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How to Silence One App's Notifications Without Silencing Your Calls

Margaret is seventy-two. She likes a word game on her phone. She plays it in the afternoon with a cup of tea. The game is fun. The game is also noisy. All day long, the game sends little messages. Your turn is ready. A new puzzle is here. Come back and play. The phone buzzes at breakfast. It buzzes during lunch. It buzzes while Margaret is talking to her sister. She does not want to delete the game. She likes the game. She only wants the game to be quiet. She still wants to hear phone calls from her daughter. She still wants her alarm in the morning. She still wants messages from her family to make a sound.

If that sounds like you, this guide is for you. Your Galaxy phone lets you silence one app only. The app stops buzzing. Everything else stays just as it is. Your calls still ring. Your other apps still make sounds. Your alarm still works. This is not silent mode. Silent mode makes the whole phone quiet. This guide does not touch silent mode at all. If you want the whole phone quiet at night, read our guide about silent mode and Do Not Disturb instead. This guide is for one noisy app, and one app only.

Do not be afraid of this setting. Nothing is deleted. The app stays on your phone. Your messages inside the app stay there too. You can turn the sounds back on in under a minute. Once you learn this, you can use it again and again. A noisy shop app. A news app that buzzes all day. A game that never stops asking you to play. Silence one app at a time. Keep the sounds you want. Lose the sounds you do not want.

What happens when you silence one app

Think of each app as a person knocking on your door. Most people knock politely and only when it matters. One person knocks all day long. Silencing one app is like asking that one person to stop knocking. The person is still there. The person can still visit when you open the door. The other people keep knocking as before. Nothing else changes.

When you turn off notifications for one app, the app can no longer buzz, ring, or light up your screen with new alerts. The app itself still works. Open the app, and everything is there. Your game progress is there. Your messages are there. Your news stories are there. The only change is that the app stops calling for your attention. Your phone calls are not touched. Your text messages from other apps are not touched. Your alarm is not touched. This setting affects one app and nothing else.

Some apps show a small number on their icon, called a badge, to show unread items. After you silence an app, the badge may still appear, or it may not. That varies by app and by phone. Do not worry about the badge. The important change is the sound and the buzzing. Those stop. If you ever want the app to buzz again, turn the same switch back on. That is all there is to it.

Silence one app, step by step

Follow these steps in order. Take your time. Read one step. Do that step. Then read the next step. You only need the Settings app. You do not need to open the noisy app at all.

1. Open Settings. Find the Settings app. Its icon looks like a gear or cog wheel. Tap it once. The Settings screen opens with a long list.
2. Tap the search box at the top of Settings. The search box is a small bar at the top of the screen. It may say Search settings, or it may only show a small magnifying glass icon. Tap it once. A keyboard will appear.
3. Type Notifications. Use the keyboard to type the word Notifications. As you type, results will appear below. Look for the result that says Notifications. Tap it. You will go to the notifications screen. This screen controls which apps are allowed to send alerts.
4. Find the app you want to silence. On the notifications screen, you will see a list of apps. The list may be long. Scroll slowly through it until you see the name of the noisy app. If the list is very long, look for a search box on this screen too, and type the name of the app there. When you see the app name, tap it once. A new screen opens for that app only.
5. Turn off the switch. On the app screen, you will see a switch near the top. It may say Show notifications. It may say Allow notifications. The exact words can differ a little by phone. The switch is on if it shows colour. Tap the switch once. It will turn grey, or move to the off position. The app is now silenced. It will not buzz or ring for new alerts.
6. Go back to your home screen. Tap the back arrow at the bottom of the screen, or swipe back, until you see your normal home screen. You are done. There is nothing to save. The change takes effect at once. The app will stay quiet from now on.

That is the whole job. Six steps. No account. No download. No payment. If you cannot find the app in the list, do not worry. Some apps only appear in the list after they have sent at least one notification. Open the noisy app once, wait for it to buzz or show a message, then try again. The app should now be in the list. If the app still does not appear, use the search box at the top of Settings and type the app name. Your phone may take you to the app info screen, where you can tap Notifications and find the same switch.

