Turn off Apple News Notification "Sounds"

Question

Level 1

88 points

Turn off Apple News Notification "Sounds"

I like the lock screen notifications, but I don't need to have my phone vibrate or chirp for such news.

For some reason, this is apparently the only app that doesn't give you the option of keeping lockscreen notifications on but turning the sounds part of the notification off.

Anyone else notice this or have a fix?

Thanks!

Apple iPhone 6...."bent" version.

iPhone 6, iOS 10.0.2

Posted on Oct 18, 2016 6:37 AM

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Answer 1

darren.s

Community Specialist

Oct 18, 2016 6:53 PM in response to Phil Meagher

Hi, Phil Meagher!

Thanks for reaching out via the Apple Support Communities. Based on your post, I'm understanding that you like receiving the News notifications on your Lock screen, but would like to disable the sounds that accompany them. I'd be happy to help!

If you go into Settings > Notifications > News on your device, you will see several Notification options for the News app, including Sounds and Show on Lock Screen. If you toggle the Sounds switch off, but leave the Show on Lock Screen switch on, you'll get the notification banner on the Lock Screen without any sound to announce its arrival.

More information on using Notifications with your iPhone can be found here: Use Notifications on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch

Have a great day!

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Answer 2

Phil Meagher Author

Level 1

88 points

Oct 18, 2016 7:50 PM in response to darren.s

Like I said, the News app by Apple is the only app WITHOUT that "Sounds" on/off toggle In the notifications settings.

I appreciate you trying to help me out here though!

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Answer 3

Phil Meagher Author

Level 1

88 points

Nov 15, 2016 7:22 AM in response to Phil Meagher

Heyes a picture to illustrate my point:

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Answer 4

braden85

Community Specialist

Oct 18, 2016 8:16 PM in response to Phil Meagher

Thanks for the clarification!

The News app should have a Sounds on/off toggle switch under Settings > Notifications > News. If you don't see it, try the following steps in order, testing after each step:

Restart your iPhone as described here: Restart your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch
Reset the settings on your iPhone under Settings > General > Reset > Reset All Settings. This won't remove any of your personal data (like contacts, Calendar events, pictures, etc) but it will revert customizable settings (alert sounds/ringtones, screen brightness, Date & Time settings, etc) back to their factory defaults. It will also remove saved Wi-Fi networks and password, as well as previously used APN or VPN settings.
Reinstall your iOS software, using the steps in this article: If you can‘t update or restore your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch

Even though the title of the article isn't specific to your issue, the steps under "Put your device in recovery mode and set it up again" will walk you through reinstalling the iOS software without removing any of your personal data. Even though your personal data won't be affected, it is still recommended that you create a backup prior to going through the reinstall process. You can get instructions on backing up here: How to back up your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch

Cheers!

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Answer 5

Phil Meagher Author

Level 1

88 points

Nov 15, 2016 7:30 AM in response to Phil Meagher

I restored my iPhone and I still do not see a "Sounds" option in the News app notification center. I checked 3 colleague's iPhones and they have THE SAME annoying issue. No "Sounds" option.

The only solution? Don't use News notifications (or the app) at all unless you want your phone to buzz every time there's "breaking" news.

Note: Every other application has a "Sounds" setting in the notification center. I'm pretty sure this is a bug or an intentional feature to get more people using the relatively slow News app.

Phil

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Answer 6

chris_g1

Community Specialist

Nov 15, 2016 1:08 PM in response to Phil Meagher

Hi Phil Meagher,

Thanks for letting us know you still do not see the Sound option for the News app after reinstalling the iOS software. It definitely should be there; the option has not been removed from iOS, and we have verified it appears on several different devices.

Since reinstalling still has not resolved the issue, the next step would be to restore the iPhone back to factory defaults, and set it up as a new device. This step will remove the data from your iPhone and revert all settings back to their defaults, which we want to see happen so that we can identify a potential data conflict. If you did not make a backup before reinstalling the iOS software, we encourage you to do so now. As a reminder, you can get help creating a backup in iCloud and iTunes here: How to back up your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch

Once you have a current backup, you can use the following article to restore your iPhone to factory settings: Restore your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch to factory settings

After the restore is complete, set the iPhone up as a new device (do not restore your backup, at least not just yet). You can sign into iCloud, iTunes and App Store, FaceTime, and iMessage. Then, go into Settings > Notifications > News and check to see if the Sound option is available. If not, the next step we can recommend would be to reach out to Apple Support directly. You can get in touch with them here: Contact Apple Support

Have a great day!

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Answer 7

Nov 21, 2016 7:48 AM in response to chris_g1

I had this problem. I uninstalled the News application (hold it's badge until it vibrates and the X appears, click the X) and then reinstalled the News application from the App Store and the Sounds functionality appeared in settings.

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Answer 8

Phil Meagher Author

Level 1

88 points

Nov 21, 2016 7:49 AM in response to DougBurke

Brilliant fix!

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Answer 9

JWarnerI

Level 1

4 points

Nov 21, 2016 5:42 PM in response to DougBurke

This was driving me nuts too. Thanks for your much simpler and less disruptive "fix" - it worked.

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Answer 10

Dec 16, 2016 12:01 PM in response to JWarnerI

Deleting the news app and reinstalling definitely works. Nuff said.

But the good news is bookmarks, favorites, history, alerts etc are all restored when you reinstall the app. My best guess is the settings are mostly or totally stored in iCloud. When delete app kind of indicates that. Also how would it work otherwise across devices without doing that?

Im noting this because could have sworn in this thread, or another, folks were noting that you had to reconfigure news upon reinstall. You dont.

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