Top 7 Ways to Fix iPhone App Notification Sounds Not Working
When notifications don’t make any sound on your iPhone, it becomes easy to miss vital information, especially when your device is not in or near your hands. This guide will walk you through some troubleshooting tips that will help you restore the notification sound on your device.
This hitch could be due to a system-wide configuration that you performed on your iPhone. The problem may also be application-specific, where you accidentally made some changes to the application that cut off the application notification. In some cases, the problem may be attributed to a bug in the iOS version of your iPhone. Whatever the case, refer to the solutions below to resolve the issue with the notification sounds in your iPhone app.
1. Deactivate Do not disturb
When activated, the iPhone Do Not Disturb feature mutes your phone calls, text messages and other application notification alerts. If your applications do not give you audio alerts for new messages and updates, you should check if “Do not disturb” is active. Open your iPhone’s Control Center and look for a crescent moon icon next to the battery percentage. A notification card informing you that “Do not disturb” is active also appears when you lock your device. These indications suggest that the “Do not disturb” option is activated on your iPhone.
To deactivate “Do not disturb”, press the crescent moon icon in the Control Center. Otherwise, go to Settings> Do not disturb and deactivate the “Do not disturb” option.
You should also verify that you do not have a Do Not Disturb program on your device. Otherwise, the programmed DND option will mute application notifications for the defined period.
2. Disable silent notifications
Another reason you don’t get notification sounds from an application could be because it (the application) has been set up to alert you to new messages without making sounds.
To check if you haven’t set up an app to send notifications silently, follow the steps below.
Step 1: Swipe the alert (in the Notification Center) to the left and tap Manage.
2nd step: If the app is configured to provide notifications silently, you should see a Deliver button prominently displayed.
Tap Broadcast prominently to have the app resume playing notification sounds.
You must do this for each application that does not play notification sounds on your iPhone.
3. Activate the sound notification
If you notice that an application no longer warns you via sound, you must check (and activate) the audio notification of the application. Follow the steps below to do so.
Step 1: Launch the Settings menu and select Notifications.
2nd step: Tap the app whose notification sound is not working.
Pro tip: Look for apps whose notification styles are set to “Off” or “Deliver silently”.
Step 3: Activate Sounds to activate the application notification sound.
4. Check the notification settings in the app
Some applications have their notification configuration independent of the notification settings on your phone. If an app doesn’t play sound alerts for new messages, check its notification settings in the app and make sure the sound alert is turned on.
5. Reset all parameters
Restoring your iPhone’s default settings could also help resolve the issue of notification sounds for the application that is not working on your device. Before continuing, note that it will erase all previous configurations and customizations that you have made to your device.
Follow the steps below to reset all the settings on your iPhone.
Step 1: Open the iPhone Settings menu and select General.
2nd step: Scroll to the bottom of the page and select Reset.
Step 3: Then select “Reset all settings” and enter your device password to continue.
6. Check the alert tones
Alert tones are the sounds that your iPhone plays whenever a new message or notification arrives on your device. If your iPhone does not have an alert tone selected for certain services and applications, your device will not play any sound on each new notification.
Go to Settings> Sounds & Haptics> Text Tone. If the alert type is set to None, tap the tones listed on the page to choose it as the text / notification tone.
You must also return to the “Sounds and Haptics” page and check that other services / applications (for example, Mail, Voicemail, AirDrop, etc.) have their alert tones. If one of them is set to None, be sure to choose a notification tone.
6. Update iOS
One thing about Apple’s iOS and just about every other device operating system is that they mostly have one bug or another. The notification sounds issue sometimes occurs due to a bug in your iPhone’s operating system. Fortunately, OEMs are releasing system updates that fix bugs in previous versions of the operating system.
You should also try to update your iPhone to the latest version of iOS if none of the above mentioned troubleshooting tips have worked. Go to Settings> General> Software update. Your device will check for the operating system update available for your device and prompt you to install it. Make sure, however, that your device is connected to the Internet.
7. Restore factory settings
This should only be used as a last resort when the notification sounds in your apps still don’t work after exhausting all the troubleshooting options. Performing a factory reset will erase all content and settings on your iPhone. See this detailed guide to learn more about restoring factory settings to your device, what it involves, and how to do it.
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Blocked notifications on your iOS apps can be quite annoying. Here are 6 ways to fix iPhone app notifications that won’t go away.
Last updated on June 20, 2020
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