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iPhone message tone notifications inconsistent

Ever since updating to iOS 11, my phone is inconsistent in giving me tone notifications on received text messages.


That is, I don't always get a tone alert on my lock screen. The banner still shows when I wake my phone. But, I don't always get a tone alert.


All settings are correct (no changes from before when there were no issues).


[Re-Titled by Host]


Anyone else having this problem with the new iOS? Any solutions?

iPhone 7, iOS 11

Posted on Sep 21, 2017 5:56 PM

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Posted on Nov 2, 2017 11:14 PM

I know this might sound obvious, but I just noticed that there’s a “hide alerts” feature in messages that appears if you swipe right on the conversation. I was wondering why texts from my wife didn’t have a tone play...I think this may be why. Later I noticed that a crescent moon appears to next to the conversation when “hide alerts” is enabled. See photo.User uploaded file

58 replies

May 29, 2018 10:52 PM in response to GuestQuestion

I had the same problem as the original poster. My text tone alerts did not work when my phone was locked. Turning off bluetooth did fix the problem. However, I was able to trace the real issue to having my Mac being logged into Messages. When I logged out of Messages on my Mac, then I get text tone alerts on my phone's lock screen with bluetooth enabled. I believe then that there is some issue with Handoff (the bluetooth factor) and Messages on macOS causing the alert to be squelched. I rarely used Messages on my Mac anyway since I generally have my phone, so this is a reasonable workaround for me.

May 30, 2018 8:30 AM in response to hasenpfeffer2

Just finished upgrade to iOS 11.4 and tested 2x SMS which alerted on locked iPhone with BT on (and signed in on Mac). Then got 3 automated SMS login codes from Apple: First one didn't sound but showed up on unlocked iPhone, second one alerted on Apple Watch, third (with Watch in Airplane Mode) did not sound or wake iPhone.

* * * *

Well, I just turned on Messages in iCloud on iPhone, waited for upload and tested again. All I can say is that SMS alerting is still unreliable. Can't figure out a pattern. Some alert, many don't.


I just activated SMS Forwarding to my Mac mini, tested SMS and got alert on iPhone and Mac. A second test came through to Mac only while using the Mac. A third test alerted on iPhone while Mac was asleep. I


** Messages in iCloud does not seem to be enabled in macOS 10.13.4. Maybe 10.13.5 soon....

Jun 1, 2018 8:26 PM in response to GuestQuestion

I too am having the same no notification tone alert when my phone screen is turned off after now updating to the new iOS 11.4 - I took someone else's advice and turned off the BT in settings and now it works perfectly normal....although now I can't use my watch properly or connect anything that needs BT without taking away the notification tones again. I hope the next update rolls out quickly to fix this - so unfortunate.

Aug 20, 2018 1:40 PM in response to GuestQuestion

My mom just had this issue.

At first it was just car play that didn't make any WhatsApp notification sound. Then the phone stopped making WhatsApp notification sounds but she was still getting notification sounds on her Apple watch.

We tried deleting WhatsApp and reinstalling but that didn't work.

We tried resetting WhatsApp notification settings but that didn't work.

We checked iPhone notification settings and they were all fine.

We checked she wasn't connected to any Bluetooth other than her Apple watch but that was all normal too.


Then I found this thread but since she uses bluetooth constantly either to connect her iphone to car play or her Apple watch, switching Bluetooth off to fix the bug was not an option.


I thought about checking Do Not Disturb. Her "do not disturb while driving" was set to Manual so that was good and she didn't have "do not disturb" on, nor did she have it scheduled.

Finally I thought since everyone on this thread had issues with not getting notifications when phone was locked that, even though she had do not disturb off and unscheduled, I would try and set the settings under "Silence" within "do not disturb" to "Always" instead of "While iPhone is locked". For good measure we switched "do not disturb" on and then of again.... And hey presto.... It worked, we get notification sounds again!


It was a complete shot in the dark but give it a try it might work for you too.

Good luck!

iPhone message tone notifications inconsistent

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