How to Turn Off AirPods Announcing Notifications
AirPods have a feature called Announce Notifications (sometimes labeled Announce Messages on older iOS versions) that reads incoming alerts aloud through your earbuds. It's useful when your hands are busy — but for many people, having Siri interrupt music or a podcast to read every text, email, or app ping gets old fast. Here's exactly how the feature works, how to disable it, and the variables that affect what you'll actually see on your device.
What "Announce Notifications" Actually Does
When this feature is active, Siri intercepts incoming notifications and reads them out loud directly into your AirPods. This happens without you touching your phone. Depending on your settings, Siri might announce the sender's name, the app the notification came from, and the full message content.
The feature works over the same Bluetooth connection your AirPods use for audio — no secondary pairing or setup required. It's triggered automatically when your AirPods are in your ears and your iPhone or iPad detects an active connection.
Apple introduced Announce Messages in iOS 13, then expanded it to Announce Notifications in iOS 15, broadening support beyond just Messages to third-party apps like Mail, Slack, WhatsApp, and others. That distinction matters when troubleshooting, because the setting location and label changed between versions.
How to Turn It Off on iPhone or iPad 🎧
The most direct method is through Settings, not the AirPods themselves — there's no physical control on the earbuds to toggle this.
For iOS 15 and later:
- Open Settings
- Tap Notifications
- Scroll down and tap Announce Notifications
- Toggle Announce Notifications off at the top
This disables announcements globally across all apps.
For iOS 13–14 (Announce Messages):
- Open Settings
- Tap Notifications
- Tap Announce Messages with Siri
- Toggle it off
Alternatively, through the AirPods settings:
- Open Settings
- Tap Bluetooth
- Tap the ⓘ icon next to your AirPods
- Find Announce Notifications or Announce Messages and toggle it off
Both paths adjust the same underlying setting — it's a matter of which navigation flow feels more intuitive to you.
Granular Control: Turning Off Per-App Instead of Globally
If you don't want to silence all announcements — just specific apps — iOS lets you manage this at the app level.
Inside Settings → Notifications → Announce Notifications, you'll find a list of apps that are eligible. Each one can be toggled individually. This means you could keep Siri announcing phone calls or Messages while blocking announcements from email apps or social platforms.
This per-app approach is worth knowing because not all apps are eligible for Announce Notifications by default. Apple's system filters which apps can participate based on how they structure their notification data. Some third-party apps won't appear in the list at all.
Variables That Affect What You See
Not every user will find the same steps or the same options. A few factors shape the experience:
| Variable | How It Affects the Setting |
|---|---|
| iOS version | Setting label and location differ between iOS 13, 14, and 15+ |
| AirPods model | Announce Notifications requires AirPods or AirPods Pro; not all audio accessories support it |
| Siri status | Siri must be enabled for the feature to function; if Siri is off, announcements won't occur regardless |
| Headphone detection | AirPods use in-ear sensors to detect wear; if detection is disabled or malfunctioning, behavior may be inconsistent |
| Do Not Focus/Focus modes | Active Focus modes can suppress notifications entirely, making Announce Notifications irrelevant during those periods |
One underappreciated variable: whether your AirPods are connected as the active audio output at the time. If your iPhone's audio is routing to a speaker or another Bluetooth device, Announce Notifications typically won't trigger even if the setting is on. The feature activates specifically when AirPods are in-ear and handling audio.
What About Mac and Apple Watch?
The setting exists across Apple's ecosystem, but it's managed separately on each device. 🖥️
On Mac, you can find it under System Settings → Notifications, where a similar toggle exists for announcing notifications when AirPods are connected.
On Apple Watch, Siri can also read notifications through connected AirPods, but this is controlled through the Watch app and Watch OS settings rather than iPhone Settings.
If you've turned the feature off on your iPhone but still hear announcements, check whether the audio is routing through a paired Apple Watch or Mac session — those are independent settings.
Why the Feature Sometimes Turns Back On
Some users report that Announce Notifications re-enables itself after iOS updates or after re-pairing AirPods. This isn't universal, but it's consistent enough to be worth knowing. Apple sometimes resets certain accessibility and audio settings during major OS updates, treating them as part of the device setup defaults rather than persistent user preferences.
If you've disabled the feature and it reappears, the fix is the same — navigate back through Settings and toggle it off again. There's no deeper system-level lock that permanently prevents this.
The Part That Depends on Your Setup
How disruptive Announce Notifications is — and how urgently you need to disable it — depends on how you use your AirPods and which apps send you the most activity. A user who gets 50 Slack messages an hour has a very different experience than someone whose phone only buzzes for calls. Which apps are on your list, whether you use Focus modes, which iOS version you're running, and whether you want a global off or per-app control all point toward different configurations. The steps above cover the mechanics — the right combination of toggles comes down to your own notification habits and how much interruption you're willing to accept from any given app.