How to Silence a Contact on iPhone (2022)

Learn how to mute a contact on iPhone without putting your whole phone on Do Not Disturb.

By Conner Carey Updated 05/18/2022

* This post is part of iPhone Life's Tip of the Day newsletter. . *

Do you have a person in your Contacts you'd like to silence for a while? You can turn on Do Not Disturb mode on your iPhone for individual contacts without them being notified. We'll cover how to put someone on Do Not Disturb, while still receiving other needed notifications and messages. 

Related: How to Know If Someone Blocked Your Number on iPhone

Jump To:

What Is Do Not Disturb on iPhone? What about Focus Mode?

With iOS 15, Do Not Disturb became part of a larger set of Focus Modes that allows you to customize which notifications, calls, and messages you receive. If you're looking to silence a group of contacts or apps, learning how to turn on a Focus Mode can be your best option. If needed, you can also block a number if you no longer want to hear from a specific contact. However, sometimes you simply need to know how to mute notifications for a contact or a specific message thread. In this case, follow the steps below to learn how to mute a contact on iPhone.

How to Turn Do Not Disturb On for an Individual Contact

We've already covered how to turn off the ringer on your Mac. Here’s how to turn on Do Not Disturb for one contact on your iPhone.

  1. Open the Messages app and tap the conversation you want to silence.

  2. Tap the arrow next to the contact's name.

    do not disturb
  3. Toggle on Hide Alerts. 

  4. Tap Done.

  5. Now you'll see an alarm bell with a slash to the right of the thread in Messages. (For versions earlier than iOS 15, you'll see a crescent moon indicating that notifications are silenced.)

It's important to note that all Message notifications from this contact will be muted until you turn off Do Not Disturb for this contact. 

How to Turn Off Do Not Disturb for an Individual Contact

Here’s how to turn off Do Not Disturb on your iPhone, so you can receive notifications from the contact. 

  1. Swipe left on the conversation in Messages.

    Swipe left on conversation to turn alerts back on
  2. Tap the purple alarm bell icon to turn on alerts again.

    Tap the purple alarm icon

That's all there is to it!​ Now you can easily mute and unmute specific message threads whenever needed.

Master your iPhone in one minute a day: Sign up here to get our FREE Tip of the Day delivered right to your inbox.

Topics

How-To
iPad
iPhone
Apps
Contacts
Messages
Focus
Notifications
Communication

Author Details

Conner Carey's picture

Author Details

Conner Carey

Conner Carey's writing can be found at conpoet.com. She is currently writing a book, creating lots of content, and writing poetry via @conpoet on Instagram. She lives in an RV full-time with her mom, Jan and dog, Jodi as they slow-travel around the country.