How To Silence Notifications For One Person On Iphone

To silence notifications for one person on iPhone, mute that contact in Messages, Contacts, or Focus settings without blocking them.

Why You Might Silence One Contact On Iphone

Some people message or call far more than others. Maybe it is a busy group thread, a friend across time zones, or a work contact who sends updates all day. You want your iPhone quiet for that specific person while still hearing from everyone else. That is exactly what silencing one contact on iPhone is for.

When you silence a person, your iPhone still receives their messages and calls. The thread updates, badges can appear, and you can reply whenever you like. The change is that alerts stop popping up or making a sound. That is very different from blocking, which stops calls and messages from reaching you at all.

Apple gives you several tools for this:

Hide alerts for a Messages thread — Stop sounds and banners for one chat or group in the Messages app.
Change tones for a contact — Set a silent ringtone or text tone for calls and messages from one person.
Use Focus to silence people — Add contacts to the Silence Notifications From list inside a Focus mode such as Do Not Disturb.

You can mix these tools. For example, you might mute a noisy group chat in Messages while still letting calls from those people ring through. Or you might keep one person quiet during work Focus hours but allow them outside that time.

How To Silence Notifications For One Person On Iphone In Messages

The fastest way to silence notifications for one person on iPhone is to mute their conversation in the Messages app. Apple calls this Hide Alerts, and it works for both iMessage and SMS threads. Apple explains this option in its guide on how to stop or mute message notifications on iPhone, found in the iPhone User Guide on the
Apple Support site.

Mute A Conversation From The Messages List

Use this method when you see the thread in your Messages list and want it quiet right away.

Open Messages — Launch the Messages app on your iPhone.
Find The Conversation — Scroll to the person or group chat you want to silence.
Swipe Left On The Thread — Place your finger on the conversation and swipe left partway.
Tap The Alerts Icon — Tap the bell icon or Hide Alerts button that appears.

When Hide Alerts is on, you see a small bell icon with a line through it next to that conversation. Your iPhone still receives messages in that thread, but you no longer hear sounds or see banners whenever new messages arrive.

Mute From Inside A Conversation

If you are already reading messages from that person, you can silence them from inside the chat itself.

Open The Conversation — Tap the person or group in Messages.
Tap The Name Or Group Title — At the top of the screen, tap the contact name, phone number, or group name.
Turn On Hide Alerts — In the sheet or info page that opens, toggle Hide Alerts on.

This change affects only that conversation. Other contacts still trigger sounds and banners as usual, and your system volume stays the same.

How To Check Whether A Conversation Is Muted

A quick scan of your Messages list tells you which threads are quiet.

Look For The Bell Icon — A bell with a line through it beside the thread means alerts are muted.
Test With A Short Message — Ask the person to send a quick text; the thread should update without sound or banner.

If you change your mind, repeat the same steps and turn Hide Alerts off. The bell icon disappears and alerts start again.

Silence Calls And Text Tones For A Contact

Muting a thread in Messages works well for text noise. If calls from one person are the main issue, you can change that contact’s ringtone and text tone instead. This method keeps the contact active but removes sound for their calls and messages.

Change Ringtone And Text Tone To Silent

You can set a silent tone for that contact while leaving normal sounds for others.

Open Contacts Or Phone — Open the Contacts app, or open Phone and tap the Contacts tab.
Select The Contact — Find and tap the person you want to silence.
Tap Edit — In the top corner, tap Edit.
Set A Silent Ringtone — Tap Ringtone and pick a tone that you know you cannot hear, or use a custom silent tone if you have one saved.
Set A Silent Text Tone — Tap Text Tone and choose the same silent option.
Tap Done — Save your changes.

From now on, calls and messages from that person arrive without a sound. Your iPhone still lights up and shows banners, so you can see that they reached out when you glance at the screen.

Use Emergency Bypass For People You Never Want To Miss

Sometimes you silence many contacts but still need a way for a partner, parent, or child to reach you at any time. For those people, you can keep alerts active even while your phone is muted or a Focus mode is on by using Emergency Bypass in the ringtone and text tone settings for that contact. That way, you quiet almost everyone while letting a tiny list of people break through.

How This Differs From Blocking

Blocking a contact stops calls, messages, and FaceTime from that person. They can still send messages on their side, but you never see them. Silencing notifications for one person on iPhone keeps the contact open; you just change how loud they are in your day. For most situations, silencing is a better fit than blocking, since it keeps communication possible without constant alerts.

Silence One Person Using Focus And Do Not Disturb

Focus modes such as Do Not Disturb, Work, or Sleep give you deeper control over who can reach you at certain times. Newer iOS versions let you allow or silence notifications from specific people during a Focus. Apple explains this in its guide on how to allow or silence notifications for a Focus on iPhone on
Apple Support.

Add Someone To The Silence List In A Focus

Use this when you want one person quiet during work hours, sleep time, or another Focus period, while regular alerts still arrive outside that schedule.

Open Settings — Tap the Settings app on your iPhone.
Tap Focus — Open the Focus section.
Choose A Focus — Pick Do Not Disturb, Sleep, Personal, Work, or another profile you use.
Tap People — In the Focus options, tap People.
Select Silence Notifications From — Choose the option that lets you silence specific people.
Add The Contact — Tap the add button, then pick the person you want to silence.

