Where to find the notification settings

Open the Settings app on your iPhone — the gray icon with gears that usually sits on your home screen. Scroll down until you see Notifications and tap it. This is where every notification rule for your phone lives.

You will see two sections here. At the top is Notification Style, which controls how notifications look when they arrive. Below that is a long list of every app installed on your phone. Each app name is a separate control where you decide whether that app can send you notifications at all.

Key Takeaways

  • Notifications are turned on by default for most apps, so you need to open Settings > Notifications and choose which apps you actually want to hear from.
  • Turning on notifications for an app means allowing it to send alerts; the style of those alerts (banner, sound, badge number) is a separate choice below.
  • You can turn notifications on for an app but silence the sound, or show them only on your lock screen, giving you fine control over what interrupts you.
  • Some apps like Phone and Messages have notifications on by default and cannot be fully turned off, but you can still change how they alert you.

Turning notifications on for a specific app

Find the app in the Notifications list and tap its name. At the top of the screen that opens, you will see a toggle switch next to Allow Notifications. If the switch is gray and off to the left, notifications are currently off for that app. Tap the switch to turn it green and on to the right.

Once you turn on Allow Notifications, the rest of the options on that screen become active. These options control the style and behavior of the notifications — not whether they arrive, but how they arrive. You can now choose a notification style, set a sound, show a badge number on the app icon, and decide where the notification appears.

Choosing how notifications look and sound

Below Allow Notifications, you will see Notification Style with three choices: Banners, Sheets, or None. Banners appear at the top of your screen and disappear after a few seconds. Sheets pop up in the middle of your screen and stay until you dismiss them. None means the notification will not appear on your screen at all — it will only show as a badge number on the app icon.

Further down is Sounds. Tap this to choose whether the app makes a sound when a notification arrives, and which sound it uses. You can also turn the sound off entirely while keeping the visual notification. Below that is Badges — the small red circle with a number that appears on the app icon. You can turn this on or off separately from the notification itself.

Some apps also offer Lock Screen and Notification Center toggles. Lock Screen means the notification shows when your phone is locked. Notification Center means it appears in your notification list when you swipe down from the top of the screen. You can have a notification appear in one place but not the other.

Turning notifications off for an app

To stop an app from sending notifications entirely, go back to its notification settings and tap the Allow Notifications toggle to turn it off. The switch will turn gray and move to the left. All the style options below it will become grayed out and inactive because there are no notifications to style.

A few apps like Phone, Messages, and Mail cannot be fully turned off — Apple requires them to be able to reach you. For these apps, you can still change the notification style, sound, and where they appear, but you cannot disable them completely. If you do not want to see notifications from these apps at all, your only option is to silence them through Do Not Disturb mode instead.

Using Do Not Disturb to silence notifications temporarily

If you want notifications on in general but need them quiet right now, Do Not Disturb is faster than changing individual app settings. Open Settings, tap Focus, then tap Do Not Disturb. Turn on the toggle at the top. Notifications will still arrive, but your phone will not make a sound or light up.

You can set Do Not Disturb to turn on automatically at certain times — for example, every night at 9 p.m. — or you can turn it on manually whenever you need it. To set a schedule, tap Add Schedule at the bottom of the Do Not Disturb screen and choose the time and days. You can also allow certain people to reach you even when Do Not Disturb is on by tapping Allowed Notifications and choosing which contacts bypass the silence.

Checking notification settings for apps you use most

Start with the apps you open every day. Go to Settings > Notifications and scroll through the list. For each app you use regularly, tap its name and check whether Allow Notifications is on. If it is, look at the notification style — if you do not want banners popping up, change it to Sheets or None. If you do not want sound, turn off Sounds.

Pay special attention to apps that send a lot of notifications, like social media, news, and email. These are the ones most likely to interrupt you throughout the day. You might turn notifications on for Messages and Phone but off for Instagram and Twitter. You might keep email notifications on but turn off the sound so they appear silently as badges on the icon.

Resetting notifications to default settings

If you have changed notification settings for many apps and want to start over, you can reset them. Go to Settings > General > Reset and tap Reset Notification Settings. This will turn notifications back on for all apps and restore the default sounds and styles. It will not delete any data — only the notification choices you made.

After you reset, go back to Settings > Notifications and turn off notifications for the apps you do not want to hear from. This is usually faster than trying to remember which apps you changed and which you did not.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why do some apps not have an Allow Notifications toggle?

A few system apps like Phone, Messages, and Mail are required by Apple to be able to send notifications, so they do not have an off switch. You can change how they notify you — the style, sound, and where they appear — but you cannot turn them off completely. If you truly do not want to see them, use Do Not Disturb mode instead.

If I turn off notifications for an app, will it still work?

Yes. Turning off notifications only stops the app from sending you alerts. The app itself will continue to work normally in the background. You just will not be notified when something happens. You can still open the app manually and see what is new.

Can I turn notifications on for some contacts but not others in Messages?

Not directly through the Notifications settings. However, you can use Focus modes to silence notifications from specific people. Go to Settings > Focus, create a new Focus, and choose which contacts are allowed to reach you. When that Focus is active, only those people can notify you.

What is the difference between Banners and Sheets?

Banners appear at the top of your screen for a few seconds and disappear automatically. Sheets pop up in the middle of your screen and stay until you tap them or swipe them away. Banners are less intrusive; Sheets demand your attention more directly.

Do I need to restart my iPhone after changing notification settings?

No. Notification settings take effect when ready. You do not need to restart your phone or close and reopen the app. The next time that app sends a notification, it will follow the new settings you chose.