Everything speaks when I get a notification, is there a fix?

By Jason, 5 July, 2024

Forum
iOS and iPadOS

Hi there!

So, when I get a notification, a text for example, my iPhone and iPad both speak. For texts, they say something like: "Messages, message from 234-567-8910, or from (contact name)". Is there a way to get notifications without announcing to the world that I got a message from Bill? If my phone is in the dark, IE in my pocket, and if the iPad is in a closed case, I just want to hear the notification sound. I can look at the notification when time and/or environment allows.

I'm using an iPhone 15 Pro Mac, and an iPad Pro with the M2 chip. Both are running IOS 17.5, whatever the latest is.

Thanks for your help in advance, I appreciate it.

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Comments

By PaulMartz on Wednesday, July 3, 2024 - 23:58

You can go to Settings, accessibility, voiceover, verbosity, system notifications.

It's easier to have that option on quick settings so you can access it with a quadrupble 2-finger tap. The problem is, everything is on quick settings by default. To remove what you don't need, go to settings, accessibility, VoiceOver, quick settings.

You can flick up on a notification, select options, and then mute that app for an hour or a day.

You can set a custom Focus mode.

Of course you can go to Settings, Notifications, and customize notifications there.

By Dominique Stansberry on Wednesday, July 3, 2024 - 23:58

I would mute the speech on one of the devices and of course lock the screen; that way I only have to focus on one device chattering away, e.g the Mac. And because I'm at the mac mostly anyways, I have everything forwarding to it as it comes in... e.g text and phone calls. Have been doing that sense 2014/15 and my messages and such always stayed in sinc between devices.. When I had my broken iPhone 8 in 2015, it helped that I could see all my messages and take phone calls over WiFi back then right here on the Mac.

By Tyler on Wednesday, July 3, 2024 - 23:58

Member of the AppleVis Editorial Team

In Settings > Accessibility > VoiceOver > Verbosity > System notifications, you can choose to "Speak count," which causes VoiceOver to announce the number of notifications on the Lock Screen, or "do nothing," which causes VoiceOver to not speak at all when a notification is received. In my experience, if I have VoiceOver configured to speak notification count, this setting will not be respected unless "Braille" is deselected on this screen. As I am not a braille user, this is not a problem for me, but I'm not sure why this happens or if this is a bug.

By Brian on Wednesday, July 3, 2024 - 23:58

Just go to Settings > Notifications. Once inside, scroll down to, "Messages".

Inside there simply, "uncheck", Lockscreen and Homescreen, but leave Notification Center checked.

From this point on, you should only hear your Text Message ringtone whenever you receive a Message.

HTH. 🙂

By Jason on Wednesday, July 3, 2024 - 23:58

Thank you all for responding! I configured my Quick Settings and turned off speaking of notifications as was suggested. When I get one now, the screen comes on and it speaks the time. My phone apparently tries to unlock because it tells me: "try again" two or three times. This happens unless the phone is screen down. I have the "always on display" mode, "nightstand" mode, and "raise to wake" mode all turned off. When my screen is locked, I just want the darn thing to stay off unless I hit the side button. ,Is this doable?

I read the suggestion to mute speech, that's a good idea. I also read the suggesti'on to turn off banners and such so I only get the tones. The only thing is that when I'm using the phone, I want it to read notifications as they come in.

As it stands, I have two working parts to the solution, so it’s ok. Hopefully you can help me make it perfecto.
Any ideas?

Thanks again.

By TheBllindGuy07 on Wednesday, July 10, 2024 - 23:58

I have a very weird question here, is it possible to make it so that voiceover usually speaks notification but not when there is the timer or alarm sound where it would read everything at loud plus the timer sound? Very annoying when it happens.

By Jason on Wednesday, July 10, 2024 - 23:58

Hi, @TheBllindGuy07!

I hate that too. It seems whenever the screen turns on, VO just loves to make my notifications known to everyone in earshot, and if an alarm is going, to the neighbors two blocks away! My notifications are not embarrassing, but VO shouting in the middle of a meeting sure is! Not that I set many alarms while in meetings, but you get the idea. This happens despite the many helpful suggestions here. Many of them should have worked, maybe there are bugs bugging IOS and iPadOS. I don't know. For your needs, it might be enough to enable a focus, like Sleep or Do Not Disterbe, and set it to come on every night at bed time. You could either set it to turn itself off a few minutes after wakeup time, or just turn it off manually after you've forced yourself out of bed. If you find anything helpful that’s not in this convo/thread, please share it. I'll do the same. There are a lot of VIPs here, I'm sure someone has found a solution to these problems.

Whether or not we find a solution, I appreciate all of the responses and participation.

By Jason on Wednesday, July 10, 2024 - 23:58

Hi there.
Do Not Disterbe, which I'll call DND here, would eliminate the problem of VO speaking too much, but it has serious drawbacks.
First, with DND on, I would have no way to know when I'm getting a call or any other notifications. I use DND in some situations, but it won't work as a daily solution. Another problem is that I want VO to speak the notifications while the screen is unlocked, IE when I'm using it. When using my phone or iPad, I'm either in an environment where speech is ok, or I have my headphones on/in.
I don't mean to seem picky, I hope I'm explaining what I want my i-devices to do.
Thank you for asking.

By Brian on Wednesday, July 10, 2024 - 23:58

Just to clarify, you do not want VoiceOver to output any of your notifications, only hear the Notification ringtone?

Or.

You want VO output on notifications, except, text messages?

Apologies if this has been answered, it is late and I have been nust with studies this weekend. 😪

By Jason on Wednesday, July 10, 2024 - 23:58

Hi, Brian.
Thanks for asking. My goal is this. If my screen is off, I don't want VO reading my notifications. I do want to hear the notification sound. Of course, VO doesn't read the content while the screen is locked, but it tells me more than I want. For example, if I get a notification from my bank, VO won't read it until I unlock, that's good, but it does say something like: "(my bank), (my bank), one notification." If my screen is locked, VO should assume it's not safe or appropriate to say anything about who/what is trying to contact me. People who can see are able to hear a notification sound: text, email, or other apps, but only know they have something to look at. If the bos is looking over their sholder, they aren't going to pull out the phone until the bos goes and time permits. When I get a notification from my bank, everyone around me who can understand VO knows. I've been asked if I'm low on funds, for example, and have to explain that I get notified for payments and deposits.

I hope that better explains things. When my phone is unlocked, I like VO to read whatever comes in, as it normally does. I just want it to keep quiet when the screen is locked/off.

By Brian on Wednesday, July 10, 2024 - 23:58

Do this:

Go to Settings > Accessibility > VoiceOver, tap it.
2. Scroll down to Verbosity, tap it.
3. Swipe over to, "System Notifications", tap that.
4. Under the "Notifications When Locked" heading, tap on, "Do Nothing". For Banner, choose whatever is clever. Also make sure "Use Silent Mode" is enabled.

Now this, should, make it so that when on your Lock Screen, or otherwise phone is locked, you will, only, hear your notification ringtone as notifications come in. Unless the phone is in Silent Mode, or the phone is laying face down, which will automagically silence just about every alert. Ever.

HTH.