To activate Notifications Center, simply drag down from the top of the screen at any time on your iOS device.

This article will show you how to setup, customize and activate Notification Center on your iPhone, iPad (Mini), and iPod Touch. Apple introduced Notification Center in iOS 5 and improved on it in iOS 6. Notification centre is a built in log of all the notifications that you have gotten as well as a couple useful widgets. It is fully customizable and includes everything from weather to emails and stock quotes and any other favorite app you want to include in the list. I’ll show you how to set Notification Center up, how to access it, how to add favorite apps, how to order the apps, and how to add the Facebook and Twitter Widgets and how to Tap to Post to Facebook or Tap to Tweet from Notification Center.

1. How to set Notification Center up on your iPhone, iPad (Mini), or iPod Touch

First, open the Settings app and tap on Notifications. Here you can configure which of your favorite apps are in Notification Center and how they are arranged, a personal theme of sorts. You can either arrange the order of notifications By Time (most recent notification appears at top) or Manually (you choose the order). Scrolling down through the list of apps that are in Notification Center will bring you to the apps that are Not in Notification Center.

Tapping on any app gives you a whole set of options. The first toggle lets you turn notifications On or Off for that particular app. The second option lets you choose how many items you want to appear in the list (1, 5, or 10 most recent items). Next, you have option to set the alert style. If you choose none then, the notifications will still appear in the Notifications List but they won’t pop up anywhere on your screen. Banners appear at the top of the screen whenever a new notification arrives. Alerts appear in the middle of the screen and require you to take some type of action to dismiss the alert. The next two options allow you to turn On/Off the Badge App Icon. This is the little number that appears in the upper right corner of an app on your home screen letting you know how many new notifications you have for that app. You can also turn sounds on and off. Lastly, there is the option to turn On/Off notifications for that specific app so that they appear (or don’t appear) in the Lock Screen.

2. How to add apps to Notification Center

As was mentioned in step one, each app listed in the Notifications section of your iOS device settings has an option to include the app in Notification Center or not. Just find the app you want to add or remove in Notifications settings and turn the toggle On or Off. When you turn it off, the app will go down to the bottom of the list to be included in the Not in Notification Center apps. To add it again, simply scroll down to it and tap on it and turn it back on.

3. How to arrange the apps in Notification Center in a certain order

If you prefer to arrange the order of all of your app’s notifications, then select “Sort Apps: Manually” in the Notifications settings. When Manually has been selected, you can tap on the Edit button in the upper right corner and then drag the apps in the list into whatever order you want. Tap Done when you are finished. Next time you activate Notification Center, the app notifications will be in the order you just set up. I have mine set up with the Weather Widget first, then the Share Widget (Post to Facebook/Twitter) and then my Phone alerts third. You can set it up however it works best for you.

4. How to Post to Facebook or Twitter through Notification Center

In iOS 6, Apple introduced the ability to sign in once to Facebook and/or Twitter and then post things to these social networks from almost anywhere on your device. This also created the ability to Tweet or post to Facebook right from the Notification Center. All you need to do is log in to Facebook or Twitter in the Settings app (see this post for more on how to log in: Set up Sync with Facebook Contacts). Once you are logged in, make sure that the Share Widget is turned On in the Notifications settings. The Share Widget allows you to add or remove Facebook Tap to Post and Twitter Tap to Tweet from Notification Center. If you have the Share Widget turned on, anytime you activate the Notifications Center, you will be able to Tap to Tweet or Tap to Post.

5. How to activate Notifications Center in iOS 6

Now that you have all the settings set up, you can activate the Notifications Center at any time by dragging down from the top of the screen. This works best if you place your finger slightly above the edge of the screen and drag downward. To deactivate Notifications Center, simply tap the Home Button or tap on the 3 lines at the bottom of the screen and swipe up.

Click here for a video tutorial of Notifications Center: Notifications Center Tutorial

That’s it. Now you know how to customize Notifications Center and how to activate and deactivate it. What are your favorite apps that you include in the Notifications Center? Let us all know in the comments.