AirPods read notifications aloud by default — here's how to stop them

When you wear AirPods, your iPhone or iPad will speak incoming notifications aloud through them unless you turn that feature off. This happens with messages, calendar alerts, reminders, and other app notifications. The setting lives in your phone's accessibility menu, not in the AirPods themselves, so you control it from your device rather than the earbuds.

The steps differ slightly between iPhone and iPad, but both take less than a minute once you know where to look. You can turn off all spoken notifications at once, or silence them only in specific situations — like when you're in a meeting or driving.

Key Takeaways

  • Spoken notifications come from your iPhone or iPad settings, not from AirPods, so you change the setting on your phone.
  • On iPhone, go to Settings > Accessibility > Spoken Notifications and toggle off "Announce Notifications".
  • You can keep notifications silent only while you're using a specific app, or turn them off everywhere at once.
  • If you want to hear some notifications but not others, you can control which apps are allowed to announce through AirPods.

Turn off all spoken notifications on iPhone

Open the Settings app on your iPhone. Scroll down and tap Accessibility, then tap Spoken Notifications. You'll see a toggle switch next to "Announce Notifications" — tap it to turn it off. That's it. Your AirPods will no longer read notifications aloud.

If the toggle is already off, notifications were never being announced in the first place. If it's on and you just turned it off, the change takes effect when ready. You don't need to restart your phone or reconnect your AirPods.

Turn off notifications only while using certain apps

If you want to hear notifications most of the time but silence them during specific activities — like when you're using Maps, a fitness app, or a video player — you can set that up instead of turning off all announcements.

Go to Settings > Accessibility > Spoken Notifications. Turn on "Announce Notifications" if it's off. Then scroll down to "Allowed Apps" and tap it. You'll see a list of every app on your phone. Tap the green plus sign next to any app where you want notifications to stay silent. Those apps will appear under "Apps to Exclude" — notifications won't be announced while you're using them, but will announce everywhere else.

For example, if you add Maps to the excluded list, turn-by-turn directions and traffic alerts will stay silent, but a text message arriving while you're navigating won't interrupt you.

Control which apps can announce notifications

By default, every app that sends notifications can announce them through your AirPods. If you want only certain apps to speak their alerts — like Messages and Calendar but not email or social media — you can limit it.

Go to Settings > Accessibility > Spoken Notifications and make sure "Announce Notifications" is on. Scroll to "Allowed Apps" and tap it. You'll see two sections: "Apps to Include" and "Apps to Exclude". By default, "Apps to Include" is empty, which means all apps can announce. Tap the green plus sign next to the apps you want to hear, and those become the only ones that will announce through your AirPods. All others will stay silent.

This is useful if you get a lot of notifications from apps you don't need to hear about while wearing AirPods — like news apps, shopping apps, or games — but you always want to hear from Messages, Calendar, or work email.

Turn off notifications on iPad

The process on iPad is nearly identical to iPhone. Open Settings, tap Accessibility, then Spoken Notifications. Toggle off "Announce Notifications" to silence all of them, or use the "Allowed Apps" section to choose which apps can announce.

If you use both an iPhone and an iPad with the same Apple ID, the setting will sync between them. Turning off announcements on your iPhone will also turn them off on your iPad, unless you change it separately on the iPad.

What to do if you don't see Spoken Notifications in Accessibility

Spoken Notifications is available on iPhone 11 and later, and iPad Pro (2nd generation) and later. If you have an older device, this feature won't appear in your Accessibility menu.

If you have a newer device but still don't see it, make sure your iOS or iPadOS is up to date. Go to Settings > General > Software Update and install any available updates. After updating, the Spoken Notifications option should appear in Accessibility.

Notifications still announcing after you turned them off

If notifications are still being read aloud even though you turned off "Announce Notifications", check whether you're using a different feature. Siri can also read notifications aloud if you have "Listen for 'Hey Siri'" turned on and you're wearing AirPods. Go to Settings > Siri & Search and toggle off "Listen for 'Hey Siri'" to stop that.

Also confirm that your AirPods are actually connected to the device sending the notification. If your AirPods are paired with your Mac or Apple Watch, notifications from your iPhone might not announce through them at all. Check Settings > Bluetooth to see which device your AirPods are currently connected to.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will turning off spoken notifications stop all notifications from coming through?

No. Turning off spoken notifications only stops them from being read aloud through your AirPods. You'll still receive the notifications — they'll just appear silently on your screen. You can still see them in your lock screen, notification center, or the app itself.

Can I turn off notifications for just one app?

Yes. Go to Settings > Accessibility > Spoken Notifications > Allowed Apps and add that app to "Apps to Exclude". It will stay silent while announcements continue for other apps. Alternatively, you can go to Settings > [App Name] > Notifications and turn off notifications for that specific app entirely.

Do I need to turn off spoken notifications on my AirPods themselves?

No. AirPods don't have their own notification settings. The feature is controlled entirely through your iPhone or iPad. Once you turn it off in your phone's Accessibility menu, it applies to all AirPods connected to that device.

What if I want to hear notifications again later?

Go back to Settings > Accessibility > Spoken Notifications and toggle "Announce Notifications" back on. The change takes effect when ready. If you excluded specific apps, you can remove them from the exclusion list the same way you added them.

Will this setting affect notifications on my other Apple devices?

If you use the same Apple ID on multiple devices, the setting will sync across them. However, you can change it separately on each device if you want different behavior on your iPhone versus your iPad or Mac.