When that Focus mode turns on, calls and notifications from the person in the silence list stay quiet. Messages still show up in the app, and you can open them at any time, but they no longer interrupt you during that Focus.

Use Focus For One-Off Quiet Time

You can turn on a Focus manually whenever you need a break from alerts and let only a few people reach you. If someone is on the silence list, their messages stay quiet; if they are on the allow list, they can still ping you. This gives you a way to silence notifications for one person on iPhone during meetings or sleep while keeping other contacts active.

Control What Others See When You Silence Notifications

When Focus is active, people messaging you may see a small note that says you have notifications silenced. You can change whether that note appears.

Open Settings — Tap Settings.
Tap Focus — Open the Focus section.
Tap Focus Status — Choose Focus Status.
Turn Share Focus Status On Or Off — Decide whether apps such as Messages can show that you have notifications silenced.

If Share Focus Status is off, the other person still has their messages delivered, but they no longer see that Focus note under your name.

How To Silence One Person Across Multiple Apps

Many people message you on more than one platform. You might chat on WhatsApp, Telegram, Instagram, or other apps as well as Messages. To silence notifications for one person on iPhone in a steady way, you may need to adjust each app that person uses.

Check Third-Party Chat Apps

Most popular chat apps include per-conversation mute controls that work much like Hide Alerts in Messages.

Open The App — Launch WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal, Messenger, or your chat app of choice.
Open Or Find The Conversation — Tap the person or group you want to silence.
Look For Mute Or Notifications — Open the chat info screen and look for Mute, Notifications, or a bell icon.
Choose A Mute Time — Many apps let you mute for hours, days, or forever.

When you change settings inside the app, the app usually stops sending alerts to iOS entirely. Combined with contact-level changes in the Phone and Messages apps, this can keep one person quiet in every place they contact you.

Align App Settings With Focus Modes

Some apps work closely with Focus modes and may mark certain notifications as time sensitive. If you still get alerts from one person while Focus is active, open that app’s notification settings and turn off any special priority option for that contact or channel. This makes the app behave in line with your Focus rules for silencing people.

Fix Silence For One Person Not Working

Sometimes you follow all the steps and alerts still arrive from the person you wanted to quiet. Small details in settings can keep their notifications active. Here are the most common things to check.

Verify Hide Alerts And Contact Tones

Confirm Hide Alerts — Open Messages and make sure the bell icon with a line shows next to that conversation.
Check Other Threads — If the person has both individual and group chats with you, mute each thread where you no longer want sound.
Revisit Contact Ringtone — Open the contact card and confirm their ringtone and text tone are set to the silent choice you picked.

Review Focus Allow Lists

Open Focus People Settings — In Settings > Focus > [Your Focus] > People, see whether this person is allowed or silenced.
Remove Them From Allowed Lists — If the person appears in an allow list, remove them so they cannot break through that Focus.
Check Time Sensitive Options — Turn off time sensitive notifications inside the Focus if alerts from that person are marked that way by the app.

Check Other Devices And Shared Focus

If you use an Apple Watch, iPad, or Mac with the same Apple ID, Focus and notification settings can sync. That can re-trigger alerts in ways that feel confusing.

Open Focus Settings — On your iPhone, go to Settings > Focus.
Review Share Across Devices — If you prefer each device to behave on its own, turn off the option that shares Focus across devices.
Match Settings On Other Devices — If you keep sharing on, open Focus settings on your other Apple devices and align their people lists to match your plan on iPhone.

Restart Your iPhone

When settings look correct but behavior still feels off, a quick restart can clear minor glitches that keep alerts stuck in an old pattern.

Hold The Side And Volume Button — On Face ID models, press and hold the side button and either volume button until the slider appears.
Slide To Power Off — Drag the slider and wait for the screen to go dark.
Turn The Phone Back On — Hold the side button again until the Apple logo appears.

Once your phone starts again, test messages or calls from the contact you tried to silence. In many cases, alerts now match your current settings.

Quick Reference: Ways To Silence Notifications For One Person

This table sums up the main ways to silence notifications for one person on iPhone so you can pick the method that fits your day.

Method	What It Silences	Where To Change It
Hide Alerts In Messages	Sounds and banners for one message thread	Messages app > Swipe left or tap name > Hide Alerts
Silent Ringtone/Text Tone	Sounds for calls and texts from one contact	Contacts or Phone > Contact > Edit > Ringtone / Text Tone
Focus Silence List	Calls and notifications from chosen people during Focus	Settings > Focus > [Focus] > People > Silence Notifications From
App-Level Mute	Alerts inside one third-party chat app	Open app > Chat info > Mute or Notifications

Choosing The Best Way To Silence One Person On Iphone

You now have several ways to silence notifications for one person on iPhone. Use Hide Alerts in Messages when text noise is the main problem. Adjust Ringtone and Text Tone in a contact card when calls and texts from one person keep pulling you away from other things. Use Focus with a silence list when you want alerts from that person only outside work, sleep, or study time.

Pick one method to start, test it with a contact you trust, and then fine-tune. Your goal is simple: let the right messages reach you while giving yourself quiet from the rest. With the tools built into iOS, you can shape alerts so one noisy person no longer controls how often your iPhone pulls you out of the moment.