Whether playing multiplayer games, completing a complicated task, or chatting with your friends, a pop-up or alert on your computer or phone can ruin the moment.
Don’t let annoying notifications break your concentration. Learn how to silence notifications on your Mac, iPhone/iPad, Windows, or Android device. Let’s go.
Table of Contents
macOS/iOS/iPad
On your Apple devices, you can follow these steps to minimize or remove notifications so you can focus on your work or activity.
Turn on Do Not Disturb
The quickest way to disable notifications and alerts is by turning on the Do Not Disturb mode. This option prevents calls, alerts, text messages, and other notifications from appearing on display.
On your iPhone or iPad, swipe up from the bottom to open the Control Center > tap the half-moon icon. When the message Do Not Disturb: On flashes on the screen, tap anywhere on the home screen to close the Control Center. Alternatively, go to Settings > Do Not Disturb > toggle Manual to on.
If you don’t want to receive notifications during specific hours, you can tap the Scheduled button to set the From time and the To time when the alerts will be muted. These Quiet Hours will take effect every day or night until you turn it off.
On your Mac, turn on the Do Not Disturb option from the Control Center in the menu bar. Select a specific timeframe, and you’re good to go.
Disable notification sounds
Don’t let the notification sounds distract you.
Disable notification sounds on your Mac by going to System Settings > Notifications tab > click on any application > toggle off the Play Sound for Notification.
On your iPad or iPhone, open Settings > Notifications > tap on any app > Sounds > select None.
Enable the Focus mode
Apple released the Focus feature in iOS 15 and macOS Monterey to block unwanted notifications. So if your device is compatible with Focus, you can turn on this feature to accomplish tasks. The feature is an upgrade to the Do Not Disturb option.
With Focus, you can select the notifications you want to silence and allow those you want to receive. For example, you can only receive urgent calls from workmates or family during work hours.
Go to the Control Center on your Mac > click the Focus option > choose the mode you want to activate. The different modes include working, sleeping, working out, driving, etc. You can also set up custom Focus modes.
Then, sync the settings across your Apple devices.
Android
You reduce the number of times your Android phone buzz with notifications by:
- Disabling promotional notifications
Go to Settings > Notifications and choose the apps you want to turn off notifications for. So now, these apps cannot send you promotional notifications.
You can follow the same steps to prevent social media apps from sending notifications.
Switch on the Do Not Disturb mode
Instead of putting your phone in vibration mode, you can turn on the Do Not Disturb option. First, head to Settings > Sounds and Vibration > Do Not Disturb. Then, look for Allow Exceptions, switch on Repeated Callers, and choose None for Calls from and Messages from.
Besides these, you can install spam filtering apps to help control unnecessary notifications.
Windows
You can use the Windows Focus Assist feature to limit notifications on your computer or laptop.
Click Start > Settings > System > Focus Assist. Then, turn it On to stop receiving all notifications, click Priority only to receive notifications from a personalized list, or click Alarms only to hide everything except alarms.
Or, temporarily disable or limit alerts by going to the Settings menu > clicking System > choosing Notifications & Actions > toggling Notifications to Off to stop all the alerts. Alternatively, you can disable notifications for individual applications and programs.
In addition, you must silence browser push notifications that can keep flashing on your screen.
- If you are using Safari, open the application and click Preferences. Then, click the Websites tab > Notifications > uncheck the box next to Allow websites to ask for permission to send notifications. Websites will no longer prompt you to send notifications.
- Google Chrome users must click the three-dot menu on the browser > Settings > Advanced > Content Settings > Notifications > toggle Ask before sending and disabling it. Also, suppose there are websites you have allowed to send notifications. In that case, you can scroll to the Allow section > tap the menu button next to the website to disallow notifications > choose Remove.
- Suppose you’re using Mozilla Firefox and want to stop websites from sending you notifications. In that case, you can head to Preferences > Privacy & Security > click Settings beside Notifications > browse through the list of websites that send notifications and then click Allow or Deny to configure each website setting.
Conclusion
Stay protected against the distraction disaster called notifications with the tips mentioned above. Whether you are working or engaging in any activity on your phone or computer, minimizing or disabling notifications will improve focus.
