Apple’s AirPods are one of the most popular wireless headphones on the market, but there are a few things you can do to stop them from reading notifications. The first thing you can do is turn off “Hey Siri” on your iPhone or iPad. This will stop AirPods from listening for voice commands, and it will also disable any potential notifications that may be coming in through the microphone on the earbuds. If you want to be able to take advantage of some of the features that AirPods offer, like being able to control music playback or answer phone calls, then you’ll need to enable “Hey Siri” again. You can do this by going into Settings on your iPhone or iPad and selecting “Siri & Search.” From here, toggle “Hey Siri” to ON. Another way to stop AirPods from reading notifications is to disable “Do Not Disturb While Driving.” This setting will prevent any incoming calls or messages from interrupting your driving, but it will also disable any notifications that might be coming in through the earbuds. ..
You can disable the feature completely, but you also have a few other options to make it less noisy. You can instead reduce the number of notifications your iPhone reads or have it only read notifications while you’re driving. Here’s how.
Turn Off “Announce Notifications” in Settings
When enabled, this feature will make use of Siri to announce incoming notifications, including messages and calendar appointments. You can also choose to announce notifications from third-party apps.
To stop your iPhone from reading notifications over your AirPods, head to Settings > Notifications > Announce Notifications.
To turn the feature off in its entirety, disable “Announce Notifications.” The feature will be disabled both for headphone use or when you’re using CarPlay.
This setting applies to AirPods (second generation), AirPods Pro, AirPods Max, Beats Solo Pro, Powerbeats Pro, and Powerbeats. It doesn’t work with standard Bluetooth headphones or external speakers.
If you want to leave the feature on while using CarPlay, you can enable “Announce Notifications” but disable the “Headphones” option. Tap on “CarPlay” to make further changes to the way incoming messages are announced.
Customize Notifications Announcements
Siri’s ability to announce notifications can be very handy, but its utility largely depends on how it’s used. It’s far less disruptive if you’re careful about which notifications are announced so that you aren’t getting unimportant notifications from apps like games or social networks.
You can customize which apps are announced under Settings > Notifications > Announce Notifications by scrolling down. You’ll see a list of installed apps. Tap on an app to enable or disable “Announce Notifications” for that particular software.
Some apps (like Calendar) let you differentiate between “Time Sensitive Notifications” and regular notifications so that only the most important alerts are read out. If you enable this setting for an app that doesn’t already have notifications enabled (in the Settings > Notifications menu), notifications will be turned on.
Balancing iPhone Notifications
Notifications are arguably one of the most useful features on any smartphone. They alert you to important email messages and online developments in real-time, but striking a balance between being informed and being overwhelmed is essential.
Learning how to master iPhone notifications lets you eliminate annoying notifications and make sure you don’t miss the ones that matter. If you have an Apple Watch, it’s a good idea to fine-tune the notifications you receive on your Apple Watch too.
