An electronic device is configured with a notification throttling system. The notification throttling system obtains a set of priorities for multiple applications that are installed on the electronic device and are enabled for alerting the user via notifications. The set of priorities specifies a relative importance of each particular application among the multiple applications. The notification throttling system throttles application alerts presented by the user device for notifications generated by the applications based on the relative importance of each particular application as specified by the set of priorities.