What Does Announce Notifications Mean on iPhone? How to Turn It Off

Announce Notifications (once called Announce Messages with Siri) lets Siri read incoming messages and other alerts out loud while you wear compatible AirPods or Beats headphones, or while you use CarPlay. To turn it off, open Settings, tap Notifications, tap Announce Notifications, and turn off the Announce Notifications switch.

These steps are for iOS 27 and iPadOS 27 and use the path Apple lists for iOS 15 and later. Some older guides send you to Siri & Search instead; on current versions, look under Notifications. The steps follow Apple’s Announce notifications with Siri on AirPods or Beats and Listen and respond to messages with AirPods guides, plus Apple’s Announce incoming text messages with CarPlay page.

What Announce Notifications Does

When the feature is on, Siri reads new notifications from apps such as Messages and Reminders, plus supported third-party apps. For apps that allow replies, such as Messages, Siri then listens, so you can say something like “Reply, I’m on my way.” Siri reads your reply back and asks whether to send it.

It only happens under specific conditions:

• You’re wearing the headphones, and your iPhone or iPad is locked with the screen dark. Siri stays quiet while you’re using the phone, because you can already see the alert.
• Your headphones are a supported model: AirPods 2 or later, AirPods Pro, AirPods Max, Beats 360, Beats Fit Pro, Beats Solo 4, Beats Solo Pro, Beats Studio Pro, Powerbeats, Powerbeats Fit, Powerbeats Pro, and Powerbeats Pro 2.
• The phone runs iOS 15 or iPadOS 15 or later.

Siri reads the full message text, so anything private in a text gets read into your ears. That’s often the reason people search for this setting.

How to Turn Announce Notifications Off

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Tap Notifications.
3. Tap Announce Notifications near the top of the screen.
4. Turn off the Announce Notifications switch.

Siri stops reading notifications through your headphones. Your notifications still arrive with their usual sounds and banners. To turn the feature back on, repeat the steps and turn the switch on again. The same screen has a separate Headphones switch if you only want to change headphone announcements and leave CarPlay alone.

How to Turn It Off for Only Some Apps

1. Go to Settings > Notifications > Announce Notifications.
2. Scroll down to the list under Announce Notifications From.
3. Tap an app and turn off its Announce Notifications switch.

Siri keeps announcing the other apps but stays quiet for the ones you turned off. For Messages, there’s a finer choice: tap Messages and pick Priority Notifications, Time Sensitive and Direct Messages, or All Notifications. If an app marks an alert as time sensitive or a direct message, Siri announces it automatically when the app is allowed.

How to Stop Siri Reading Your Reply Back

By default, Siri reads your dictated reply back and asks before it sends it. If you trust your dictation, go to Settings > Notifications > Announce Notifications and turn on Reply Without Confirmation. Leave it off if you often reply in noisy places, since it’s your only chance to catch a misheard word.

Quick Ways to Silence Announcements

• Control Center: add the Announce Notifications control to Control Center, then tap it to turn announcements off or on without opening Settings.
• Take out an earbud: if several notifications arrive at once, remove one earbud or your headphones to stop Siri announcing the rest.
• Head gestures: with AirPods 4 and later, AirPods Pro 2 and later, AirPods Max 2, or Powerbeats Pro 2, shake your head to dismiss an announcement or nod to reply. To turn this on, open Settings, tap your headphones’ name, tap Head Gestures (or Controls & Gestures), and turn on Head Gestures.
• Focus: if you want silence for a while rather than a permanent change, a Focus such as Do Not Disturb also limits which notifications reach you. Learn how to silence notifications on iPhone.

How to Turn It Off on Apple Watch

If your AirPods are connected to an Apple Watch, the watch has its own setting:

1. Put your AirPods or Beats in your ears.
2. Open Settings on the watch and tap Siri > Announce Notifications.
3. Turn off Announce Notifications, or scroll down and turn off individual apps.

You can also press the side button to open Control Center and tap the Announce Notifications button. The button is unavailable when your AirPods are out of your ears.

Why Does My iPhone Tell Me Who Is Calling?

That’s a separate feature called Announce Calls. Find it in Settings > Siri (labeled Apple Intelligence & Siri on some iPhones) > Announce Calls, with the options Always, Headphones & Car, Headphones Only, and Never. Choose Never to stop it. Head gestures for calls need both Announce Calls and Announce Notifications turned on.

Announcements in the Car or on the Speaker

• CarPlay: you can turn Announce Messages on or off in Settings, or tap Announce in CarPlay while Siri reads a message. If you’d rather avoid texts while driving altogether, use the Driving Focus from Control Center.
• iPhone speaker: go to Settings > Accessibility > Siri and turn off Announce Notifications on Speaker. This setting is the cause if your iPhone reads alerts aloud with no headphones connected.

If Siri Doesn’t Announce Notifications

• Check that your AirPods or Beats are a supported model and are connected in Settings > Bluetooth.
• Make sure Announce Notifications and Headphones are both on in Settings > Notifications > Announce Notifications.
• Check that the app you’re expecting is turned on in the app list on that screen.
• Lock your iPhone and let the screen go dark. Siri doesn’t announce notifications while you’re using the device.

Frequently Asked Questions