iOS 12: Turn Off Notifications at Night

This guide shows you how to stop notifications from interrupting your sleep on an iPhone or iPad running iOS 12. You’ll learn to silence everything at once with Do Not Disturb, and to permanently mute specific apps that are prone to pinging late at night. No special apps or settings are required—everything is built into iOS 12.

What You’ll Need

• An iPhone or iPad running iOS 12 (check in Settings > General > About > Software Version)
• Your passcode or Face ID/Touch ID to change certain notification settings

Step-by-Step

Method 1: Use Do Not Disturb (Silence All Notifications Temporarily)

1. Open Settings (the gear icon) on your device.
2. Tap Do Not Disturb (it’s usually near the top, under Airplane Mode and Wi-Fi).
3. Toggle Do Not Disturb to On. You’ll see a moon icon appear in the status bar at the top of the screen.
4. Choose Scheduled if you want this to happen automatically every night. Toggle Scheduled on, then tap the time fields to set your From and To times (e.g., 10:00 PM to 7:00 AM).
5. Decide whether you want calls to come through. Under Allow Calls From, choose Everyone, No One, Favorites, or a specific group. The default is Favorites.
6. If you want repeated calls (same person calls twice within 3 minutes) to break through, leave Repeated Calls toggled on. If you don’t want any calls, toggle it off.
7. To silence all notifications immediately (without scheduling), just toggle Do Not Disturb on manually. You can also quickly enable it from Control Center: swipe up from the bottom of the screen (or swipe down from the top-right on iPhone X and later) and tap the moon icon.

Method 2: Mute Specific Apps Permanently

1. Open Settings and tap Notifications.
2. Scroll through the list and tap the app you want to mute (for example, Mail, WhatsApp, or a game).
3. Toggle Allow Notifications to Off. This completely silences all alerts from that app—no banners, sounds, or badge icons.
4. If you want to keep badges but stop sounds and banners, toggle Sounds off and set Alert Style to None. Leave Badge App Icon on if you still want the red number badge.
5. Repeat for any other apps that tend to send late-night notifications.

Method 3: Use Do Not Disturb While Driving (If You Drive at Night)

1. In Settings > Do Not Disturb, scroll to Do Not Disturb While Driving.
2. Set it to Automatically or When Connected to Car Bluetooth. This activates when it detects driving, silencing notifications while you’re on the road.
3. This is not specifically for night, but it’s useful if you drive late.

Common Mistakes

• Forgetting to schedule Do Not Disturb: If you only toggle it on manually, it stays on until you turn it off the next morning. That can cause you to miss important calls all day. Use the Scheduled feature so it turns off automatically.
• Not checking “Allow Calls Fromâ€�: The default is Favorites, so if you have a favorite contact who calls at 3 AM, it will ring. Change this to No One if you want absolute silence.
• Turning off notifications for an app but leaving sounds on: Some apps have separate sound settings. If you toggled Allow Notifications off, it’s silenced. But if you only turned off banners, sounds might still play. Always check the Sounds toggle.
• Assuming Do Not Disturb blocks alarms: Alarms set in the Clock app still sound. Do Not Disturb only silences notifications, not your alarm clock.
• Not using the moon icon in Control Center: It’s the fastest way to toggle Do Not Disturb on/off, but many people don’t know it’s there. Swipe up (or down) and tap the moon.

Tips

• Use “Bedtimeâ€� in the Clock app: iOS 12’s Clock app has a Bedtime tab. Set your wake-up time and it will remind you to go to bed and automatically enable Do Not Disturb during your sleep hours. To set it, open Clock > Bedtime > Set Up.
• Customize per-app alerts: For apps you don’t want to fully mute, you can set Alert Style to Banners (which disappear automatically) instead of Alerts (which require you to tap). This reduces distraction but still shows you what came in.
• Use “Emergency Bypassâ€� for critical contacts: In a contact’s info, you can set Emergency Bypass to On. This lets their calls and texts ring even when Do Not Disturb is on, which is useful for family or an on-call job.
• Check the “Silenceâ€� option: In Do Not Disturb settings, you can choose to silence Always or Only While iPhone is Locked. If you choose the latter, notifications will sound when you’re using your phone even during your scheduled quiet hours.

Troubleshooting

• Do Not Disturb is on but notifications still appear: Check if you have “Mirror iPhoneâ€� enabled on your Apple Watch (if you own one). The watch can override the iPhone’s setting. On your watch, go to Settings > Do Not Disturb and ensure it’s set to Mirror iPhone.
• Scheduled Do Not Disturb doesn’t turn off in the morning: Make sure the To time is set correctly. If you set From 10:00 PM to 7:00 AM, it should turn off at 7:00 AM. If it doesn’t, toggle Scheduled off and on again.
• An app still makes sounds after you turned off notifications: Some apps have their own in-app sound settings. Open the app and look for a settings or notification section inside it. For example, in WhatsApp, go to Settings > Notifications and turn off “Soundâ€�.
• You missed an important call because of Do Not Disturb: If you have “Repeated Callsâ€� on, the same person calling twice within 3 minutes will ring through. If not, you can check your call history later. To allow specific people, add them to Favorites and set “Allow Calls Fromâ€� to Favorites.
• Notifications are silenced but you still see banners on the lock screen: That’s normal. Do Not Disturb silences sounds and alerts, but it doesn’t hide notifications from the lock screen. To hide them, go to Settings > Notifications > [App] > Show Previews and set it to “When Unlockedâ€� or “Neverâ€�.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will Do Not Disturb block my alarm?

No. Alarms set in the Clock app will still sound. Do Not Disturb only silences notifications, calls, and alerts from apps.

Can I allow calls from certain people during Do Not Disturb?

Yes. In Settings > Do Not Disturb > Allow Calls From, choose Favorites, a specific group, or Everyone. You can also enable Emergency Bypass for individual contacts.

How do I turn off notifications for a specific app permanently?

Go to Settings > Notifications, tap the app, and toggle “Allow Notifications� off. This stops all alerts from that app.

Does Do Not Disturb affect the Apple Watch?

If your watch is paired, it mirrors your iPhone’s Do Not Disturb setting by default. You can change this in the Watch app on your iPhone or in Settings on the watch.

Why do I still see notification banners even with Do Not Disturb on?

Do Not Disturb silences sounds and alerts, but banners still appear on the lock screen. To hide them, go to Settings > Notifications, tap the app, and change “Show Previews� to “When Unlocked� or “Never�.

Can I schedule Do Not Disturb for different times on weekends?

In iOS 12, you can only set one schedule for all days. You can’t set different times for weekdays and weekends. If you want different times, you’ll need to toggle it manually or use the Bedtime feature which can be adjusted per day.

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