How to Turn off Notifications on Mac

Notifications can be bothersome when you’re trying to focus on something. You can use various methods to turn off notifications on Mac either completely or for a particular app. We have cataloged a few of them so you can decide what works out for you the best.

The process behind turning off the notifications on mac is not that difficult to carry forward. If you have synced your messages to Mac, that might be something you need to take care of since the notifications can be troublesome all the time. Either choose to silence all the messages or selective conversations.

2020 Apple MacBook Pro with Apple M1 Chip (13-inch, 8GB RAM, 512GB SSD Storage) - Space Gray

You can do all of these pretty easily by simply following the step we have mentioned in this guide. Apart from that, you can also learn to use the focus feature every Mac has in order to silence the other apps as well. Let us directly get on with it.

How to Turn off Notifications on Mac for Messages App 

You can choose to turn off any form of notifications that on Mac from iMessage. If you have already synced your iPhone to your Mac, you will receive notifications for any message you receive on your number. But you can always disable these features by following the steps here.

  • Open up your Mac
  • Move the pointer to click on the Apple logo on the screen’s top-left corner. 
  • Select System Preferences from the menu. 
  • Now click on the Notifications & Focus tab.
How to Turn off Notifications on Mac for Messages App
How to Turn off Notifications on Mac
  • You will see a list of applications installed on your Mac on the left-hand side within the new window. 
  • Scroll down till you see the Messages app and select it. 
  • Uncheck the Allow Notifications toggle, which will be on the right side of the window. 
Turn off Notifications on Mac
how to turn off notifications on macbook

This won’t sign you out of the app, but only the notifications won’t be allowed to be displayed on the screen. Your messages will still sync and be available when you open the app, but the app won’t notify you when you receive a new text. 

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How to Turn Off Message Notifications by Signing Out from App

Apart from simply turning off the notifications on mac, if you do not want to sync your messages to your device, you can follow the steps below to sign out of your account. 

  • Open up your Mac
  • Find and open the Messages app. You can find the app on the dock itself, or if you can’t see it, the Spotlight search can also be used to open it. Press the Command-Space shortcut to launch the search bar, type messages, and enter to open the app. 
  • Move the pointer over to the Menu Bar and click on Messages
  • From the menu, click on Preferences.
  •  Head on over to the iMessage tab within the new window. 
  • Next to your Apple ID, you will see a Sign Out button; click on that.
How to Turn off Notifications on Mac
how to turn off notifications on macbook pro
  • An inquiry dialog box will pop up if you want to sign out of iMessage; click on Sign out, and you’re done. 

This will turn off iMessage from your Mac, and you won’t receive any message notifications from it. 

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How to Silence a Particular Conversation Within the Messages App?

Well, if you do not entirely want to disable the notification from your Mac, there are options where you can choose to simply silence the conversation of a particular person. Here is how you can do this.

  • Open up your Mac. 
  • Open the Messages application from the dock, or the Spotlight search can also be used to find and open the app. Press the Command-Space shortcut to launch the search bar, type messages, and enter to open the app. 
  • Now, select a particular conversation you do not want to receive notifications from inside the Messages app. 
  • Click on the ‘i’ button at the window’s top right corner. 
how to turn off notifications on macbook air
How do I control notifications on Mac
  • Check the Hide Alerts box and close the application. 
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how to turn off notifications on mac from iphone

Doing this will silence all the notifications from that conversation alone. However, you will continue receiving messages from all other contacts. 

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How to Turn off Notifications on Mac Using the Focus Feature

The latest version of the macOS Monterey has a feature known as Focus; this is an intelligent Do-Not-Disturb feature that can be used to moderate when and from which app you receive notifications from.

  • Open up your Mac. 
  • Move the pointer over to the Menu Bar and click on the Apple logo. 
  • Select System Preferences from the menu and head to the Notifications & Focus tab. 
  • Select Focus within the new window. 
  • Under the Turn on Automatically section, click on the ‘+’ sign and hit add app-based automation.
how to turn off notifications on mac desktop
mac notification center
  • Select the Messages app from the list and hit Add. 
  • You can also use time-based automation, which will allow you to mute the notifications entirely for a particular time duration. 
  • Click on the ‘+’ icon under the Turn on Automatically section and click add time-based automation. Select the days and the time duration in which you don’t want to receive any notifications on your Mac. Hit Add when you’re done adjusting it to your needs. 

Focus allows you to adjust how, when and from which app you receive notifications and at what time. You can also use location-based automation features to turn on Focus when you’re at a particular location.

For example, you can enter the address of your office, so whenever you’re detected at the office using the GPS, Focus will turn itself on, silencing any and all notifications.

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Conclusion

There we have it, folks; you now know of all the features and methods on how to turn off notifications on Mac. It includes specifically your messages since you may receive a lot of them over the course of time. It might only happen if you have synced your iPhone and Mac together for messages.

You can here either choose to turn off the notifications or simply sign out entirely. Other than this, to silence the notifications of other apps or software, we recommend you try the Focus features out. Once you get used to it, there’s no going back because of how intuitive it is. It is super easy to use and even allows you to revert any changes you have made.

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