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    How to Manage Notification Badges and Alerts on iPhone

    Those red number badges on app icons and constant notification sounds can be overwhelming. Here is how to take control of which apps notify you and how.

    3 min read 5 stepsApril 19, 2026Verified April 2026
    1

    Review which apps send notifications

    ~18s
    Go to SettingsNotifications. You see every app on your phone listed, each showing whether notifications are on or off. Scroll through and look for apps with "Banners, Sounds, Badges" that you really do not need notifications from — social media, shopping apps, games, and news apps are common culprits.
    2

    Turn off notifications for an app

    ~25s
    Tap any app in the Notifications list. At the top, toggle "Allow Notifications" OFF. The app is completely silenced — no badges, sounds, or popups at all. Good candidates to silence completely: games, rarely used apps, shopping apps, and anything you check voluntarily rather than needing alerts from.

    Quick Tip

    Quick Tip: You can always open an app manually to check it — silencing its notifications just means you decide when to check, not the app.

    3

    Turn off badges (red number dots) without turning off everything

    ~19s
    Tap any app → scroll down to see Alerts options → toggle "Badges" OFF while leaving Sounds and Banners on (or mix and match). This removes the red number from the icon while still letting you see a popup when a new notification arrives. Many people find badges more stressful than helpful.
    4

    Turn off sounds while keeping visual notifications

    ~19s
    Tap any app → toggle "Sounds" OFF. The notification still appears as a banner and on the lock screen, but your phone does not make any noise for it. This is useful for apps like email where you want to see notifications but not be interrupted by sounds every time an email arrives.
    5

    Use Focus modes to temporarily silence everything

    ~21s
    Go to SettingsFocus. "Do Not Disturb" is the simplest — turn it on and all notifications are silenced except from contacts you designate as allowed. Set it to turn on automatically at certain times (like 10 PM to 7 AM for sleeping). Tap a FocusAllowed Notifications to set exactly which contacts and apps can still reach you.

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    The red number badges on app icons (the little circles showing "5" on your Mail app or "27" on Messages) and constant notification sounds can quickly become overwhelming. Every app wants your attention, and by default, most apps have permission to send you all types of notifications.

    Taking control of your notification settings is one of the best things you can do for your digital wellbeing. It silences the noise while keeping the alerts that actually matter.

    Types of notifications:

    - Badges: The red number bubbles on app icons — they show counts of unread items - Alerts/Banners: Popup messages that appear at the top of the screen while you are using your phone - Lock Screen notifications: Messages that appear when your screen is off - Sounds: Audio alerts for incoming notifications - Haptic: Vibration when a notification arrives

    You can control all of these individually for each app. For example, you might keep Messages sounds and banners but turn off email sounds and only keep badges for Mail.

    The goal is not to eliminate all notifications — it is to keep the ones that are genuinely useful to you and quiet the ones that just cause interruptions.

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    Official Resources

    Apple Support — iPhoneGoogle Help — AndroidSamsung Support

    Sources used to create and verify this guide. View all sources →

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    How to Manage Notification Badges and Alerts on iPhone — Step-by-Step Guide | TekSure