iOS 15 Messages Notifications Not Working

This has b en happening to me for what seems like several iOS iterations. Switching from a “classic” alert doubt to a more current one seemed to work for a while, but it has stopped offering alert sounds again. I’ll try today’s patch, with low expectations.

I now have a specific advisor at Apple. We reset the phone to factory default, and that fixed the issue for a little while. I was actually getting my email notifications. Now, it’s back to the same issue. I only get my email and notifications when I check manually.

I have only had the phone for a few months. This is past aggravating.

Has anyone gotten the issue resolved?

Yes, it happens in iPad, too. For me, it happens on both iPhone (11 Pro) and iPad (11inch Pro 3) at random. Both are running the latest versions of their respective OSs. The fact that notifications work sometimes is no consolation because it means you cannot trust either device. I hope Apple fixes this and soon.

I'm just throwing my hat into the ring on this one. Ever since updating to iOS 15 a few months ago, I am not receiving any sort of audio or haptic notifications in Messages. I have to manually check the Messages app to see if I have received any messages. All of my notification and Focus settings are where they should be.

This only happens with Messages; I receive notifications for all of my other apps.

Two of my friends are also experiencing this issue.

This is definitely an issue/bug with the software. Apple, please get on this! Texting is one of the most basic functions of a mobile phone, and you've managed to mess this up.

No, I don't think it's a hardware issue at all. I think the phones themselves are fine.

I think it's an issue with their new Focus "feature."

What I think happened on my end was, I was playing with the different settings in Focus... then I downloaded an iOS update... and in between messing with Focus and the update, my Phone somehow got stuck into thinking I was in DND mode.

I think this will definitely get fixed in a future iOS update... it's unfortunate I had to jump through so many hoops just to fix it on my end.

Follow-up to my post on Feb. 18, 2022: 

I forgot to mention that…

• my earlier post was based on sending text messages back and forth between an old iPhone SE and a brand new iPad Mini 6.  
• when I said that the receiving app was “CLOSED,” I meant that the Messages app was not “OPEN” on the screen, but it was still running in the background.  
• “OPEN” means that the current text conversation is on the screen (i.e. the conversation from which you are awaiting a reply.) For example, if you leave the first conversation and go to a conversation with someone else, obviously the Messages app is still open on the screen, BUT in this case, the Text Tone will sound when a reply is received from the first conversation. You don’t have to take part in a new conversation—just have it open on the screen.

So, after testing between the iPhone SE and the iPad Mini 6, I decided to try the same back-and-forth text messages with various other devices. Here are four that I used, testing every possible combination of two:

1. iPhone SE: iOS 11.1
2. iPad Mini 4: iOS 12.2
3. iPhone 8: iOS 14.8.1
4. iPad Mini 6: iOS 15.1 

The results were the same for all device combinations: the Text Tone sounds only when the Messages app is CLOSED on the screen (running in the background) OR if it’s OPEN but has a different conversation on the screen.

Also, I discovered something that I hadn’t noticed when making the original tests. (It happened during the original tests; I just didn’t notice it.)

NEW DISCOVERY: 

When the Messages app is OPEN on the receiving device, the Text Tone doesn’t ring, but sounds do play on BOTH the sending AND receiving devices. The sounds are not any of the standard Alert Tones, and they’re hard to describe. I’d say they’re sort of a very, very quick “OO-OO-OO” sound. This is not three distinct “syllables” as in an owl’s hoot. It’s blended together and not very loud. (Which is probably why I didn’t notice it in my first tests.) Also, it’s not the same sound on the two devices—the sound on the sending device has a rising pitch at the end, but the sound on the receiving device has a falling pitch. Think of it as tossing a ball from one device to the other: the sound is tossed upward from the sending device and then falls downward onto the receiving device.

This happens with messages sent to or from all four of the tested devices with iOS versions ranging from 11.1 to 15.1 (11.1, 12.2, 14.8.1, 15.1). The results were exactly the same with each possible combination of two, and since only one device has iOS 15, that’s clearly not the problem. The same thing occurs when neither device has iOS 15. 

I should also note that the tests were done with the devices lying flat.  If you have the phone next to your ear when a text message is received, no sound is made until you take the phone away from your ear; then a “da-da” sound plays.

Of course, this still doesn’t make the Text Tone ring each time a reply is received for the conversation that is currently on the screen, but at least there is a sound made, albeit a rather quiet one. The only way to be sure the Text Tone rings when a reply arrives is to change the screen to something other than the current conversation (a different conversation thread, Home screen, Dictionary, Weather app, your favorite game, etc.). Annoying, but doable.

So at least we now we know that it isn’t a problem related to iOS 15; it’s a problem that has existed since at least iOS 11. You would think it would have been fixed by now, but it doesn’t seem to be a high priority for Apple developers. 

I hope this helps a little bit. I’ve done all the testing I can do. 

I too had another 1.5 hour telephone session with my senior advisor last night. He took me through every possible setting on the iPhone 13 Pro running 15.3.1 and failed to find a solution to the text notification issue. He was clearly just collecting data for engineering, including my phone's analytics. Our next phone call is scheduled for Saturday night after he expects to have spoken with engineering.

@Kluunsi,

On my 10Xr, the choice of notification sound makes no difference.

I've tried it with Note. Nothing

I've changed the sound to something else. Nothing.

I've changed it back to Note. Nothing.

Correction: I should really say "usually nothing". Every once in a while, a notification of an incoming message will sneak through and trigger the sound and haptic alert. Seems entirely random.

On my phone (and watch), it's only the iOS Messages app that is defective. Other messaging apps such as Signal work fine.

I thought I had found a workaround by setting the messages tone to Note and assigning a different one (Minuet) to to each contact, but I've just discovered that It didn't work for all my contacts. I left a comment on the Apple feedback page regarding the problem. I think Apple needs to hear from more people. Surely the many people on this thread aren't the only ones.

I'm not seeing exactly what you are in 15.4. I'm having the classic notification going to my Watch only. I did some testing and if I power the watch down, I get notifications (haptic and sound) in the lock screen as I've been used to for years. It seems the new 15.x

My Apple Support rep told me this is as designed. There is only supposed to be one notification buzz/sound and the watch takes priority. I don't like it, so I submitted a feature request to at least allow us to pick watch only or watch & phone.

Interesting, but I had already turned off all my focus settings, including with "help" from Apple "Support", and I still didn't get audio notifications of incoming text messages.

Having tried everything else, I filed a warranty claim on my iPhone 13 Pro and got a new one. I transferred my data and settings directly from the old phone to the new one so, in theory, the new one should have been set up identically to the old one. It's been nearly four weeks, and audio text notifications are still working. Go figure!

Yes, I've also noticed that any SMS (green) messages give me proper message notifications. It's the iMessage (blue) ones where I'm not getting anything at all.

Seems to work fine now on my iPhone 12 Mini and my 8th generation iPad. Had to disconnect from my old early 2014 MacBook Air though.

@Cliff - would you be willing to give more specifics? What does "changing the sound then changing back as noted before...." mean? What was noted before and what exactly did you do? Thanks!

To Apple - totally wishing I had NOT done this particular update. It's awful.

I am having the same issue but not just with message notifications. Apps such as Ring, MS Authenticator, Doordash don't pop up anymore. I have triple checked that no focus is turned on. The notifications for these apps are all enabled. I also tried disabling and re-enabling the notification settings for each. I'm not really sure if I should have started a new discussion but I saw this one and figured i'd drop into the conversation. Anyone had any good feedback from Apple support on this?