Basic Fixes
- Force restart your iPhone: An existing iOS glitch may suppress iMessage notifications. Press and quickly release the Volume Up button followed by Volume Down. Press and hold the side button and release it when the Apple logo appears to force-restart your iPhone.
- Disable the Focus mode: An active Focus mode can silence iMessage notifications to minimize distractions. Swipe down from the top right corner of your iPhone to open the Control Centre, and tap the Focus toggle to disable the Do Not Disturb profile.
- Turn off Scheduled Summary: iOS’s Scheduled Summary feature bundles notifications and delivers them at a set time rather than in real-time. If iMessage is included, you may miss its instant alerts. Disable it from iPhone Settings > Notifications > Scheduled Summary.
- Verify Text Tone Sound: Make sure your iPhone plays a sound for new text notifications. Head to Settings > Sounds & Haptics > Text Tone, and ensure it isn’t set to None.
- Update iOS: Open iPhone Settings, select General, and tap Software Update. Select Install now to update your iPhone to the latest iOS version.
Fix 1: Disable and Enable iMessage
Disabling and enabling the iMessage service manually on your iPhone refreshes it, fixing existing glitches and bugs that are blocking its notifications.
Step 1: Open the Settings app, scroll down to select Apps, and tap Messages.
Step 2: Disable the iMessage toggle, wait a few seconds, and turn it back on.
Fix 2: Check and Enable iMessage Notifications
If iMessage notifications aren’t working on your device, make sure they’re enabled under iOS settings and turn on time-sensitive notifications for the Messages app.
Step 1: Select Notifications under iPhone Settings and tap Messages.
Step 2: Ensure the Allow Notifications toggle is enabled and turn on Time-Sensitive Notifications.
Fix 3: Check Contact Settings
If iMessage notifications only work selectively for some contacts, check that you haven’t muted or hidden notification alerts for the affected contact.
Step 1: Open Messages, select the iMessage conversation whose notifications aren’t arriving, and tap the Sender at the top.
Step 2: Disable the Hide Alerts toggle to resume getting the iMessage notification.
Fix 4: Turn off Filter Unknown Senders
If you aren’t receiving iMessage notifications from people not on your contact list, configure your iPhone to disable the filter for unknown senders.
Step 1: Select Apps under iPhone Settings and tap Messages.
Step 2: Tap Unknown & Spam under ‘Message Filtering’ and turn off Filter Unknown Senders.
Fix 5: Turn off Message Forwarding
Lastly, you may miss iMessage notifications on your iPhone if you’ve configured automatic message forwarding to your connected Apple devices. To fix it, head to your iPhone Settings and disable the feature.
Note: If you can’t find the Text Message Forwarding option, sign in with the same Apple ID on other Apple devices.
Step 1: Open Messages Settings on your iPhone (check the above steps), and select Text Message Forwarding.
Step 2: Turn off the toggle for all connected Apple devices to disable text forwarding to them.
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Last updated on 16 August, 2024
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