How to Turn Off Facebook Notifications (On Any Device)

Facebook notifications can pile up fast — likes, comments, event reminders, friend suggestions, marketplace messages. If your phone buzzes every few minutes or your inbox feels cluttered, knowing exactly where to find the right controls makes a real difference.

Here's a clear breakdown of how Facebook notifications work, what you can turn off, and what actually changes depending on your setup.

How Facebook Notifications Actually Work

Facebook sends notifications through two separate channels, and most people don't realize both exist:

• In-app notifications — alerts that appear inside the Facebook app or website (the bell icon)
• Push notifications — alerts your phone or browser delivers even when Facebook isn't open

Turning off one doesn't automatically turn off the other. That's why many people disable notifications in the app and still get phone alerts — or vice versa. Managing them properly means checking both places.

Turning Off Notifications Inside the Facebook App

On Mobile (iOS or Android)

1. Tap the three horizontal lines (menu icon) in the bottom-right corner (iOS) or top-right corner (Android)
2. Scroll down and tap Settings & Privacy, then Settings
3. Tap Notifications, then Notification Settings
4. Here you'll see a full list of notification categories — Comments, Tags, Friend Requests, Birthdays, Marketplace, Events, and more
5. Tap any category to expand it and toggle specific types on or off

You can be surgical here. For example, you might keep direct message alerts but turn off "People You May Know" suggestions entirely.

On Desktop (Browser)

1. Click the bell icon at the top of Facebook
2. Click Settings (the small gear icon near the top of the notifications panel)
3. You'll land on the Notification Settings page
4. Use the same category-by-category controls to enable or disable specific alert types

The desktop and mobile in-app settings are linked — a change in one typically syncs across the other since they're both tied to your Facebook account settings, not your device.

Turning Off Push Notifications From Your Phone or Browser

This is handled outside Facebook entirely, at the operating system level.

On iPhone (iOS)

1. Open Settings
2. Scroll down and tap Facebook
3. Tap Notifications
4. Toggle Allow Notifications off entirely, or customize — banners, sounds, badges, lock screen alerts — individually

On Android

Steps vary slightly by manufacturer, but generally:

1. Open Settings
2. Tap Apps (or Application Manager)
3. Find and tap Facebook
4. Tap Notifications
5. Toggle off all notifications or adjust by category

On a Web Browser (Chrome, Firefox, etc.)

If you use Facebook in a browser and allowed notification permissions, you can revoke them:

• Chrome: Settings → Privacy and Security → Site Settings → Notifications → find Facebook and block it
• Firefox: Settings → Privacy & Security → Permissions → Notifications → find Facebook and remove it

Notification Types Worth Knowing 🔔

Not all Facebook notifications behave the same way:

Why You Might Still Get Notifications After Turning Them Off

A few common reasons alerts keep coming through:

• You only changed one layer. In-app settings and push notification settings are independent. Both need to be adjusted.
• Facebook Messenger has its own notification settings. If you use Messenger, its notifications are managed separately — either in the Messenger app or under its own section in Facebook's notification settings.
• Email notifications are a third channel entirely. Facebook also sends notification emails. To stop those, go to Settings → Notifications → Email within Facebook and turn off the categories you don't want.
• App updates sometimes reset preferences. Occasionally after a major app update, notification permissions can revert or new notification categories get added with defaults turned on.

The Variables That Change Your Experience

How much control you have — and how smoothly things work — depends on a few factors:

• Your device and OS version. Older Android versions have less granular notification controls than newer ones. iOS 16 and later introduced more detailed per-app notification summaries.
• Whether you use the app or browser. Browser-based Facebook users manage notifications differently than app users, and the steps vary by browser.
• Facebook app version. The exact location of settings menus shifts with app updates. If menu labels look different from what's described here, a settings search within the app (usually accessible by tapping the menu and searching "notifications") will find the right page.
• Messenger vs. Facebook. If Messenger is installed as a separate app, it maintains its own notification settings independent of the main Facebook app.

Email and SMS Notifications Are Separate

Many users focus entirely on push notifications and forget that Facebook can also reach them by email or SMS. These are configured under:

Settings & Privacy → Settings → Notifications → Email (and SMS, if enabled)

Each category — security alerts, activity, friend suggestions, promotions — can be toggled individually. Security-related emails (login alerts, password changes) are generally worth keeping on regardless of other preferences.

How aggressively you want to pare things back — and which channels matter most to you — comes down to how you actually use Facebook, which devices you're on, and whether you're managing the main app, Messenger, or both. The controls are all there; the right combination depends on your own setup. 📱