How to Silence a Contact on Your iPhone

Don’t we all have that one annoying friend who keeps calling to make small talk? You don’t want to block them — because you’re friends with them. Nor do you want to pick up their calls every time since you may be busy. So, what do you do? Silence their calls and texts. Here’s how to silence a contact on your iPhone so as not to receive loud notifications from them.

Silencing or muting a contact on an iPhone is different from blocking them. When you silence notifications for one person, you’ll continue to receive calls and texts from them. However, you won’t hear your ringtone or notification sound. This way, you won’t be distracted and can respond to the notification whenever you want.

There are two ways to do this. The first method involves using Focus Modes to mute a contact. The second method is slightly simpler but must be repeated for every contact. We’ll go through both. You can follow the one you’re most comfortable with.

If you already have certain people on your mind while reading this, here’s how to mute their calls and texts without blocking them.

Method 1: Silence Calls and Texts From a Specific Contact Using Focus

Focus Modes allow you to set custom calls and notification patterns for different scenarios. You can set personal calls to be muted when you’re at work or your boss’ constant pings to be silenced automatically after work hours. We’ll use this feature to silence calls and notifications from a single person.

Step 1: Open Settings on your iPhone and tap on Focus.

Step 2: Select the + icon in the top-right to create a new Focus Mode.

Step 3: Choose an existing mode or create a custom one. Then, tap on Customize Focus.

Step 4: Under Silence Notifications, select the People category. Then, toggle the ‘Silence Notifications From’ option.

Step 5: Select Add. Choose the contact(s) you want to mute and tap on Done. Then, select Done again.

Step 6: Once you’re back to the Personal Focus screen, tap on People. If you only want to silence texts and notifications from the contact, enable the ‘Allow Calls from Silenced People’ toggle.

Your Focus Mode has now been created.

Step 7: Now, go to Control Center to set the created Focus Mode.

Step 8: Tap and hold on Focus and select the Focus Mode you created.

That’s it! This will block the put one person on Do Not Disturb. However, turning off the Focus Mode will enable calls and notifications from the contacts.

Note: Using Focus Modes also mutes calls and notifications from third-party apps like WhatsApp, Telegram, Meet, etc.

While this is a great way to silence calls and notifications from specific contacts, you must always keep the Focus Mode enabled. And if you use DND or other Focus Modes regularly, it’s not ideal to keep switching between them. That’s where the following method comes in.

Method 2: Silence Calls and Texts By Assigning a Silent Ringtone

iOS allows you to set custom ringtones for every contact. We’ll use this feature to set a silent or blank ringtone for the desired contact. Here’s how to go about it.

Step 1: Open the Contacts app on your iPhone. Navigate to the contact you want to mute and tap on them.

Step 2: Now, select Edit at the top right.

Step 3: Scroll down and tap on the Ringtone tab, followed by Tone Store.

You’ll now be redirected to the iTunes Store. This is where we’ll be downloading a blank ringtone for the contact.

Step 4: Tap on the Search icon at the bottom and search for Silent.

Step 5: Purchase a silent ringtone by hitting the button with the price next to it. Most silent ringtones can be bought for extremely cheap — close to $0.2 or ₹18 in India.

Step 6: When prompted, select ‘Assign to a Contact’.

Step 7: Select the contact once again. Then, tap on Set as Ringtone.

Note: To use the same tone for text notifications, repeat the above steps and select the ‘Set as Text Tone’. This will silence texts from that contact as well.

Go through the payment process on the App Store, and your ringtone will be set once the purchase is complete. Thanks to the silent ringtone, you won’t hear the contact calling even if your phone is on loud.

Note: If you’ve already purchased a silent ringtone to set for calls, you won’t have to pay again to set it as a text tone. You can also repeat this process for as many contacts as you want, but you only have to pay once to purchase the ringtone.

FAQs for Silencing a Contact on iPhone

Keep the Spam at Bay

Whether it’s a friend you borrowed money from and have yet to return or an annoying relative, calls and texts from anybody daily can get bothersome. Simply follow the guide to silence a contact on your iPhone and watch as your phone buzzes away silently.