Where to find notification settings on your iPhone

Notification settings live in the Settings app, which is the gray gear icon on your home screen. Open Settings, then tap Notifications — it's usually near the top of the menu. From there, you can control notifications for every app on your phone, or adjust system-wide rules that explore to all notifications at once.

The Notifications menu has two main sections: the list of all your apps (organized alphabetically), and settings that affect how notifications behave across your entire phone. You'll spend most of your time in the app list, but the system-wide settings at the top let you change things like when notifications appear and how they sound.

Key Takeaways

  • Open Settings, tap Notifications, then select any app to turn its notifications on or off or change how they arrive.
  • You can let notifications appear silently in Notification Center, show them as banners across the top of your screen, or turn them off entirely.
  • Focus modes (like Do Not Disturb) let you silence notifications during specific times or activities without turning them off permanently.
  • Notification badges (the red numbers on app icons) and sounds can be controlled separately from whether the notification itself appears on screen.
  • Siri Suggestions at the top of the Notifications menu learns which apps you use most and can suggest notification settings for new apps.

Turn notifications on or off for a single app

Open Settings > Notifications, then scroll down and tap the name of the app you want to change. At the top of that app's page, you'll see a toggle labeled Allow Notifications. Tap it to turn notifications from that app on or off. When the toggle is gray, that app cannot send you any notifications. When it's green, notifications are allowed.

Turning off notifications for an app is the fastest way to silence it completely. The app will still work normally — it just won't alert you. You can turn notifications back on anytime by returning to the same screen and flipping the toggle green again.

Choose how notifications appear on your screen

Below the Allow Notifications toggle, you'll see Notification Style with three choices: Lock Screen, List, and Banners. These control where and how you see the notification.

Lock Screen means the notification shows only on your lock screen (the screen you see when your phone is locked or sleeping). You won't see it while you're using your phone. List means notifications stack quietly in Notification Center, which you access by swiping down from the top of the screen — they don't interrupt what you're doing. Banners means notifications drop down from the top of your screen even while you're using the phone, and they disappear after a few seconds.

Most people choose Banners for important apps (like Messages or Calendar) and Lock Screen or List for everything else. If an app's notifications feel intrusive, switching it to Lock Screen or List is often the best fix.

Control sounds, badges, and preview text

Scroll down on any app's notification page and you'll see three more toggles: Sounds, Badges, and Show Preview. Each one controls a different part of the notification experience.

Sounds controls whether your phone makes a noise or vibrates when the notification arrives. Turn it off if you want to see notifications but don't want to hear them. Badges is the red number that appears on the app's icon (like the "3" on Messages when you have three unread texts). Turn this off if you find the red badges stressful or distracting. Show Preview controls whether you can see the content of the notification (the actual message text) on your lock screen or in Notification Center, or whether it just says "1 new message" without showing what it says.

You can mix and match these settings however you want. For example, you might turn on Sounds and Badges for Messages but turn off Show Preview if you're concerned about privacy.

Use Focus modes to silence notifications during specific times

Focus modes let you create rules that silence notifications automatically during certain times or activities. Open Settings > Focus, and you'll see pre-built options like Do Not Disturb, Sleep, Work, and Driving. Tap any one to see which apps are allowed to notify you while that Focus is active.

For example, Sleep Focus can silence all notifications except alarms and calls from your favorites, so your phone won't buzz all night. Work Focus might allow only work email and calendar notifications. You can also create a custom Focus for any situation you want — tap the plus sign at the top to add one.

When a Focus is on, a small icon appears at the top of your screen. You can turn a Focus on and off manually, or set it to turn on automatically at a specific time of day. This is much easier than changing individual app settings every morning and evening.

Manage notifications from system features

Some notifications don't come from apps — they come from your phone itself. Scroll to the very top of Settings > Notifications and you'll see sections for Siri Suggestions, Time Sensitive, and Critical Alerts. These control notifications from Siri, emergency alerts, and other system features.

Time Sensitive notifications bypass Focus modes and Do Not Disturb — they're meant for urgent things like package deliveries or reminders you set. If you find them annoying, you can turn them off here, though most people leave them on. Critical Alerts are emergency notifications from apps like Health or Home — these usually can't be turned off because they're safety-related.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why am I still getting notifications from an app I turned off?

Check whether a Focus mode is active — if Do Not Disturb or Sleep is on, some notifications may still come through depending on how that Focus is set up. Also check whether the app has permission to send notifications in the first place. Go to Settings > Notifications and make sure the app appears in the list; if it's not there, the app hasn't requested permission yet.

How do I stop notifications from appearing on my lock screen?

Open Settings > Notifications, select the app, and change Notification Style from Banners or Lock Screen to List. This moves notifications to Notification Center instead, so they only appear when you swipe down from the top.

Can I silence notifications from one person but keep notifications from everyone else in the same app?

Not directly through Notifications settings. However, some apps like Messages and Mail have their own internal settings that let you mute specific conversations or senders. Open the app, find the conversation or sender, and look for a mute or silence option in that app's menu.

What's the difference between turning off notifications and turning off sounds?

Turning off notifications means you won't see the alert at all. Turning off sounds means you'll still see the notification, but your phone won't make noise or vibrate. Use sounds off if you want to know about messages but don't want to disturb others around you.

Do notification settings sync across my devices?

Notification settings are specific to each device. If you change notifications on your iPhone, those changes won't automatically appear on your iPad or Mac. You'll need to adjust settings on each device separately.