How To Silence and Turn Off All Notifications on Your iPhone (2024)

Despite the fact that some push notifications are absolutely necessary, most of them are just annoyances. There are several ways to stop notifications from apps you don't even use anymore from constantly distracting you.

Here's how to disable all of your iPhone's notifications, remove them from the lock screen, and hide all of your previous notifications.

How do you disable notifications on an iPhone?

Go to Settings > Notifications on your iPhone to turn off app notifications. After that, choose an app and deactivate the slider next to Allow Notifications. This procedure will need to be repeated for each app you want to disable.

1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone. This is the iPhone app with the gear-shaped icon. You can access the search bar at the top of the screen by typing "Settings" and swiping down from the center of your home screen.
2. Then click Notifications.
3. You will see a list of all of your installed apps under Notification Style; choose the app you wish to disable next from this list.
4. Turn off Allow Notifications last. By doing so, all notifications from that app will be disabled. The steps must be repeated for each app you want to disable, though.

You can modify the settings for specific apps from this page if you don't want to completely disable notifications for those apps.

• You can disable alerts in the Alerts section of the settings app to prevent notifications from showing up on your lock screen and notification center, where they could be viewed by others if your iPhone is off. When your iPhone is turned on, you can also prevent notifications from showing up as banners at the top of your screen.
• After that, you can switch the Banner Style from Temporary, which means it will vanish after a brief while, to Persistent, which means it will stay at the top of your screen until you swipe it away.
• The red badge icons that appear in the upper-right corner of the apps on your home screen and notification sounds can also be turned off.

If you don't want to disable them individually for each app, you can pause all of your iPhone's notifications simultaneously by using Do Not Disturb mode if you don't want to disable them individually for each app.

How to Pause All Notifications on Your iPhone

Go to Settings > Do Not Disturb and activate the slider next to Do Not Disturb to instantly pause all notifications on your iPhone. Ensure that Always is selected under Silence if you want to silence all incoming calls and notifications.

1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
2. Tap on the Do Not Disturb button.
3. Toggle the slider next to Do Not Disturb after that. If the light is green, you'll know it's on.

Note: From this point, tap Schedule to decide when and for how long to activate Do Not Disturb mode.

4. Lastly, select Always under Silence. When Do Not Disturb mode is activated, all notifications and incoming calls will be silenced.

Remember to tap Allow Calls From and choose Everyone if you still want to receive calls while Do Not Disturb mode is active.

On an iPhone X or a newer model, swipe down from the top-right corner of your screen to access the Control Center, where you can also activate Do Not Disturb mode.

Swipe up from the bottom of the screen if you have an older iPhone. To activate Do Not Disturb mode, tap the moon-shaped icon.

The Do Not Disturb menu can then be accessed by tapping and holding the moon-shaped icon. You can select the duration of the Do Not Disturb mode from here or tap Schedule to modify more settings.

You can quickly hide all the data in your notifications if you don't want to activate Do Not Disturb mode. This is how:

How to Hide Notification Previews

Go to Settings > Notifications > Show Previews and choose Never to turn off all notification previews on your iPhone. You will only see the app's name and icon as a result, with the details in your notifications hidden.

Although the information in your notifications will be hidden, it's important to remember that it could still be easily revealed by tapping and holding the notification.

So, if you're trying to hide some notifications, this might not be the best choice.

Once you've disabled notifications, you can delete any that are still present in the Notification Center so that nobody else can see them from your lock screen. 

How to Silence Notifications on iPhone

To silence notifications on an iPhone, you can use the following methods:

1. Silent Mode: Flip the physical switch on the side of your iPhone. If the switch is set to the "Silent" or "Mute" position (indicated by an orange dot or line), your iPhone will not play any sound or vibrate when notifications come in. Please note that alarms and calls will still produce sound, so adjust those settings accordingly.