Check that it worked, and that nothing else changed

Testing takes one minute. It gives you confidence. First, wait for a moment when the noisy app would normally buzz, or open the app and send yourself a test if the app allows it. The phone should stay quiet. No buzz. No ring. No pop-up at the top of the screen from that app.

Next, check that the sounds you want are still there. Ask a family member to call you. The call should ring as normal. Ask someone to send you a message in a different app, such as WhatsApp or Messages. That message should still make a sound. Set a test alarm one minute ahead if you like. The alarm should ring as normal. If calls, messages, and alarms all work, you have silenced one app only. That is exactly right.

Now open the noisy app itself. Everything should still be there. Your game is there. Your messages are there. Your stories are there. Nothing was deleted. The app simply waits quietly until you open it. Many people like it this way. The phone becomes calmer. The sounds that remain are the sounds that matter.

How to turn the sounds back on

Changing your mind is easy. Go back the same way. Open Settings. Tap the search box. Type Notifications. Tap the Notifications result. Find the app in the list. Tap its name. Tap the same switch once to turn it back on. The switch will show colour again. The app can buzz and ring once more. There is no limit to how often you can change this. Silence an app for a busy week. Turn its sounds back on for a holiday. You are in control.

You can silence more than one app. Repeat the same steps for each noisy app, one at a time. Silence two apps. Silence three. Each app has its own switch. Turning off one app never affects another app. Keep the switches on for the apps you care about. Turn off the switches for the apps that only make noise. Your phone becomes yours again, not a list of demands from apps.

What if the app still buzzes

Sometimes an app keeps buzzing even after you turn off its switch. This usually has a simple cause. Some apps have their own notification switches inside the app itself. The app has a settings screen of its own, separate from the phone Settings. The app may have a switch for sounds, or for reminders, inside its own settings. If the app still buzzes, open the app. Look for a settings icon inside the app. It often looks like a gear, or three lines, or your profile picture. Tap it. Look for words such as Notifications, Sounds, or Alerts. Turn those switches off too.

Some apps also show more than one switch on the phone notifications screen. You may see a list of types, such as General, Reminders, or Promotions. The words vary by app. If you see more than one switch on the app notification screen, turn off the ones you do not want, one by one. Leave on only what you want to hear. If you are unsure, turn them all off. The app will still work when you open it. You can always turn a switch back on later.

One more cause is worth knowing. If the buzzing comes from a different app with a similar name, you may have silenced the wrong app. Go back to the notifications list. Check the exact name of the app. Check its icon. The icon is the small picture beside the name. Silence the app with the matching name and picture. Test again. The buzzing should stop.

Try it slowly: Margaret silences the game

Margaret practised on a Saturday afternoon with her daughter, Helen, beside her. Helen read the steps out loud. Margaret tapped. First Margaret opened Settings. She tapped the search box. She typed Notifications. She tapped the result. She scrolled the list until she saw the game. The game icon was a small crown. She tapped the game name. She saw the switch at the top. It showed colour. She tapped it once. It turned grey. Margaret said, Is that all? Helen said, That is all.

Then they tested. Helen called Margaret from her own phone. The phone rang. Margaret smiled. Helen sent a message in WhatsApp. The phone made its usual sound. Margaret opened the game. Her progress was all there. Her puzzles were all there. Nothing was lost. The game simply waited quietly. That evening, the phone did not buzz at tea time. It did not buzz during the news. Margaret said, It feels like my phone again. That is exactly right.

Try the same practice with a family member. Silence one app. Ask someone to call you. Open the app and check nothing is lost. Turn the sounds back on, then off again. After one practice, the setting feels safe, not scary. You will use it again whenever a new app starts making too much noise.

Common mistakes

These mistakes leave people thinking the setting does not work, or thinking the phone is broken. In truth, a different setting was changed, or the wrong app was silenced.

