The present invention discloses a method and a mobile terminal for displaying an event notification. While running an application on a display of the mobile terminal, the terminal receives an event notification. If the event notification is compatible with the application, the terminal generates a user-interactive icon for the event notification on the display. In response to a user selection of the user-interactive icon, the terminal determines whether the event notification corresponds to a public or private event. If the event notification corresponds to a public event, the terminal replaces the application with a display of a list of public events including the public event. If the event notification corresponds to a private event, the terminal prompts a user to enter identity information for accessing private events and replaces the application with a display of a list of private events including the private event after verifying the user-entered identity information.