The iPhone’s Messages app can be full of pinging and ringing as you converse with friends and family. Some of them can be useful, while others can often feel like a little … extra. If you’d prefer a little more silence from time to time, you can start by easily disabling the outgoing message sound in just a few easy steps. There are benefits to having this sound on, such as confirming that a message went through, but you can easily solve that by keeping an eye on all outgoing messages. If you want to go down this road, the following steps will have you free of the outgoing sound in no time.
1. Turn Off All Sounds in Messages
Because the iPhone does not distinguish between outgoing sounds and incoming message sounds, we have to first disable all sounds associated with Messages.
1. Open “Sounds & Haptics” in the Settings app.
2. Tap “Text Tone” to open the interface for changing the messaging sounds.
3. Choose “None” from the top of the list. This will not disable vibrations, but it will disable the sound for all contacts.
Also read:How to Secure Your iPhone’s Data and Privacy
2. Re-enable Incoming Message Alerts
Of course, simply silencing Messages completely isn’t much help. If that were the only solution, it wouldn’t be much better than silencing your phone completely.
To re-enable incoming message alerts, you’ll need to set personal text tones for each contact in your phone book. The only way to do this is manually, and there are no bulk tools that actually make it easier. The best way to prioritize contacts is to go through your list of recent text messages. Fortunately, as long as vibration is on, you will get at least a tactile alert and maybe a small audible alert, depending on the surface your phone is sitting on at the moment.
To set custom text tones for your most important contacts, follow the instructions below.
1. Open the “Phone” app.
2. Tap the “Contacts” tab at the bottom.
3. Tap the contact you want to edit, and in the contact’s detail page, tap “Edit” in the upper-right corner.
4. Tap “Text Tone,” select the tone you want to hear when an incoming message arrives, and tap “Done” to confirm.
This will only play on incoming messages from this particular contact. It won’t affect other contacts, and it won’t affect your outgoing message sound effect.
5. Tap “Done” again to save your changes.
Also read:How to Fix Contact Names Not Showing, Appearing as Numbers in iOS
3. Setting Custom Vibrations
If you get a text message from a contact with no custom text tone associated with them, your iPhone will only vibrate to alert you of the new message. The default vibrations aren’t very noticeable or powerful. Fortunately, you can set custom ones.
1. Open “Settings,” then tap “Sounds & Haptics” to open the tones menu.
3. Tap “Text Tone,” then look at the top of the screen to locate the option for “Vibration.”
4. Scroll to the bottom and tap “Create New Vibration.”
5. Using your finger, tap out the vibration pattern on the screen. Holding your finger on the screen will create a continuous vibration, while tapping it will create a short vibration.
6. When finished, tap “Stop,” then tap “Save” to name your completed vibration pattern. It will be automatically set as the text alert vibration pattern when you’re done.
One More Option
Sometimes silence really is golden. When the moment strikes that you would prefer no sound whatsoever in your messages, switch your iPhone to “Silent mode.” This is as easy as flipping the external switch on the left side of your iPhone. Set it to silent;, and all of your message sounds will turn off, both outgoing and incoming. When you are ready for ringing and pinging again, flip the switch back to “Ring mode.”
Also read:How to Change Your iMessage Bubble Color in iOS
Wrapping Up
While many people enjoy having all sorts of noises pinging their phones all day long, others enjoy a little bit of silence. If you’re like me, it’s all vibration, all the time. That said, not everyone is ready for no sounds from their iPhone, and that is okay. Fortunately, with the steps outlined here, you can easily reverse any of your changes just as fast as you did when turning them off.
Meanwhile, learn how to compress videos on your iPhone and also check out some of the best Accessibility hacks for your iPhone.
Our latest tutorials delivered straight to your inbox
