How to Turn Facebook Notifications Off (And Fine-Tune What You Actually See)

Facebook notifications are designed to pull you back into the app — and they're good at it. Whether you're drowning in "someone liked your comment" pings or just want to silence the app at night, turning off Facebook notifications is straightforward once you know where to look. The tricky part is that the options differ depending on whether you're on a phone, tablet, or desktop, and whether you want to mute everything or just certain types of alerts.

Why Facebook Notifications Can Feel Overwhelming

Facebook sends notifications from multiple sources: friend activity, group posts, event reminders, marketplace messages, page updates, birthday alerts, and increasingly, algorithmically suggested content. By default, many of these are turned on. Over time, as you join more groups or interact with more pages, the volume compounds.

There are also two layers of notifications to understand:

• In-app notifications — the alerts you see inside Facebook itself (the bell icon)
• Push notifications — the pop-ups that appear on your phone or browser even when the app is closed

Turning off one doesn't automatically turn off the other. This is where many people get confused.

How to Turn Off Facebook Notifications on iPhone or Android 📱

Inside the Facebook App

1. Open the Facebook app and tap the three horizontal lines (menu icon) — bottom right on iPhone, top right on 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, Reminders, Friend Requests, Birthdays, Groups, Events, Live Videos, and more.
5. Tap any category to expand it and toggle individual notification types on or off.

To turn off all push notifications from Facebook at once, you can use your phone's system settings instead:

• iPhone: Go to Settings > Notifications > Facebook and toggle Allow Notifications off.
• Android: Go to Settings > Apps > Facebook > Notifications and disable them there.

Doing it at the OS level overrides the app entirely — Facebook won't send any push alerts regardless of what's set inside the app.

Turning Off Notification Sounds and Badges Only

If you want to keep notifications but remove the noise or red badge count:

• On iPhone, go to Settings > Notifications > Facebook and selectively disable Sounds, Badges, or Lock Screen visibility without turning off notifications entirely.
• On Android, you can manage notification channels — Facebook uses separate channels for different alert types, so you can silence one category (like "Suggested for You") while keeping messages active.

How to Turn Off Facebook Notifications on Desktop 💻

1. Log into Facebook and click the bell icon in the top right.
2. Click the three-dot menu (⋯) at the top of the notification panel.
3. Select Notification Settings.
4. You'll see the same category breakdown as on mobile — toggle off what you don't want.

For browser push notifications (the ones that pop up on your screen even when Facebook isn't the active tab):

• In Chrome: Go to Settings > Privacy and Security > Site Settings > Notifications, find Facebook, and set it to Block.
• In Firefox or Safari: Similar paths through browser privacy settings under notifications or permissions.

Blocking browser notifications at this level stops Facebook from pushing alerts to your desktop entirely.

Turning Off Specific Notification Types

Rather than a blanket off switch, many users find it more useful to surgically remove the most annoying categories:

This table reflects general category names — Facebook does update its interface periodically, so the exact labels may vary slightly by app version.

Notification Settings Vary by Account Activity and Version

Here's where individual experience starts to diverge. A few factors shape what options you see and how effective your settings are:

App version: Facebook updates its app frequently. Menu locations and category names shift between versions. If your interface looks different from descriptions above, your app may be on an older or newer build.

Account age and history: Accounts with more page likes, group memberships, and marketplace activity will have more notification categories to manage. A newer account with minimal activity has fewer toggles to deal with.

Platform: The desktop web interface, the mobile app, and Facebook Lite (a stripped-down Android version) each have slightly different notification controls. Facebook Lite, for example, has fewer granular options.

Business vs. personal accounts: If you manage a Facebook Page or ad account, you'll also see separate notification streams for page activity, ad performance, and creator tools — managed through a different section of settings.

Email and SMS notifications: Facebook also sends notifications via email and, for some accounts, text message. These are controlled separately under Settings > Notifications > Email and Settings > Notifications > SMS, not through the same push notification panel.

The Quiet Mode Option

Facebook includes a Quiet Mode feature, which temporarily suppresses push notifications for a set time window — useful for focus hours or sleep. To find it:

• Go to Notification Settings (same path as above)
• Look for Quiet Mode or Do Not Disturb
• Set start and end times

This is separate from your phone's built-in Do Not Disturb, though both can be used together.

Whether you want total silence or just less noise from certain corners of the app, the controls exist — but the right combination depends on which notifications are actually bothering you, which device you're on, and how much Facebook activity your account generates in the first place.