Turn off notifications by app, by category, or across your whole phone
You can silence iPhone notifications three ways: turn them off entirely for specific apps, mute just the sound and vibration while keeping the badge numbers, or create a schedule so notifications go quiet during work or sleep. The fastest route is Settings > Notifications, where you can flip off any app in seconds. If you want finer control — keeping messages from your family but silencing everything else — you can do that too. Most people find they need different rules for different times of day, so iPhone lets you set up Focus modes that automatically change your notification rules when you're driving, working, or sleeping.
The reason this matters for privacy and security is simpler than it sounds: notifications are data leaks. Every time your phone buzzes, it's telling anyone nearby what app just contacted you, and sometimes what the message says. Silencing notifications means you control when you look at your phone instead of your phone controlling when you look up. It also means you're not accidentally showing your screen to someone who shouldn't see it.
Key Takeaways
- Go to Settings > Notifications and tap any app to turn notifications off entirely, or choose "Sounds & Haptics" to keep badges but silence the buzz.
- Focus modes let you set up automatic rules — for example, Work Focus can silence everything except calls from your boss, and Sleep Focus can silence everything after 10 p.m.
- Lock Screen notifications show less detail than banner notifications, so you can keep notifications on but limit what's visible without unlocking your phone.
- Turning off notifications for an app does not delete the app or stop it from working — it only stops the alerts.
Silence notifications for one app at a time
Open Settings, then tap Notifications. Scroll down and find the app you want to silence. Tap it. You'll see a toggle at the top that says Allow Notifications — flip it off to stop all alerts from that app. The app will still work normally; it just won't buzz, beep, or show badges on its icon.
If you want to keep the badge (the little red number on the app icon) but silence the sound and vibration, tap the app again and look for Sounds & Haptics. Toggle that off instead. This is useful for apps you check regularly but don't need to interrupt you — email, news, or social media, for example. You'll still see the red badge telling you something is new, but your phone won't make noise or vibrate.
Keep notifications but hide what they say on your Lock Screen
By default, notifications on your Lock Screen show the full message — "Mom: Are you coming to dinner?" — which means anyone looking at your phone sees your private messages. You can change this without turning notifications off entirely.
Go to Settings > Notifications, tap the app, then scroll down to Lock Screen. Choose Hide Preview. Now the Lock Screen will show "Mom sent you a message" instead of the actual text. The notification still arrives and still makes a sound, but the content stays private until you unlock your phone. This is the middle ground: you know something came in, but you control who sees what.
Set up Focus modes to change notification rules by time or place
Focus modes are schedules that automatically change which notifications get through. You might have a Work Focus that silences everything except calls from your boss, a Sleep Focus that silences everything after 10 p.m., and a Driving Focus that only allows navigation and emergency calls. Instead of manually turning notifications on and off, your phone switches automatically.
Go to Settings > Focus. Tap the plus sign to create a new Focus. Choose a name (Work, Sleep, Driving, or anything else). On the next screen, tap Customize Notifications. You'll see a list of apps. For each one, choose whether to allow notifications, silence them, or allow only certain people (like family). When you're done, tap Add Schedule to make this Focus turn on automatically at a certain time or when you arrive at a location.
For example, you could set Sleep Focus to turn on at 10 p.m. and turn off at 7 a.m., silencing everything except calls from your emergency contacts. Or set Work Focus to turn on when you arrive at your workplace and allow only work email and calls from your manager. The phone switches automatically, so you don't have to remember to do it yourself.
Turn off notifications for entire categories at once
If you want to silence whole categories — all social media, all games, all shopping apps — you can do that in bulk. Go to Settings > Notifications and scroll to the very bottom. You'll see options like Siri Suggestions, App Library Suggestions, and Shared with You. Toggle these off to stop notifications from those sources.
You can also silence notifications from people you don't know. Go to Settings > Notifications > Messages (or another messaging app), then look for Filter Unknown Senders. Toggle it on. Messages from people not in your contacts will go to a separate folder instead of alerting you when ready. This is especially useful if you get a lot of spam texts or calls.
Stop notifications from interrupting what you're doing
Notifications can appear as banners at the top of your screen even when you're actively using your phone. If you want to keep notifications but have them appear only on your Lock Screen, go to Settings > Notifications, tap an app, and scroll to Notification Delivery. Choose Quiet Notification Delivery. The notification will still arrive, but it won't interrupt what you're doing — you'll only see it when you lock your phone or swipe down to Notification Center.
This is different from turning notifications off completely. The alert still comes through, you just see it on your own schedule instead of being interrupted. It's useful for apps that send frequent updates but aren't urgent — weather, news, or fitness tracking apps, for example.
Check your notification history in Notification Center
Even if you silence notifications, you can still see them later. Swipe down from the top of your screen to open Notification Center. You'll see all the notifications that arrived while your phone was silent, organized by app and time. This way you don't miss anything important, but you're not interrupted by constant buzzing.
You can also clear notifications from Notification Center without opening the app. Swipe left on any notification and tap the trash icon. This removes it from the list without marking it as read in the app itself, so you can keep your inbox organized separately from your notifications.
Frequently Asked Questions
If I turn off notifications for an app, will it stop working?
No. Turning off notifications only stops the alerts. The app will continue to work normally in the background. You can still open it and use it whenever you want — you just won't get buzzed when something new happens.
Can I silence notifications from one person but not others in the same app?
Yes, but only for Messages and FaceTime. Go to Settings > Notifications > Messages, tap Customize Notifications, and choose which contacts you want to allow notifications from. For other apps like email or social media, you can only turn notifications on or off for the whole app.
What's the difference between turning off notifications and using Do Not Disturb?
Do Not Disturb silences all notifications from all apps at once, but you have to turn it on and off manually. Focus modes do the same thing but automatically, on a schedule or when you arrive somewhere. Turning off notifications for individual apps gives you permanent control over just those apps.
Will people know if I've silenced their notifications?
No. Silencing notifications is invisible to other people. They won't know whether you saw their message when ready or hours later. The only thing they might notice is that you're responding more slowly than usual.
Can I silence notifications for text messages but keep them for calls?
Yes. Go to Settings > Notifications > Messages and turn off notifications. Then go to Settings > Phone and make sure notifications are still on there. Calls will still alert you, but text messages won't.