Where to find notification settings on your Mac

Open System Settings (called System Preferences on older Macs) and click Notifications in the left sidebar. You will see a list of every app installed on your Mac that sends notifications. Each app has its own on-off switch and detailed controls. This is the only place you need to go to manage notifications from your phone or any other source.

If you cannot find Notifications in the sidebar, your Mac is running an older version. Click the Apple menu in the top-left corner, select System Preferences, then look for the Notifications icon — it looks like a bell. The layout is slightly different but the controls work the same way.

Key Takeaways

  • Turn off notifications for individual apps by opening System Settings, clicking Notifications, finding the app, and toggling off the switch next to its name.
  • You can silence notifications during specific hours by enabling Do Not Disturb and setting a schedule in the Focus settings.
  • Turning off notifications for an app does not delete messages or alerts — they will still appear in the app itself when you open it.
  • Some apps like Mail and Messages have separate controls for different types of notifications, so you can keep some alerts while muting others.

Turning off notifications for a single app

Find the app in the Notifications list and click on it. A panel will open on the right side showing that app's notification options. At the top, you will see a toggle switch labeled Allow notifications. Click it once to turn it off. That app will no longer send any notifications to your Mac.

If you want to keep notifications but make them less intrusive, you have other choices without turning them off completely. You can uncheck Show in Notification Center so alerts do not pile up in your notification panel, or uncheck Show notification previews so the notification does not show the message content — just that something arrived.

Silencing notifications during specific hours

Instead of turning off notifications entirely, you can silence them during times you do not want to be interrupted. Click Focus in the System Settings sidebar. You will see preset options like Do Not Disturb, Work, and Sleep. Click Do Not Disturb and toggle it on.

Scroll down to Schedule and choose when Do Not Disturb should turn on automatically — for example, every day from 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. You can also set it to turn on when your Mac is locked, or only when you are using certain apps. When Do Not Disturb is active, notifications will still arrive, but your Mac will not make sounds or show alerts on your screen.

Controlling notifications from Messages and Mail

Messages and Mail have more detailed notification controls than most apps because they receive many types of alerts. In the Notifications settings, click Messages. You will see separate toggles for Allow notifications, Show in Notification Center, and Play sound. You can turn off sounds while keeping visual alerts, or turn off all notifications from group chats while keeping them for direct messages.

For Mail, you can choose which mailboxes send notifications. Click Mail in Notifications, then scroll to Notification Settings. You will see a list of your email accounts. Click the dropdown next to each one to choose whether notifications come from all messages, only VIP messages, or no messages at all. This way you can silence notifications from less important accounts while staying alerted to urgent email.

What happens when you turn off notifications

Turning off notifications does not delete messages, emails, or alerts. It only stops your Mac from interrupting you with sounds, banners, or notification center entries. When you open the app later, all your messages and alerts will still be there waiting for you. You are just choosing when to look at them instead of letting the app decide.

If you turn off notifications for an app and later change your mind, go back to System Settings, find the app in Notifications, and toggle Allow notifications back on. Your other settings will be remembered, so you will not have to reconfigure them.

Handling notifications from apps you rarely use

Some apps send notifications even though you do not use them often. Rather than hunting through the Notifications list every time, you can sort by which apps are sending the most alerts. In System Settings, click Notifications and look for the sort options at the top of the app list. You can sort by Recent to see which apps have sent notifications lately, making it easier to find the ones bothering you.

If an app is not in the Notifications list at all, it either does not send notifications or it has never sent one yet. Apps must request permission the first time they try to send a notification, and you can allow or deny that request. If you denied it, the app will not appear in Notifications settings.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I turn off notifications for one contact in Messages but keep them for others?

Not through the main Notifications settings. Instead, open Messages, find the conversation, right-click it, and select Hide Alerts. That conversation will stay in your list but will not send notifications. You can do this for individual people or group chats.

Why am I still seeing notifications even though I turned them off?

Check that you toggled off the switch next to the app name, not just unchecked a box below it. Also check your Focus settings — if Do Not Disturb or another Focus is active, notifications may be silenced but not turned off. You can see which Focus is active in the top-right corner of your screen.

Do notifications I turn off on my Mac also turn off on my iPhone?

No. Mac and iPhone notification settings are separate. You will need to turn off notifications on your iPhone through its own Settings app if you want to silence them there as well. Turning off a notification on one device does not affect the other.

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

Turning off notifications for an app stops that app from sending alerts permanently. Do Not Disturb silences all notifications temporarily during the hours you set, but they turn back on when the schedule ends. Use Do Not Disturb for times like sleep or work, and turn off notifications for apps you do not want to hear from at all.