Methods and apparatus are provided for context sensitive notifications of incoming digital communications on an aircraft. The method comprises receiving a new datalink message from a sender on a device, the datalink message including a unique identifier associated with the sender, and determining if the sender is a new sender based on the unique identifier. The method comprises determining if the device is involved in an active exchange of datalink messages based on activity data associated with the device and outputting a first alert that the new datalink message has been received at an alert level below a current alert level if the sender is not a new sender and the device is engaged in the active exchange of datalink messages.