How to Turn Off the Red Notification Badges on Mac App Icons

The red notification badges (the small circles containing a white number) on Mac Dock icons are designed to demand your attention. While they are useful for alerting you to unread emails or new software updates, they can quickly become overwhelming and anxiety-inducing if you have dozens of unread Slack messages or hundreds of promotional emails in Apple Mail. If you find these bright red badges distracting during deep work sessions, you can easily disable them for specific applications, or turn them off completely across your entire Mac.

How to Disable Badges for Specific Apps

The most practical approach is to disable the red badges for noisy apps (like Mail or Messages) while leaving them enabled for critical apps (like Calendar or System Settings).

1. Click the Apple Logo () in the top-left corner of your Mac’s menu bar.
2. Select System Settings… (or System Preferences… in older macOS versions) from the drop-down menu.
3. In the left-hand sidebar, click on Notifications.
4. In the main pane, scroll down to the “Application Notifications” section, which lists all the apps installed on your Mac.
5. Click on the specific application you want to silence (e.g., Mail).
6. Look for the toggle switch labelled Badge application icon.
7. Click the toggle to turn it off (the switch will turn from blue/green to grey).

The red badge will immediately disappear from that specific app’s icon in your Dock, even if you have hundreds of unread items within the app itself. The app will still receive data normally, and you can still choose to allow banners or sound alerts if you wish.

How to Disable All Badges Using Focus Modes

If you do not want to go through every single app individually, or if you only want the badges hidden during working hours, you can use a macOS Focus Profile.

1. Open System Settings and click on Focus in the left-hand sidebar.
2. Select your primary Focus mode (e.g., Do Not Disturb or Work).
3. Under the “Options” section, click on Options.
4. Locate the setting labelled Hide notification badges and toggle it on.

Now, whenever that specific Focus mode is active, all red notification badges across your entire Dock will be suppressed simultaneously, providing a completely clean and distraction-free desktop environment.