While Android’s notification system is far superior to the iPhone’s in almost every way, Google could certainly make some improvements to the way in which we receive alerts when our smartphones are locked. All we get with stock Android is a tone and a blinking LED.

Fortunately, there are some third-party solutions that offer a lot more. SlideLock displays iPhone-style notifications on your lock screen so that you can read messages and emails without having to unlock.

If you’ve switched over to an Android device from an iPhone, you’ll find SlideLock particularly useful — but long-time Android users will no doubt love it, too. Once installed, the app replaces your handset’s default lock screen with what is essentially a watered-down version of the iOS lock screen.

When you receive notifications, your display will light up and they’ll be shown on your home screen. You can then see which app the alert came from and take a peek at things like instant messages, emails, and more without having to unlock your phone.

So, with just a quick glance, you can decide whether or not you want to do something with a new notification right away, or whether it can wait until later.

SlideLock has two unlock functions: If you swipe to the right your handset will unlock, but if you swipe to left, you’ll be taken straight to the camera. You also get two functions with individual notifications: swiping to the right will take you to the respective app, while swiping to the left dismisses the alert.

SlideLock is fully customizable, so you can specify which apps are allows to display notifications on your lock screen and which aren’t. You can upgrade to the “pro” version of the app for $2.73 to get extra features, like an iOS-style status bar, and the ability to tweak the app’s behavior.

If you don’t need the pro features, SlideLock is completely free to use. You can download it now from Google Play by following the source link below, and it’s compatible with smartphones running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and above.

• SourceGoogle Play