How to turn off Siri's notification announcements

Siri reads your notifications out loud when you have announcement features turned on in your iPhone or iPad settings. The simplest way to stop this is to open Settings, go to Notifications, then turn off Announce Notifications. This single toggle controls whether Siri speaks your incoming messages, calls, and alerts through your device's speaker or headphones.

If you want more control — keeping announcements for some apps but not others — you can turn off announcements per app instead of globally. This takes a few extra steps but lets you hear notifications from your messaging app while silencing them everywhere else.

The feature exists because some people find it useful while driving or when their hands are full. But if you find it jarring or intrusive, disabling it takes less than a minute.

Key Takeaways

  • The global off switch is in Settings > Notifications > Announce Notifications, which stops Siri from reading any notifications aloud.
  • You can also control announcements per app by opening each app's notification settings and toggling off the announce option there.
  • Turning off announcements does not affect your notification badges or banners — you will still see them appear on your screen.
  • If you use headphones or a car system, Siri will no longer read notifications through those devices once you disable the feature.

Turn off all notifications at once in Settings

Open the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad. Scroll down and tap Notifications. At the top of the Notifications screen, you will see a toggle for Announce Notifications — tap it to turn it off. The toggle will no longer be green or highlighted.

This stops Siri from announcing any incoming notifications across your entire device. Messages, calls, reminders, calendar alerts, and app notifications will no longer be read aloud. You will still receive them normally — they just will not be spoken.

If you change your mind later, you can turn this toggle back on the same way. The setting takes effect when ready.

Disable announcements for specific apps instead

If you want Siri to announce notifications from some apps but not others, you can control this individually. Open Settings, then Notifications. Scroll down and find the app you want to change — for example, Messages or Mail. Tap the app name.

Inside that app's notification settings, look for Announce Notifications or Announce Messages (the exact wording varies by app). Tap the toggle to turn it off for just that app. Repeat for any other apps where you do not want announcements.

This approach is useful if you want to hear calls and messages announced but silence notifications from games, social media, or news apps. Each app remembers its own setting, so you only need to adjust them once.

What happens when you turn off announcements

Disabling announcements stops Siri from speaking, but your notifications still arrive normally. You will still see notification banners at the top of your screen, badges on app icons, and sounds (if you have notification sounds turned on). The only thing that stops is the voice reading the content aloud.

If you have Do Not Disturb turned on, announcements are already silenced anyway — Siri will not read notifications while Do Not Disturb is active, regardless of your announcement settings. When you turn Do Not Disturb off, your announcement setting takes over again.

Where announcements come through

When announcements are on, Siri reads notifications through whatever audio output your device is currently using. If you are wearing AirPods or other Bluetooth headphones, Siri speaks through those. If you are using your car's audio system via CarPlay, the notification is read aloud there. If nothing is connected, Siri uses your device's built-in speaker.

This is why the feature is popular while driving — you can hear a message without looking at your phone. But if you find it distracting or embarrassing (especially in public or at work), turning it off removes that audio entirely.

Announcements and Siri Shortcuts

Some people set up Siri Shortcuts that trigger announcements for specific situations — for example, a shortcut that announces your calendar for the day when you ask Siri. Turning off the global announcement setting does not affect these shortcuts. If you have created shortcuts that use the announce feature, they will still work even after you disable announcements in Settings.

If you want to stop those shortcuts from announcing, you would need to edit or delete the shortcut itself. Open the Shortcuts app, find the shortcut, tap it, and either remove the announce action or delete the entire shortcut.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will turning off announcements stop my phone from ringing or vibrating?

No. Disabling announcements only stops Siri from reading notifications aloud. Your phone will still ring for calls, vibrate, and show notification banners on your screen. All other notification behaviors remain unchanged.

Can I turn announcements back on for just phone calls?

Not directly — the global setting applies to all notifications. However, you can turn off the global announcement setting and then turn announcements back on only for the Phone app by going to Settings > Notifications > Phone and enabling Announce Notifications there.

Why does Siri still announce things even though I turned off announcements?

Check whether you have a Siri Shortcut running that includes an announce action, or whether you are using CarPlay or a connected device that has its own announcement settings. Some car systems have separate announcement controls that override your phone's settings.

Does turning off announcements affect my lock screen notifications?

No. Lock screen notifications will still appear and function normally. The announcement setting only controls whether Siri reads the content aloud — it does not affect how notifications display on your screen.