2. Control Center: Swipe down from the top-right corner of your iPhone's screen (on newer models with Face ID) or swipe up from the bottom of the screen (on older models with a home button) to access Control Center. Tap on the bell icon to enable "Do Not Disturb" mode. This mode silences all notifications and prevents them from appearing on the lock screen or generating sounds or vibrations.

3. Settings: Go to the "Settings" app on your iPhone and select "Notifications." From there, you can choose specific apps and adjust their notification settings. You can disable sounds, vibrations, or banners for individual apps, or turn off notifications entirely for those apps.

4. Customize Notifications: Within the "Notifications" settings, you can further customize how notifications behave. For example, you can opt for "Banner" style notifications that appear briefly at the top of the screen, or choose "None" to disable notifications for a particular app altogether.

5. Bedtime Mode: If you have enabled Bedtime Mode within the Clock app, your iPhone will automatically dim the screen, silence calls and notifications, and create a more peaceful environment during your designated sleep hours.

By utilizing these methods, you can silence notifications on your iPhone and create a more distraction-free experience whenever needed.

How to enable Do Not Disturb on iPhone

To enable Do Not Disturb on an iPhone, you can follow these steps:

1. Control Center: Swipe down from the top-right corner of your iPhone's screen (on newer models with Face ID) or swipe up from the bottom of the screen (on older models with a home button) to access Control Center.

2. Do Not Disturb Toggle: In Control Center, locate the crescent moon icon, which represents Do Not Disturb mode. Tap on the icon to enable Do Not Disturb. The crescent moon icon will turn purple, indicating that Do Not Disturb is active.

3. Settings: Alternatively, you can also enable Do Not Disturb through the Settings app. Open the "Settings" app on your iPhone and scroll down to find "Do Not Disturb." Tap on it.

4. Do Not Disturb Settings: Within the Do Not Disturb settings, you can customize the behavior of Do Not Disturb mode. You can schedule specific times when Do Not Disturb should automatically activate, allow calls from certain contacts, and choose whether you want to receive repeated calls to bypass Do Not Disturb in case of emergencies.

5. Bedtime Mode: If you have enabled Bedtime Mode within the Clock app, enabling Do Not Disturb during your designated sleep hours will be automatic. Bedtime Mode helps create a peaceful environment by dimming the screen, silencing calls and notifications.

Once Do Not Disturb is enabled, your iPhone will not play sounds, vibrate, or show notifications on the lock screen. However, you can still check missed notifications by unlocking your device and accessing the Notification Center.

Remember to disable Do Not Disturb when you no longer need it by following the same steps in Control Center or within the Settings app.

Turn Off All Notifications on Your iPhone FAQs

How do I turn off all notifications on my iPhone?

Here's how to disable all of your iPhone's notifications, remove them from the lock screen, and hide all of your previous notifications. Go to Settings > Notifications on your iPhone to turn off app notifications. After that, choose an app and deactivate the slider next to Allow Notifications.

How do I keep notifications off the lock screen on Android?

You can completely hide the app's notifications from the lock screen, which will prevent anyone from even being able to tell you received a notification. Go to Settings > Notifications and select the app you wish to keep off your lock screen. The "Show on Lock Screen" slider needs to be set to off.

How do I hide message content in the iPhone notification bar?

If all you want to do is hide message content from appearing in the notification bar on your iPhone, follow these instructions. Go to Notifications and select that option to view previews. Select "Never" if you would prefer that no app's content ever appears on the lock screen. You can select "When Unlocked" in order to enable notification content when the device is unlocked using Face ID.

About the Author

Author: Daniel LukeWebsite: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniellukepe/Email: daniel@collectiveray.com

Daniel is a web designer and developer. He has been a developer for the last 10 years working with various WordPress themes that allows him to compare and contrast different themes, understand the strengths and weaknesses to develop factual, real-world reviews. He is also a mobile app developer and technology reviewer. Over several years, he has developed his own mobile apps, both on Android and iPhone. This hands-on specialisation in mobile and web development allows him to be an authoritative voices when it comes to technology reporting.