When you are wearing AirPods or compatible Beats headphones, your iPhone possesses a deeply integrated feature called “Announce Notifications.” By default, if you receive a text message while listening to music or a podcast, Siri will lower the volume of your media, loudly announce the sender’s name, and read the contents of the message directly into your ears. While this hands-free feature is excellent when running or driving, it can be highly jarring and disruptive when you are trying to concentrate on an audiobook or relax at a café. If you prefer to check your messages manually, you can easily disable this Siri automation.
How to Disable Announce Notifications Completely
If you want to stop Siri from reading messages aloud under all circumstances while wearing headphones, you can toggle the feature off at the system level via the iOS Settings app.
- Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
- Scroll down and tap on Siri & Search.
- Locate the section labelled “Ask Siri” and tap on Announce Notifications.
- At the very top of the screen, you will see a master toggle switch for Announce Notifications. Tap the switch to turn it off (it will turn from green to grey).
This disables the feature entirely. Your iPhone will revert to playing a standard, subtle “ding” notification sound over your AirPods when a message arrives, allowing you to continue listening to your music uninterrupted.
How to Disable Announcements for Specific Apps Only
Perhaps you want Siri to read your urgent iMessages aloud, but you do not want it announcing trivial updates from WhatsApp or Slack. You can customize the feature on a per-app basis instead of using the master off switch.
- Navigate back to Settings > Siri & Search > Announce Notifications.
- Ensure the master toggle switch at the top is turned on.
- Scroll down to the bottom half of the screen, where you will see a list of every app installed on your iPhone that supports this feature.
- Tap on a specific app (e.g., WhatsApp).
- Toggle the Announce Notifications switch to the off position for that specific application.
You can go through the list and disable announcements for noisy group chats or social media apps, ensuring Siri only interrupts you for the communication channels you deem most important.