How to Turn Off Snapchat Story Notifications

Snapchat story notifications can pile up fast — especially if you follow a lot of active accounts or have friends who post frequently throughout the day. Whether you want to silence everyone, mute specific people, or just cut back on the noise without unfollowing anyone, Snapchat gives you a few different ways to manage this. The right approach depends on your setup, how you use the app, and how much control you want over what gets through.

What Snapchat Story Notifications Actually Are

When someone you follow posts a new Story, Snapchat can send you a push notification — a banner or alert on your lock screen or notification shade. These are separate from Snap and chat notifications, which means you can turn off Story alerts without affecting messages.

Snapchat also distinguishes between friend stories, public profiles, subscriptions, and spotlight content, and each can behave slightly differently depending on how the app is configured on your device.

Option 1: Turn Off All Snapchat Notifications at the System Level

The broadest approach is going straight to your phone's settings and disabling Snapchat notifications entirely — or limiting which types get through.

On iPhone (iOS):

1. Open Settings
2. Scroll down and tap Snapchat
3. Tap Notifications
4. Toggle off Allow Notifications, or scroll through the notification types and disable specific ones

On Android:

1. Open Settings
2. Go to Apps (or Apps & Notifications, depending on your device)
3. Find and tap Snapchat
4. Tap Notifications
5. Toggle off all notifications, or look for story-specific notification channels

Android handles notification channels differently across manufacturers — Samsung, Pixel, OnePlus, and others may show these options in slightly different menus — but the general path is the same.

This method is blunt. It silences everything from Snapchat, including messages, unless your version of Android lets you disable specific notification categories individually.

Option 2: Adjust Notification Settings Inside Snapchat

Snapchat has its own in-app notification controls, which give you more granular options than the system-level toggle.

1. Open Snapchat and tap your profile icon (top left)
2. Tap the gear icon (Settings) in the top right
3. Scroll down to Notifications
4. Look for Stories and toggle that off

Inside this menu, you can typically control:

• Friend Stories
• Subscriptions
• Spotlight & Discover
• Birthday reminders

Turning off Stories here tells Snapchat not to push story alerts, while still allowing chat and snap notifications through. This is usually the most targeted option for people who want to keep messaging active but reduce the story noise.

Option 3: Mute Story Notifications for Specific People 📵

If you don't want to turn off story notifications globally — just for certain people who post constantly — Snapchat lets you mute individuals.

1. Go to the Chat screen
2. Press and hold on a friend's name
3. Tap Manage Friendship or More
4. Select Story Notifications and toggle to Mute

This keeps their story visible in your feed without pushing alerts to your screen every time they post. It's a good middle ground if you still want to see the content, just on your own schedule.

The mute option is also available directly from the Stories tab in some app versions — pressing and holding on a story thumbnail may surface the mute option directly.

Option 4: Do Not Disturb and Focus Modes

Both iOS and Android offer system-level Do Not Disturb or Focus Mode settings that can block all notifications — or selectively allow only certain apps or contacts through. These are worth considering if you want story notifications off during specific hours (like overnight or at work) without permanently changing your Snapchat settings.

iOS Focus Modes (introduced in iOS 15 and later) let you build custom profiles where Snapchat is excluded from allowed apps, silencing it completely during those windows while still letting priority contacts or other apps through.

Android's Do Not Disturb mode works similarly, letting you schedule quiet windows or build exception lists.

These are time-based solutions rather than permanent ones, which suits some users better than a fixed setting change.

Variables That Affect Which Method Works Best for You

A Note on App Updates 🔄

Snapchat updates its interface and notification settings fairly regularly. The specific labels — "Story Notifications," "Subscriptions," "Manage Friendship" — can shift between versions. If a step above doesn't match exactly what you see, look for equivalent options in the same general area of the settings. The logic stays the same even when the labels or screen layouts change.

The Part That Depends on Your Situation

The right method isn't the same for everyone. Someone who only wants to mute one or two prolific posters needs a different approach than someone who wants to cut Snapchat's notification footprint entirely. How you use Snapchat — mostly for messaging, mostly for stories, or mostly for following public accounts — shapes which setting actually solves the problem without creating new ones. Your device, your OS version, and your notification habits all factor into what "turning off story notifications" actually means in practice.