What does "notifications silenced" mean in Messages?

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. 

Yes, on our iPhones, we can silence notifications for individuals. I do it for several of my contacts who tend to message very late in the day … or very early. Their message are delivered. I just don’t get notifications. This is easier than trying to repeatedly explain my bedtime/downtime routine. They understand that in a real case of emergency, they need to call me … twice. If my iPhone is in Focus or bedtime mode, it is set to allow repeated calls from the same number.

To turn that off you follow these instructions:

Settings> Focus>Do Not Disturb> Focus Status> On/Off

It just tells people your whole phone is on Do not disturb, please don’t be offended. It is usually sent to anyone with an iPhone when you have it on, I believe.

It means they most likely have the DND settings set up on their phones and you are most likely not one of their favorites . So when the designated DND times are on, your messages will be silenced.

Hi @gomichaelgo81,

I think the "notification silenced" message was there because one of your devices signed into the same iCloud account has the "Share Focus Status" turned ON for one of the focus mode. I can only tell you how I fixed it: By setting both "shared across device" (for all focus) and "Share Focus Status" on that particular focus. Now Turn that focus ON, wait a little bit and turn that OFF. It will send the message to all your friend that this particular focus is OFF, and cleared that message. Repeat for other focus if needed.

I've read someone says they have checked all devices, they have no focus ON and yet the message on their friends device is still ON. It was because one of the devices had "shared across device" OFF but "Share Focus Status" ON. So if you always keep both settings ON and once you turn off the focus on any device, the "notification silence" message will be gone too. And this is how I fixed it and once i understand how it works, it never happen again.

In my particular use case, I always want to keep my mac DND, and I don't want to keep turning ON every time I go to that mac. So "Share Across Device" on the mac is OFF but I have to remember that the "Share Focus Status" of that particular Focus mode is also off to prevent the annoying "notification silenced" from displaying on my friend's device. I think it is not very intuitive to have this very similar named settings but I think this is the use case for why they have 2 settings.

I realized that it means that their phone is on “do not disturb” which means that all of their notifications are silenced, no just messages from you.

She not silencing only your message she turned on “do not disturb“ meaning she receive any notifications from anyone

Hi vinnetta208,

We'd like to offer some additional clarification on this issue and offer some guidance if it is not working as expected.

The settings that cause this notification to appear are discussed in Use Focus on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch:

"When you set a Focus, the icon appears in the status bar and on your Lock Screen, and your status is automatically displayed in the Messages app. When people try to send you a message, they'll see that you’ve silenced notifications, but they can still notify you if it's urgent.

When you use Focus on one device, the setting is automatically applied across your Apple devices that are signed in with the same Apple ID."

However, if a user does not have a Focus enabled that should result in this notification being displayed, yet the notification still appears, we recommend that they update to iOS 15.2. Steps for updating can be found here: Update your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.

We hope this helps.

This is not personal. it is a setting in the phone to give us breaks from all messages and electronics. Mine turns on and off at the same time every day. It is a form of self care and applied to all notifications.

The moon means all notifications are on silent. Your friend is practicing self care.

2 steps from this guide helped me: What does Notifications Silenced in Messages Mean and How to Disable it? My husband complained to me that I am ignoring his messages while I am in my office. The notification silenced message was appearing to him, first I was totally unaware about this feature. Later when I researched, I found out that a schedule Do not disturb mode was activating between 1pm to 4pm automatically so I disabled it which was by mistake activated and force restarted my phone( i don't know if this step is necessary but I did it ) and thats how I tackled this issue.

Hi @jason928 - I think many of us (i really can only speak for myself) have done this already.

My intention was to share my status with others when "at work" or "working out" "driving"... when I wasn't able to respond right away.

However, when I had zero Focus Status, was not in DND at all, people were getting the notification at the bottom of our text threads that I have notifications silenced. They would text me and I was getting the messages in a timely manner. But, it was just annoying that they saw this message thinking I was busy.

I have since just turned off the function all together as I believe it's too buggy for prime time as it stands.

This just means that they are on “focus” mode and have notifications turned off. Focus is the improved version of “do not disturb.”

Have you upgraded to the iOS 15.1.1 recently? If you have you need to check all your devices that use your Apple ID and make sure the dumb "Focus" settings are disabled. More importantly check to make sure the "Share Across Device" is off. If any of your devices have the "Share Across Device" on, all devices with the same Apple ID will have the notifications silenced.

RamblerMan905 wrote:

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.

I'm not HANNAH_TAPIA so, no, I didn't say it.

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.

The OP reported they saw the message. It shows in their screenshot. They were upset about it. They probably never posted again because the first answer (their sender has Focus enabled) answered the question for them.

My point is, not everyone in this thread has exactly the same problem. And, some people have found solutions.