Where to find notification settings on your iPhone

Open Settings on your home screen, then tap Notifications. You will see a list of every app installed on your phone that can send notifications. From this screen, you can turn notifications off entirely for any app, or adjust what kind of notifications that app is allowed to send.

The notification settings page shows apps in two groups: those with notifications currently on, and those with notifications already turned off. Apps are listed alphabetically within each group, so if you are looking for a specific app, scroll down to find it by name.

Key Takeaways

  • Go to Settings > Notifications to see all apps that send notifications and control each one individually.
  • Turn off all notifications from a single app by tapping the app name and toggling off Allow Notifications.
  • You can keep notifications on but change how they appear — as banners, badges, or sounds — without turning them off completely.
  • Focus modes let you silence notifications from specific apps during certain times of day or activities without permanently disabling them.
  • Some system notifications like calls and emergency alerts cannot be turned off, but you can silence most others.

Turning off notifications for a single app

Tap the name of any app in your Notifications settings. At the top of the screen that opens, you will see a toggle for Allow Notifications. Tap it to turn the toggle off. That app will no longer send you any notifications.

When you turn off notifications for an app, you will not see badges (the red circles with numbers), banners at the top of your screen, or sounds from that app. If you change your mind later, return to the same screen and toggle Allow Notifications back on.

Controlling how notifications appear without turning them off

If you want to keep notifications from an app but change how they show up, open that app's notification settings and look for Notification Style. You can choose Banners (a notification slides down from the top and disappears), Alerts (a notification stays on screen until you dismiss it), or None (notifications arrive silently in Notification Center).

Below that, you can toggle off Sounds to stop the app from making noise, toggle off Badges to hide the red number circles on the app icon, and toggle off Preview to hide the message content until you unlock your phone. These changes let you stay informed without constant interruptions.

Using Focus modes to silence notifications by time or activity

Focus modes pause notifications from specific apps during certain times or when you are doing something else. Go to Settings > Focus, then tap the plus sign to create a new Focus or tap an existing one like Work, Sleep, or Driving.

When you set up a Focus, you choose which contacts and apps are allowed to notify you. All other notifications are silenced while that Focus is on. You can schedule a Focus to turn on automatically at a certain time each day, or turn it on manually when you need it. This is useful if you want notifications from your boss or family but not from social media apps during work hours.

Notifications you cannot turn off

Some notifications are built into iOS and cannot be disabled. Incoming phone calls, emergency alerts (like severe weather warnings), and critical system messages will still come through even if you turn off all other notifications. These are designed to reach you in situations where missing the message could matter.

You can silence the sound and vibration from calls by using Do Not Disturb mode or a Focus mode that allows calls from specific people. Emergency alerts can be toggled off in Settings > Notifications > Government Alerts, though this is not recommended since these alerts warn you of serious danger.

Turning off notifications on your lock screen

By default, notifications appear on your lock screen even when your phone is locked. If you want to hide notification details until you unlock your phone, go to Settings > Notifications > [App Name] and toggle off Show on Lock Screen. The notification will still arrive, but you will not see what it says until you unlock your device.

You can also hide all lock screen notifications temporarily by turning on Focus mode. When a Focus is active, notifications are hidden from your lock screen and only appear in Notification Center, which you access by swiping down from the top of your screen.

Managing notification grouping and sorting

Go to Settings > Notifications and scroll to the bottom to find Notification Grouping. By default, this is set to Automatic, which groups notifications from the same app together. You can change it to By App (notifications always grouped by app) or Off (each notification appears separately).

You can also choose how notifications are sorted in Notification Center. Tap Sort Notification Center and select Recent (newest first) or Time Sensitive (time-sensitive notifications at the top). This does not turn notifications off but changes how you see them when you open Notification Center.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will the app know I turned off its notifications?

No. The app cannot tell whether you have notifications turned on or off. Turning off notifications only affects what your iPhone shows you — it does not send any signal back to the app or its developer.

Can I turn off notifications for just one contact in an app?

Not directly through notification settings. However, you can use Focus modes to allow notifications only from specific contacts. Go to Settings > Focus, create or edit a Focus, and add the contacts you want to hear from under Allowed Notifications.

What is the difference between turning off notifications and using Do Not Disturb?

Turning off notifications for an app silences that app permanently until you turn it back on. Do Not Disturb is a temporary mode that silences all notifications (except from people you choose) until you turn it off. Focus modes work similarly to Do Not Disturb but let you customize which apps and people can notify you.

Why am I still getting notifications from an app after turning them off?

Check that you toggled off Allow Notifications for the correct app — some apps have similar names. Also check your Focus settings; if a Focus is active, it may be allowing notifications from that app. Restart your iPhone if notifications continue after you have disabled them.

Can I turn off notifications for all apps at once?

There is no single toggle to disable all notifications at once. However, turning on Do Not Disturb or a Focus mode silences all notifications immediately. To permanently disable notifications for multiple apps, you will need to go through each one in Settings > Notifications and toggle off Allow Notifications.