Turn off announcement settings in the Notifications menu

The fastest way to stop your iPhone from reading notifications aloud during music is to disable announcement in Settings. Open Settings, then go to Notifications and scroll to the bottom. Tap Announce Notifications and toggle it off. This stops all spoken notifications system-wide.

If you want more control — keeping announcements for some apps but not others — you can manage this per app instead. Go back to Notifications, find the specific app (like Messages or Mail), tap it, and look for Announce Notifications within that app's settings. Toggle it off for apps where you don't want to hear alerts while music is playing.

This setting affects notifications delivered through Siri, AirPods, CarPlay, and your iPhone speaker. Once you turn it off, your phone will show notifications silently on your lock screen and in Notification Center instead of speaking them.

Key Takeaways

  • Announcement is a separate setting from sound and vibration — turning off notification sounds does not stop Siri from reading them aloud.
  • You can disable announcements globally in Settings > Notifications > Announce Notifications, or turn them off for individual apps.
  • Announcements still work through AirPods and CarPlay even if your phone speaker is muted, so check those settings if you use wireless audio.
  • Do Not Disturb mode silences notifications but does not affect announcements — you need to change the announcement setting itself.

Why announcements keep playing even when you mute notification sounds

Announcement is a separate feature from notification sound. When you lower your volume or turn off notification sounds in an app's settings, you are controlling whether the phone makes a noise — but announcement is Siri reading the notification text aloud, which is handled independently. Your iPhone treats these as two different things.

This is why you can have your phone completely silent and still hear Siri announcing a text message. The announcement feature was designed for situations where you cannot look at your screen — driving, exercising, or cooking — so Apple made it work even when other sounds are off. If you do not want announcements at all, you have to disable the feature itself, not just the sound.

Manage announcements for specific apps instead of all notifications

If you want to keep announcements for some apps (like phone calls or alarms) but turn them off for others (like social media), you can control this individually. Open Settings, tap Notifications, then select the app you want to change. Scroll down and look for Announce Notifications — toggle it off for that app only.

This is useful if you want to hear important calls or messages announced but not every notification from news apps or games. You can set up different rules for each app without affecting the others. For example, you might keep announcements on for Phone, Messages, and Calendar, but turn them off for Instagram, TikTok, and email.

Check AirPods and CarPlay announcement settings separately

If you use AirPods or CarPlay, announcement settings work differently on those devices. Even if you turn off announcements on your iPhone, they may still play through your AirPods or car system. Open Settings, tap Bluetooth, find your AirPods in the list, tap the info icon, and look for announcement options there. For CarPlay, go to Settings > General > CarPlay, select your car, and check notification settings.

This matters because your iPhone may be set to announce through your AirPods specifically, not through the phone speaker. If announcements are still interrupting your music even after you disabled them in the main Notifications menu, check your wireless audio device settings first.

Use Do Not Disturb to silence notifications without changing announcement settings

Do Not Disturb mode stops notifications from appearing and sounding, but it does not affect announcements if they are already enabled. If you turn on Do Not Disturb, Siri will still announce notifications that come through — the feature does not disable announcement, it just hides the visual alert and sound. This is important to understand if you are trying to stop announcements using Do Not Disturb.

Do Not Disturb is better for temporarily silencing your phone when you need focus time. If you want to permanently stop announcements, change the announcement setting itself. If you want to keep announcements but silence everything else, Do Not Disturb will not help — you need to adjust individual app notification sounds instead.

Disable Siri announcements for specific situations

Your iPhone can announce notifications through different channels depending on what you are doing. If you are on a call, Siri may announce through your speaker or earpiece. If you are using headphones, announcements go through the headphones. If you are in a car with CarPlay, they go through the car speakers. You can control where announcements happen by managing Siri settings.

Go to Settings > Siri & Search and look at options like Announce Notifications and Announce Calls. You can turn these off entirely, or in some cases choose when Siri announces (like only when using headphones, or only in CarPlay). This gives you more granular control than the main Notifications menu.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does my iPhone announce notifications when I have notification sounds turned off?

Announcement is a separate feature from notification sound. Turning off sound in an app's settings does not disable Siri from reading notifications aloud. You have to go to Settings > Notifications > Announce Notifications and toggle it off specifically.

Can I stop announcements for texts but keep them for calls?

Yes. Go to Settings > Notifications, select Messages, and toggle off Announce Notifications. Then go back, select Phone, and leave Announce Notifications on. You can customize this for each app individually.

Will turning off announcements affect my alarms or timers?

No. Alarm and timer sounds are separate from notification announcements. Disabling Announce Notifications in Settings will not silence your alarms or timers — those will still ring normally.

My announcements still play through my AirPods even after I disabled them on my iPhone. What do I do?

AirPods have their own announcement settings. Go to Settings > Bluetooth, tap the info icon next to your AirPods, and look for announcement options there. You may need to disable announcements on both your iPhone and your AirPods.

Does Do Not Disturb stop announcements?

No. Do Not Disturb silences notification sounds and hides alerts, but Siri will still announce notifications if announcement is enabled. To stop announcements, you must disable the announcement setting itself in Notifications.