Few things are more annoying than when Siri hijacks your AirPods to read aloud a string of text messages while you're listening to a hilarious podcast episode or a great song. The feature allows Siri to announce notifications for iMessage, Reminders, and third-party apps (like Slack, Snapchat, Twitter, WhatsApp, and more) through your AirPods, Beats, and CarPlay. You can also reply to alerts hands-free.
In theory, it sounds super useful, but for those who tend to receive a lot of notifications at once (from things like busy group chats or Twitter replies), it can be irritating. While it's not enabled by default, you might've accidentally turned it on via a pop-up while pairing new AirPods (or Beats) or when upgrading to iOS 15. If you have absolutely no idea how to turn it off, we've got you covered. If (for some reason) this how-to has actually inspired you to turn the feature on, we'll walk you through that process too.
Tired enough of Siri that you want some other earbuds? Check out our list of the Best Wireless Headphones and Best Workout Headphones.
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How to Turn Announce Notifications Off
You can turn the feature off using either your iPhone or iPad. The ability to manage Siri announcements is slightly buried within the Settings menu, but you can access it in a few simple steps.
Open Settings and tap on Notifications.Tap on Announce notifications and toggle the feature off.
After that, you're all set! You no longer have to worry about Siri infiltrating your AirPods with tons of texts, reminders, and any other alerts.
If you don't want to turn the feature off completely, you can toggle off the Headphones option specifically under Announce When Connected To. Instead, Siri will only announce notifications through CarPlay (if your car supports it). But you can turn off that setting as well. Here's how:
Within Announce Notifications tap on CarPlayToggle off Announce Messages
You also have the option to add a tile to the Control Center, allowing you to turn it on and off as you please without having to dig through the Settings menu. You can add the tile by:
Open Settings and tap Control Center.Scroll down to More Controls to Announce NotificationsTap on the green plus sign buttonMost PopularGearThe 15 Best Electric Bikes for Every Kind of Ride
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Once it's added, it'll appear under the Included Controls section. Whenever you swipe down to the Control Center, you'll also see the tile. From there, you can tap on it to turn it on and off as needed.
How to Enable and Customize Announce Notifications
Before we dive into how to turn the feature on, let's make sure you have the right devices. In addition to an iPhone or iPad that runs iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 respectively, you'll need one of these compatible headphones:
AirPods (second-generation) or laterAirPods ProAirPods MaxBeat Fits ProBeats Solo ProPowerbeatsPowerbeats Pro
You can turn Siri announcements on the same way you turn it off. But if you skipped that part, then follow these steps:
Open Settings and tap on Notifications.Tap on Announce notifications and toggle the feature on.
Voilà! Siri will now announce almost every notification that comes to your iPhone and/or iPad.
Enabling the feature opens a host of customization options. Starting with CarPlay, you can customize whether you want Siri to Announce New Messages, Silence New Messages, or Remember Previous Setting (this will use the announcement setting from the last time you drove).
You also have the option to turn on the Reply Without Confirmation feature. When there's an app that supports replies, Siri will read your message back before sending it. If you don't want to double-check your messages prior to firing them off, then you can turn it off.
Lastly, you can control which apps you want Siri to announce notifications from. Both native and third-party apps that support the feature are listed toward the bottom. You can scroll through and tap on each app individually to toggle on the Announce Notifications feature.
That way, if you do want Siri chirping in your AirPods to announce notifications, you can keep it to somewhat of a minimum.
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