How To Silence Notifications On Mac

Tips
1

I’m trying to figure out how to completely silence notifications on my Mac without missing important alerts later. Constant banners and sounds keep interrupting my work and video calls, even when I think I turned Do Not Disturb on. Can someone explain the right settings or steps to mute everything temporarily, and how to customize which apps can still notify me so I don’t miss critical messages?

2

I fought with this on my Mac for a while. Here is what worked so I stop getting spammed during calls but still see what I missed later.

  1. Use Focus instead of old Do Not Disturb
    macOS ties it to “Focus” now.
    Go to
    System Settings → Focus → Do Not Disturb

  2. Block everything during the Focus
    In that Do Not Disturb focus:
    • Allowed Notifications: set People to “None”
    • Apps: remove all apps
    • Options: turn off “Allow time sensitive notifications”
    Time sensitive still breaks through if you leave it on.

  3. Turn off all sounds from notifications
    System Settings → Notifications
    Go app by app for the noisy ones:
    • Turn off “Play sound for notifications”
    • Set alert style to “None” if you do not need banners
    Messaging apps and calendar apps love to ping. Kill sounds there first.

  4. Add a quick toggle in Control Center
    System Settings → Control Center → Focus → “Show in menu bar”
    Then click the moon icon in the menu bar before calls.
    Or set a schedule.

  5. Use a strict “Work” Focus for calls
    Create a new Focus named “Calls” or “Meetings”
    • Allowed notifications: none
    • Sharing across devices: off if you do not want your iPhone to change too
    • Add an Automation: “When app is opened” for Zoom, Meet, Teams etc
    Turn the Focus on when those apps open, off when they close.

  6. Make sure alarms and calendar alerts still show later
    Even if sounds are off, you will see missed notifications in Notification Center.
    Swipe from the top right corner or click the time in the menu bar.
    They stack there without bothering you in real time.

  7. Extra nuke option
    If something still slips through, set Mac volume to zero and use app specific sounds:
    • In Zoom or Teams, set their alert sounds off
    • Let only the call audio use your device volume
    I had one menu bar app that ignored Focus until I disabled its own sounds.

With this setup my Mac stays silent during work, and I still see everything I missed in Notification Center later.

3

If Focus + per‑app notif tweaking still isn’t cutting it (I agree with @nachtdromer on most of that, but macOS still loves to sneak in a ping or two), here are some extra angles that helped me actually shut the thing up without losing track of what happened.

  1. Use “Deliver Quietly” instead of just muting
    For the worst offenders (Messages, Slack, etc):

    • Trigger a notification from that app
    • Right‑click it in Notification Center
    • Choose “Deliver Quietly”
      That way they still appear in Notification Center but never pop up or play sounds in real time. It’s faster than digging in Settings per app.

  2. Turn off “Allow notifications when mirroring or sharing”
    This one bit me hard during screen shares.

    • System Settings → Notifications
    • Scroll to the bottom
    • Disable “Allow notifications when mirroring or sharing”
      Even with Focus on, some alerts still appear while sharing your screen unless this is off.

  3. Kill badge icons for deep focus
    The red badges are basically visual notifications.

    • System Settings → Notifications
    • Go app by app and turn off “Badge app icon”
      You’ll still have history in Notification Center, but your Dock and sidebar stop screaming at you.

  4. Use a “Mute All UI” audio output
    If you really want to be sure nothing makes a sound but still want app audio for calls:

    • Create a virtual audio device (like with BlackHole or Loopback)
    • Set system output to that virtual device
    • In your meeting app, set the output to your real headphones
      Now system sounds & notif sounds have nowhere audible to go, but Zoom / Meet audio still works. Bit nerdy, but rock solid.

  5. Disable “Announce notifications” / Siri stuff
    If you ever toggled this:

    • System Settings → Siri & Spotlight → Siri Suggestions & Privacy
    • Make sure none of the announce / suggestion stuff is turned on in a way that surfaces alerts at bad moments.
      Those voice / suggestion things can feel like “extra notifications” that bypass your other tweaks.

  6. Use a “Review Time” reminder so you don’t forget alerts
    To make sure you actually check what you missed later:

    • Create a repeating reminder called “Check Notification Center” at times that work for you
    • When it goes off, open Notification Center and clear things out
      That keeps your notif history useful instead of a random pile you never look at.

