When notifications are not heard on your iPhone, it becomes easy to miss important information, particularly when your device is not in your hands or nearby. This guide gives you some troubleshooting tips that will help you restore notification sounds on your Apple iPhone.
Page Contents:
This problem could be due to a system-wide setup you have done on your iPhone. The problem could also be app-specific, where you accidentally made some in-app changes that turned off app notifications. In some cases, the problem could be attributed to a bug in the iOS version of your iPhone. Whatever the case may be, refer to the solutions below to fix your iPhone app notification sounds problem.
1. Disable Do Not Disturb
When enabled, iPhone’s Do Not Disturb feature turns off phone calls, text messages, and other app notification alerts. If your apps don’t give you sound alerts for new messages and updates, you should check if Do Not Disturb is on. Open your iPhone’s Control Center and check for a crescent icon next to the battery percentage. When you lock your device, a notification card will also appear informing you that “Do Not Disturb” is on. These indications suggest that you have enabled ‘Do Not Disturb’ on your iPhone.
To disable Do Not Disturb, tap the crescent moon icon in the Control Center. Alternatively, go to Settings> Do Not Disturb and turn off “Do Not Disturb”.
You should also check that you have not programmed Do Not Disturb on your device. Otherwise, the scheduled DND option will disable app notifications during the set period.
2. Disable silent notifications
Another reason you don’t get notification sounds from the iPhone could be because (the app) has been set up to notify you of new messages without making any sound.
To check if an app has not been set to send notifications silently, follow the steps below.
Step 1: Swipe the alert (in the Notification Center) to the left and tap Manage.
Step 2: If the app is set to send notifications silently, you should see a Delivery button prominently.
Tap Deliver prominently to bring the app back to playing notification sounds.
You should do this for every application that doesn’t play notification sounds on your iPhone.
3. ENABLE AUDIO NOTIFICATION
If you notice that an app no longer sends you audio notifications, you should check (and enable) the app’s audio notification. Follow the steps below to do this.
Step 1: Launch the Settings menu and select Notifications.
Step 2: Tap on the app whose notification sound doesn’t work.
Tip: Look for apps whose notification styles are set to “Off” or “Deliver silently”.
Step 3: Turn on Sounds to enable app notification sound.
4. Check the in-app notification settings
Some apps have a notification configuration that is independent of the phone’s notification settings. If an app doesn’t play sound alerts for new messages, check its in-app notification settings and make sure the sound alert is enabled.
5. Reset all settings
Resetting your iPhone settings to factory defaults could also help fix the app notification sounds not working on your device. Before proceeding, please note that it will erase all previous configurations and customizations you have made on your device. To avoid data loss I recommend that you make a backup of your device.
Follow the steps below to reset all settings of your iPhone.
Step 1: Open the iPhone Settings menu and select General.
Step 2: Scroll to the bottom of the page and select Reset.
Step 3: Next, select “Reset All Settings” and enter your device password to proceed.
6. Check the warning tones
Alert tones are the sounds your iPhone plays whenever a new message or notification arrives on your device. If your iPhone doesn’t have any alert tone selected for certain services and apps, your device won’t play any sound every time there’s a new notification.
Go to Settings> Sounds and Haptic Feedback> Text Tone. If the Alert Type is set to None, tap the tones listed on the page to choose it as your text/notification tone.
You should also go back to the “Sounds and Haptic Feedback” page and check that other services/apps (eg Mail, Voicemail, AirDrop, etc.) have their own alert tones. If any of these are set to None, be sure to choose a notification tone.
7. Update iOS
The notification sound problem sometimes occurs due to a bug in your iPhone’s operating system. Fortunately, OEMs release system updates that eliminate bugs found in previous versions of the operating system.
You should also try updating your iPhone to the latest iOS version if none of the above-mentioned troubleshooting tips have produced the desired result. Go to Settings> General> Software Update. The device will check for OS updates for the device and ask you to install it. However, make sure your device is connected to the internet.