• Turning on silent mode or Do Not Disturb instead. Silent mode and Do Not Disturb quiet the whole phone. Calls and other apps go quiet too. That is not what this guide does. If your whole phone went quiet, you changed the wrong setting. Turn silent mode and Do Not Disturb off, and follow the steps in this guide instead.
• Silencing the wrong app. Many apps have similar names. A shop app and a game can share a word in the name. Check the exact name and the small picture beside it before you tap the switch. If the buzzing continues, you may have silenced a different app. Go back and check again.
• Silencing the Phone app or the Messages app by mistake. The Phone app is the app you use to make calls. If you silence it, calls may not ring. The Messages app is the app for text messages. Silence only apps that make noise you do not need, such as games, shops, and news apps. Leave the Phone app and your main messaging app alone unless you are sure.
• Thinking the messages are deleted. They are not. Silencing an app only stops its alerts. Open the app, and your messages, progress, and stories are still there. Nothing is deleted by turning off a notification switch.
• Looking only inside the app and never in phone Settings. Some apps hide their switches inside their own settings. But the main switch lives in phone Settings, under Notifications. If the app still buzzes, check both places. Start with phone Settings. Then check inside the app.
• Forgetting the app was silenced, and thinking the app is broken. Weeks later, the app seems dead. No messages arrive. In truth, the switch is still off. Go back to Settings, then Notifications, then the app name. Turn the switch back on. The app will buzz again.
• Giving up because the words look different. One phone may say Show notifications. Another may say Allow notifications. The switch may be at the top, or a little lower. The idea is the same. Find the app. Find the switch. Turn it off. Use the search box in Settings if you cannot find the screen.

Frequently asked questions

Will my phone calls still ring?

Yes. Silencing one app does not touch phone calls. Calls come from the Phone app, which is a different app. Your calls will ring as normal. Your alarm will also ring as normal. Only the one app you chose goes quiet.

Will I lose messages from the silenced app?

No. The messages stay inside the app. Open the app and you will see them. The only change is that the app stops buzzing and popping up to tell you about them. You read them when you choose to open the app.

Can I silence more than one app?

Yes. Repeat the same steps for each app, one at a time. Each app has its own switch. Silencing one app never silences another. Keep sounds on for the apps you care about. Turn them off for the noisy ones.

Why does the app still buzz after I turned off the switch?

Check two things. First, make sure you silenced the right app, with the matching name and picture. Second, open the app itself and look for its own notification or sound switches inside the app settings. Turn those off too. Some apps also show more than one switch on the phone notification screen. Turn off each one you do not want.

How do I turn the sounds back on?

Go back the same way. Open Settings. Search for Notifications. Find the app. Tap its name. Tap the switch once to turn it on. The switch will show colour again. The app can buzz and ring once more. You can change your mind as often as you like.

Is this the same as Do Not Disturb?

No. Do Not Disturb quiets the whole phone for a set time. It holds back most calls and alerts. Silencing one app quiets one app only, all the time, until you change it back. Calls, alarms, and other apps are not affected. If you want the whole phone quiet at night, use Do Not Disturb. If you want one noisy app quiet all day, use this guide.

What if I cannot find the app in the notifications list?

Open the app once, so it sends at least one notification, then try again. The app should now appear in the list. You can also use the search box at the top of Settings and type the app name. Your phone may take you to the app info screen. Tap Notifications there, and you will find the same switch.

If the words on your screen look different

Galaxy phones do not all use the same labels for notifications. One phone may say Show notifications. Another may say Allow notifications. One phone may show a list of apps straight away. Another may show a screen that says App notifications first, and you tap it to see the list. The switch may sit at the top of the app screen, or a little further down. The idea is the same on every Galaxy phone. Find the app. Find the switch. Turn it off.

Your One UI version also plays a part. In October 2026, some phones run One UI 8, some run One UI 8.5, and some run One UI 9. Menus move a little between versions. If you open Settings and cannot find Notifications, use the search box at the top of Settings. Type Notifications. Tap the result. Your phone will take you straight to the right screen. If a choice you want is not on your phone, your model may show it differently. Use the choices you can see. One app, one switch, and a quick test are enough for most people. If you get stuck, ask a family member to sit with you and read the steps out loud while you tap. That is how most people learn it the first time.