  7. Don’t sync Focus across devices if your phone is noisy
    I slightly disagree with @nachtdromer here. Sharing Focus across devices is great in theory, but if your iPhone or iPad has different notif chaos, you can get weird behavior. Try:

    • System Settings → Focus → turn off “Share across devices”
      Then tune Mac and phone separately. Less magical but way more predictable.

Put together:

  • Use Focus for the “hard wall”
  • Deliver Quietly + no badges for the spammy apps
  • Disable “when mirroring or sharing”
  • Optional: virtual audio sink for total silence

After I did all that, my Mac finally stopped yelling at me mid‑call, and I still have a full log of what I missed waiting in Notification Center when I’m ready to deal with it.

4

Short version: you want silence now, but context later. Focus + “Deliver Quietly” + per‑app tweaks (what you and @nachtdromer already do) get you 80%. Here are some different angles for the last 20% without rehashing the same steps.

1. Build a “Silent Except Critical” Focus mode from contacts, not apps
Instead of thinking “which apps can ping me,” flip it to “which people can break through.”

  • In Focus settings, allow no apps.
  • Under “Allow notifications from people,” only add a tiny list of humans you truly cannot miss (boss, family, on‑call contact).
  • For those people, configure your chat apps so their DMs are “high priority” or “notify anyway.”
    This way, even if Slack or Messages is noisy in general, only a few specific senders can buzz you during that Focus.

2. Use Calendar as your notification gatekeeper
If you are often interrupted during meetings or deep work blocks, let your calendar auto‑toggle the “shut up” mode.

  • In Focus options, enable “Turn on automatically” based on calendar events that match a specific tag or calendar.
  • Create a separate calendar called “Focus time / No notifications” and assign meetings or work blocks to it.
    Whenever something is on that calendar, Focus enables and the Mac goes quiet. No manual switch, no forgetting.

3. Turn Notification Center into a strict inbox
To avoid random visual noise while keeping a log:

  • For any noncritical app, set it to Alerts off, Badges off, Sounds off, but keep “Show in Notification Center” on.
  • For truly spammy ones (social, marketing email apps), turn off “Show in Notification Center” as well so your “inbox” is only business‑critical stuff.
    This pairs nicely with your scheduled “review” time idea: you will not drown in junk when you open the shade.

4. Use different Focus modes for “video calls” vs “deep work”
You probably do not want the same rules in both cases.

  • “Deep Work” Focus: nearly everything blocked, only a few people allowed, all visuals minimized.
  • “Call / Recording” Focus: block all popups and sounds, but leave badges on for communication apps so you can glance after a call.
    Tie “Call / Recording” to specific apps if possible (Zoom, Meet, Teams) so it triggers only when they are active.

5. System sounds vs app sounds: separate your mental model
You do not need virtual audio devices if you do not want that complexity. Instead:

  • Disable “Play user interface sound effects” in Sound settings to kill click / alert sound spam.
  • Inside each communication app, verify alert volumes separately from system volume.
    I slightly disagree with the virtual-audio‑sink trick: it is powerful, but overkill for many people and can create confusion when you forget how things are routed.

6. Keep Focus history obvious so you do not miss the important stuff later
Silence is pointless if you never see what happened. To fix that:

  • Add a simple Reminder or Calendar event called “Process notifications” at specific times (e.g., after lunch, end of day).
  • When it fires, open Notification Center, sort by app, and clear aggressively.
    This creates a tight loop: silence during work, quick batch triage later.

7. About syncing Focus across devices
Here I am more in line with @nachtdromer: I actually prefer syncing Focus across Mac and iPhone, but only after cleaning up the phone’s notification chaos first.

  • If your phone is still wild, turn off “Share across devices” for now.
  • Once your iPhone has similar quiet rules, re‑enable sync so a single toggle truly mutes your entire ecosystem.

On “How To Silence Notifications On Mac” as a topic: the real trick is accepting that there is no one master switch that behaves perfectly. You get the best results by combining:

  • A strict Focus that is based on who can contact you, not just which app.
  • Calendar automation so Focus is on when you actually need it.
  • A curated Notification Center that acts like an inbox, not a random stream.

That setup keeps the Mac genuinely silent in the moment while still giving you a reliable trail to review when you are ready.