What does "notifications silenced" mean in Messages?

I’ve been texting with a good friend of mine and all of a sudden at the very bottom of our texting thread it says “🌙 Molly has notifications silenced “. What does this mean? Is she specifically silencing my specific text messages so she doesn’t receive them or the banner doesn’t pop up? She has an iPhone as well and I’ve never seen this message before. My feelings are a bit hurt but I’m not really sure what it means, if someone could explain this to me I would so appreciate it.



[Re-Titled by Moderator]

iPhone 12 Pro Max, iOS 15

Posted on Oct 11, 2021 2:54 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Oct 12, 2021 7:48 AM

Hi vinnetta208, 


Thank you for using the Apple Support Communities. 


We understand that you’re seeing a notifications silenced message when messaging a friend in Messages app and we’re happy to help. 


It looks like your friend uses Focus on their iPhone. When a person sets up Focus on their iPhone, then you might see a message displayed in the Messages app that says [contact name] has notifications silenced. This means that the person you’re messaging has their notifications silenced. Please note that you can still notify your friend if it’s urgent. Learn more about Focus here: Use Focus on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch


Best regards. 

410 replies

Dec 18, 2021 11:18 AM in response to IdrisSeabright

HANNAH_TAPIA

User level:

Level 1

(12 points)

Dec 15, 2021 12:37 PM in response to vinnetta208

what that means is that on there phone they have it on silent mode , like when you go to sleep they have all the messages on there phone so they dont get distracted


You said it, which is why I said to you silent mode.


FYI, all my focus settings are set to off, Do not disturb, personal, work, driving has been deleted along with sleep. Each individual contact is set to allow notifications. Messaging in settings is set to allow notifications.


Sorry if I exaggerated the number but this isn't the only thread or forum I have read trying to fix the issue. I have even had my phone side by side with another iPhone 13 running 15.2.


His phone shows my "set to silence notifications" message with all our settings 100% set the same. Toggling on/off. Signing in and out of iCloud and rebooting etc. changes nothing. Some said the issue was fixed in other threads only to to return and say it was back.


This is likely a bug with Focus, but not all are having it.


I hear every notification for messages that come in, including those who say they see the message I am set to silence notifications.


Also in the OP it shows Vinneta208 in SMS mode so he would not likely see that message as it isn't in iMessage mode. But I do not know this for fact it doesn't show in SMS mode. (Need to get beside my buddy with his iPhone 13 and check it). It does show up in the screen grab up but Molly iMessaged him. He never commented again.

Jan 5, 2022 4:10 PM in response to vinnetta208

I had the same problem. In the messages between me and my wife it showed she had notifications off but do not disturb functions were turned off. I went into her settings under focus and it had “personal” and “work” focus areas that said set up. I set them both up and then deleted them then restarted her phone. After that the silence was gone and the issue was resolved! Not sure if it was a coincidence but it worked for me.

Jan 7, 2022 6:43 PM in response to Johno1au

Scratch that one. You have to go to focus and press + button. Set up the ‘Personal’ menu. Ensure the allowed people are in there that you don’t want to get a notification silenced. Select everyone if you want notifications from everyone. Doesn’t matter if it ‘Personal’ is toggled on or off your contacts must be in here or they will get the notification they are silenced. It’s annoying you can’t select them all. Do NOT delete the Personal setting just toggle it to off if you don’t use the Do not disturb settings for it. If you delete the Personal setting the issue will come back, it can take a few minutes to return. It appears the personal setting for whatever reason is working regardless of it being switched on or off. Something Apple will have to fix in future updates. Currently 15.2 still has the issue.

This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

What does "notifications silenced" mean in Messages?

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.