similar problem, reported across iOS 15 and iOS 16. I am still experiencing this issue in October 2026.
- Notification group won’t expand
- After updating to iOS 15, tapping a grouped notification opens the app instead of expanding the stack. The issue affects multiple apps, and disabling notification grouping is the only reported workaround.
- Unable to expand stack notifications iOS 15.2!
- On an iPhone 12 running iOS 15.2, tapping a notification stack opens the app instead of displaying individual notifications. Long-pressing a notification allows a preview, but the notification cannot be dismissed individually as expected.
- How do I expand the stacked notifications if my alerts are hidden?
- An iPhone X user running iOS 16.3.1 cannot expand grouped notifications when notification previews are hidden, even after unlocking the phone.
Conclusion: These discussions document a recurring problem with expanding grouped notifications across multiple iOS versions. I am still experiencing the same issue in 2026, where tapping a notification stack opens the app instead of expanding it to show individual notifications. I want to view and dismiss individual notifications without disabling notification grouping or revealing notification previews on the Lock Screen.