Turn off notifications in System Settings

The fastest way to silence notifications is through System Settings. Click the Apple menu in the top-left corner, select System Settings, then click Notifications in the sidebar. You will see a list of every app that sends notifications — Mail, Messages, Calendar, Slack, and others. Click any app name to see its notification options.

For each app, you can toggle "Allow notifications" off entirely, which stops all alerts from that app. You can also keep notifications but turn off specific types: uncheck "Banners" to stop pop-ups from appearing in the corner of your screen, uncheck "Sounds" to mute the alert sound, or uncheck "Badges" to remove the red number that appears on the app icon. Most people turn off Banners and Sounds but leave Badges on, so they know something arrived without being interrupted.

If you want to silence one app temporarily without changing its settings, you can do that from the notification itself. When a notification appears, click the X button in the corner to dismiss it, or click the three dots and select "Manage" to adjust that app's settings on the spot.

Key Takeaways

  • Open System Settings, click Notifications, and toggle "Allow notifications" off for any app you want to silence completely.
  • You can keep notifications but turn off just Banners (pop-ups), Sounds, or Badges individually for each app.
  • Focus modes let you silence all notifications except from specific people or apps, which is useful during work or sleep.
  • Do Not Disturb silences everything when ready, but Focus modes are more flexible because you can allow calls from favorites or messages from your family.
  • The Control Center in the top-right corner of your screen shows your current Focus mode and lets you switch it without opening Settings.

Use Focus modes to silence notifications by situation

Focus modes let you create rules for when notifications should be silent. Instead of turning off notifications for an app forever, you can say "silence everything except Messages from my family" or "silence everything except work email." When you turn on a Focus mode, those rules take effect when ready.

To set up a Focus mode, go to System Settings > Focus. You will see built-in modes like Work, Personal, Sleep, and Driving. Click any mode to edit it. Under "Allow notifications from," you can choose specific people, apps, or both. For example, in your Work mode you might allow notifications only from Mail and Slack, and only from messages sent by your boss or team members. In Sleep mode, you might allow only calls from your family.

Once you have set up a Focus mode, you can turn it on from the Control Center. Click the Control Center icon in the top-right corner of your menu bar (it looks like a rectangle with sliders), find your Focus mode, and click it. Your Mac will when ready silence notifications according to that mode's rules. When you turn the mode off, notifications return to normal.

Use Do Not Disturb for when ready silence

Do Not Disturb is the quickest way to silence everything right now. Open the Control Center (click the icon in the top-right corner), then click "Do Not Disturb." All notifications will stop when ready — no pop-ups, no sounds, no badges. Your Mac will still receive notifications in the background, but you will not see or hear them.

Do Not Disturb stays on until you turn it off manually or until a set time expires. You can click the Control Center again and toggle Do Not Disturb off, or you can set it to turn off automatically. When you first turn on Do Not Disturb, the Control Center shows options to keep it on for one hour, until this evening, or until you turn it off yourself.

The difference between Do Not Disturb and a Focus mode is flexibility. Do Not Disturb silences everything with no exceptions. A Focus mode can allow notifications from specific people or apps even while everything else is silent. If you need to block all notifications, Do Not Disturb is simpler. If you need to stay reachable to certain people or apps, use a Focus mode instead.

Silence notifications from a specific app without opening Settings

When a notification pops up on your screen, you can manage that app's settings without leaving what you are doing. When the notification appears, look for the three dots or menu icon on the notification itself, then click "Manage." A small menu will appear with options to turn off notifications from that app, turn off sounds, or adjust other settings.

You can also right-click a notification to see more options. Some apps let you silence notifications for a set time — for example, Slack might offer "Mute for 1 hour" or "Mute until tomorrow." This is useful when you are in the middle of something and do not want to be interrupted, but you want notifications to come back later.

Turn off notification sounds without silencing visual alerts

If you want to see notifications but do not want to hear them, go to System Settings > Notifications, click the app you want to adjust, and uncheck "Sounds." The notification will still appear as a pop-up in the corner of your screen and the app badge will still show, but your Mac will not play a sound when it arrives.

You can also adjust the overall alert sound volume from System Settings > Sound. Click the "Alert volume" slider to lower the volume of all notification sounds at once, or drag it all the way to the left to mute them. This affects every app's notification sounds, so it is useful if you want to keep notifications but make them quieter.

Stop notifications from appearing on your lock screen

Notifications can appear on your Mac's lock screen when you are not using it. If you want to keep notifications but hide them from the lock screen, go to System Settings > Notifications, click the app, and uncheck "Show on lock screen." The notification will still arrive and you will still see it when you unlock your Mac, but it will not be visible to someone looking at your screen while it is locked.

This is useful for privacy — for example, you might want Messages notifications to arrive but not display on the lock screen where someone else could read them. You can turn off lock screen notifications for specific apps while leaving them on for others.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I silence notifications from one person in Messages but not others?

Not directly through notification settings. However, you can use a Focus mode to allow notifications only from specific contacts. Go to System Settings > Focus, create or edit a mode, and under "Allow notifications from" select only the people you want to hear from. When that Focus mode is on, you will only get notifications from those contacts.

Will I miss important notifications if I turn on Do Not Disturb?

Notifications still arrive in the background — your Mac receives them but does not show or play them. When you turn off Do Not Disturb, you will see all the notifications that came in while it was on. If you need to stay reachable to certain people, use a Focus mode instead, which can allow notifications from specific contacts even while silencing everything else.

How do I silence notifications just during work hours?

Set up a Work Focus mode in System Settings > Focus. Choose which apps and people can send notifications during work hours, then turn on the Work mode when you start work. You can also set a schedule so the Work mode turns on automatically at a set time each day and turns off automatically when work ends.

What is the difference between turning off notifications and turning on Do Not Disturb?

Turning off notifications in Settings permanently stops an app from sending alerts. Do Not Disturb is temporary — it silences all notifications right now, but they come back when you turn it off. Use Settings to change an app's notification behavior long-term. Use Do Not Disturb when you need quick, temporary silence.

Can I silence notifications for just one hour?

Yes. Turn on Do Not Disturb from the Control Center, and a menu will appear with options to keep it on for one hour, until this evening, or until you turn it off. Click "1 hour" and Do Not Disturb will automatically turn off after one hour has passed.