Have you ever been asked by any of your friends or relatives why you have turned off notifications from them? We have received many reports from iPhone users saying the same.
They said they are not receiving any alerts/notifications from their friends on the iMessage app, which shows as follows.
<Contact Name> has notifications silenced
When asked, it looked like the user was not aware of this issue and has not silenced any notifications on purpose. The main reason why this can happen is because of the focus mode or Do Not Disturb mode being enabled on the iPhone. Also, there is another possibility that the notification settings for the iMessage app are turned off by the user unknowingly.
Keeping these points in mind, we have gathered some fixes after researching in depth in this article below which will definitely help in fixing it.
Preliminary Fixes
Turn Off the Silent Mode
If the iPhone is under the silent mode, it just stops notifying the user about any alerts like incoming calls, messages, etc on their iPhones. Therefore, check whether the silent mode is on and if yes, turn it off using the silent mode switch on the side of the iPhone.
Also, you need to go to the Settings app and tap on the Sounds & Haptics option, and increase the ringtone and alert volume high by sliding it to the right side.
Update the iPhone Software
Some iPhone users faced this issue because their iPhones were not updated to their latest software. So to update your iPhone, you have to go to the Settings app and navigate to General > Software Update.
It might take some time to load the software update page since it has to search for any updates available for the iPhone online depending on your internet speed. After it loads, if you find any updates, please download and install them to keep your iPhone software updated.
Fix 1 – Turn Off the Do Not Disturb Focus Mode
There is a focus mode called Do Not Disturb, which when enabled on the iPhone does not notify iPhone users at all regarding any alerts it receives. So check whether it is enabled, and please turn it off using the steps explained below.
Step 1: Open the Control Centre screen on your iPhone first by swiping down the iPhone screen from the top right side.
Step 2: After the Control Centre opens, tap on the Focus option as shown below.
Step 3: Now make sure Do Not Disturb is not enabled.
Step 4: Also, some iPhone users have resolved this issue by simply making sure no other focus modes are enabled including Do No Disturb.
Fix 2 – Turn Off Focus in the Messages app Settings
This problem of notifications being silenced on the iPhone can be easily resolved by not allowing the Message app to access the focus by disabling its settings by following the steps below.
Step 1: First of all, launch the Settings app on your iPhone.
Step 2: Once the Settings page opens, scroll down and tap on the Messages option as shown below.
Step 3: Then at the top of the Messages settings page, disable the Focus option under Allow Messages To Access section as shown in the image below.
Fix 3 – Disable Share Focus Status in the Messages app
You can also try doing the steps below if you are facing this issue only for a particular contact on your iPhone. The method is to disable the Share Focus Status settings for the contact under the Messages app.
Step 1: Tap on the Messages app icon from the home screen to open the app.
Step 2: Once the Messages app opens, find that particular contact from the list of messages and tap on it as shown.
Step 3: Now at the top of the Message page, tap on the contact name.
Step 4: This opens the contact information on the Messages app.
Step 5: Here you need to turn off the Share Focus Status option by tapping on its toggle switch as shown below.
Fix 4 – Turn Off Shared with Messages Settings
Some iPhone users have claimed that they were able to resolve this issue by turning off the Shared with Messages option for the Focus mode under Privacy settings on the iPhone. Let us try the same and see if this works for us.
Step 1: First of all, you need to launch the Settings app on your iPhone.
Step 2: Then scroll down the Settings app and tap on the Privacy & Security option as shown below.
Step 3: After the Privacy & Security page opens, scroll it down a little bit and click on the Focus option.
Step 4: Here disable the Messages option by tapping on its toggle button under the Shared with section at the top as shown below.
Fix 5 – Turn Off Share Focus Status under the Focus Settings
If you have enabled the share focus status settings for the focus so that you have notifications silenced when you are using the focus mode on your iPhone. Therefore, turning off the Share focus status settings might resolve this problem.
Step 1: First, open the Settings app on your iPhone by tapping on the settings icon from the home screen.
Step 2: Once the settings page appears, search for the Focus option and tap on it as shown below.
Step 3: Now click on the Focus Status option at the bottom of the Focus page as shown.
Step 4: On top of the Focus Status page, you will find the Share Focus Status option.
Step 5: Just turn it off by tapping on its toggle switch as shown in the image below.
Fix 6 – Disable the Sleep Schedule
If you have enabled the sleep schedule on your iPhone, it will behave as a silent mode or do not disturb mode where you will never be notified about any incoming calls or messages from anybody during the sleep schedule time.
Unless you disable the sleep schedule, you will not receive any notifications on your iPhone. So check for any sleep schedule on your iPhone and if it is enabled, please turn it off and see if you are able to fix this issue.