How to Fix "Notifications Silenced" on iPhone Messages

Have you ever attempted to send a text message to a contact only to receive the message "(name) has notifications silenced?" This simply indicates that the individual you are texting has activated Focus Mode on their iPhone, iPad, or Mac. But what if you didn't turn on Focus Mode and your friend sees that your messages say "has notifications silenced"? You'll learn how to resolve issues with your Focus Mode settings and what "notifications silenced" means in iPhone text messages in this Techpad article.

Things You Should Know

If someone puts their iPhone, iPad, or Mac in a Focus Mode like Do Not Disturb or Sleep, their contacts will see "(name) has notifications silenced."

If you see "(name) has notification silenced," this doesn't mean you are blocked.

If "has notifications silenced" is appearing when it shouldn't, you (or your friend) may have accidentally enabled Focus Mode on one of your Apple devices.

Why do I see "notifications silenced?"

The person you're texting has turned on a Focus Mode.

This could mean their phone is on Do Not Disturb, they've enabled Sleep mode, or they're using one of their iPhone or iPad's other Focus Modes.

If you text the person while notifications are silenced, they'll still get your message—they just won't see a notification pop up on their screen until they've switched off the Focus Mode.

You'll only see the "has notifications silenced" message if both you and the other person in the conversation are texting from Apple devices using iMessage.

Your friend may not know they've enabled a Focus Mode.

If the person you're texting is responding to you and doesn't know why you're seeing "has notifications silenced," it's possible they've switched into a Focus Mode without realizing.

For example, if your friend scheduled a Sleep focus in the Health app, their iPhone will automatically go into Sleep Focus at a specific time without them knowing.

They may have also forgotten to turn off Sleep, Do Not Disturb, or another focus after enabling it.

It's also possible that your friend has enabled a Focus Mode on another device.

If your friend has multiple Apple devices, such as an iPhone and an iPad, and has enabled Focus Mode on one of those devices, it may impact their other devices. This will be the case if your friend is signed in to both devices using the same Apple ID.

If you or a friend are seeing "has notifications silenced" and you're not trying to silence notifications, use our troubleshooting steps.

We'll show you how to turn off Focus Modes, stop sharing Focus Modes across devices, teach you what to do if that doesn't solve the problem, and even show you how to use a Focus Mode privately without letting anyone know that your notifications are silenced.

How to Fix "Notifications Silenced" on iPhone Messages