How to stop notifications from interrupting your ios games

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Have you ever been to a house party where you might have connected your iOS device via Bluetooth to listen to music? If yes then you might have experienced the irritation which comes with the notifications on iPhone. Every time a notification arrives on your phone the audio ducking takes place where music playback is lowered and notification volume rises. In order to prevent this from happening to you follow this guide where we share three easy ways to stop notifications from interrupting music on iPhone/iPad.

Stop Notifications from Interrupting Music on iPhone

Option 1: Ring/Silent Switch

The first and quickest option is to use the switch button and flip it downwards to make iPhone silent. With this, you will still receive notifications but in silent mode and music will continue to play without any interruptions.

For incoming calls, the music will be paused but there will be no ringtone and the song will resume after the call is disconnected.

Option 2: Do Not Disturb

Another good way to mute notifications on iPhone. This method offers more features compared to the first one.

To enable Do Not Disturb go to the Settings app and select Do Not Disturb.

Under Do Not Disturb, you can either turn on Manual or use Schedule option. Scheduling Do Not Disturb on iOS device restores notifications volumes automatically after the party.

With Ring/Silent switch, you can forget to flip it to ring again and you can miss important notifications.

The half-moon icon at the top right beside battery level symbolizes that Do Not Disturb mode is activated.

Apart from scheduling, Do Not Disturb offers more control by giving a choice to allow notifications from specific contacts while ignoring them for the others. You can know more about Do Not Disturb features in our earlier article.

Alternatively, bring up the control center by swiping up from the bottom of the screen on iPhone/iPad and select the half-moon icon to activate Do Not Disturb mode as shown in the image below.

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Option 3: Disable Notifications

Among these three methods, this is the most aggressive method. With other methods, the notifications are made silent but you still receive them.

Using this option will disable the notifications completely. Which means there won’t be any notifications in first place.

I would recommend this method if there is a high possibility of unimportant messages coming on Messages/WhatsApp or any other messaging apps for that matter. You can simply turn off notifications for such apps by going to Settings.

Under Settings, select Notifications. Now, tap on the desired app and toggle Allow Notifications to Off.

Similarly, turn off the notifications for the other apps if desired.

The notifications from other the apps will still be received.

We hope that you can choose one option of the three according to your specific requirements. Do you know of any other simpler way to stop notifications from interrupting music playback on iOS? Let us know in the comments.

Notifications are handy when you want to know when a new email or message comes in. But the last time you want to be interrupted is in the middle of a winning streak in your favorite game.

I’ve been mildly addicted to Spider-Man Unlimited on my iPad recently, and I’m getting pretty good–if I do say so myself. But whenever a notification comes in, the game stutters, breaking my rhythm and sending me flying into a brick wall, or Dr. Octopus’ evil mechanical arms.

If you’ve experienced this problem, you know how frustrating it can be. Thankfully, there’s a pretty easy fix: Do Not Disturb mode. (In fact, it’s so obvious, I hung my head in shame when someone recommended it.)

You will have to make a minor tweak for this to work properly, though. Open your iPhone or iPad’s Settings app and head to the Do Not Disturb section. Change the “Silence” setting to “Always”–not to “Only while iPad is locked”. This ensures your device will silence notifications even when you’re actively using it, which is crucial when playing games.

Then, just be sure to turn Do Not Disturb on before you start any game. Slide your finger up from the bottom of the screen to show the Control Center, and tap the Do Not Disturb button (which looks like a crescent moon).

When you do, you’ll get a message saying Do Not Disturb is turned on, and you can play your game without any stuttering or interruptions. Huzzah!

read also: How to Transfer Photos from iPad to Computer?

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By Rob LeFebvre • 2:00 pm, April 13, 2015

I’ve been playing Vainglory quite a bit lately, and the one thing that really distracts me and actually impacts my gameplay (when on my iPad 3) is notifications. They can make the game stutter, which wreaks havok on my ability to gank an enemy Joule from the bushes with my Krul.

Seriously, it’s annoying.

I turned on Do Not Disturb last week to try and get rid of these badges that annoy, but it never worked: I still got notifications from Facebook, Messages and other appss. I did some digging to find out why.

“With Do Not Disturb, you can silence calls, alerts, and notifications that you get while your device is locked,” says the Apple help page. Ugh – there’s no way to stop these things when your iPhone is on and unlocked, which is kind of the way I prefer to play my games.

If you’re plagued with this problem, here’s our recipe to get rid of notifications you don’t want, even when your iPhone is on. UPDATE: Thanks to our polite and generous readers in the comments section, we now know that there is, in fact, a way to make Do Not Disturb work when your iPhone is in use. See below for more.

• iPhone, iPad, iOS (we’re using iOS 8.3 in this recipe)
• Apps that have notifications

Directions:

To make Do Not Disturb settings stick even when your iPhone is on, tap Settings, Do Not Disturb, then look to the bottom of the screen. Tap on Always, instead of Only while iPhone is locked, to keep all your notifications off your gaming screen.

You can also turn off notifications for each app that bugs you – I really only have three or four that continually notify me that something’s going on, including Facebook, Messages and GroupMe.

Tap into your Settings app, then tap on Notifications. You’ll then be able to sort all the apps that notify you “By Time,” which will help you know which ones have most recently disturbed your gameplay.

Tap on the app you want to turn off notifications for. The top of the resulting screen will allow you to toggle “Allow Notifications” to OFF. Do that.

There are finer-grained options here, like how many recent notifications to show in Notification Center, what sound you want for the notifications from this specific app, and whether you want to see the notifications on the lock Screen or a badge number, but you can totally ignore those if, like me, you just want the interruptions to stop.

You can turn Notifications back on after your gaming session, but maybe you don’t want so many of them even when you’re not playing a game on your iPhone or iPad. Go ahead, give it a shot; see how much you miss the constant buzzing and beeping of your many many devices.

Of course, you could always just solve the issue with MindFi:

It’s the modern equivalent of a record screeching to a halt. You are kicking out the jams on your iPhone — whether grooving by yourself on headphones or, worse, rocking out with friends on a Bluetooth speaker — when the volume suddenly ducks and a chime sounds to signal the arrival of a new email, text, Slack message or what have you. When you are in the middle of a dance party, an iOS notification is the last thing you want to hear. It’s also annoying when listening to a podcast or audiobook.

To keep the music playing and your iPhone’s alerts silenced, you have three methods at your disposal. Let us review your options.

1. Ring/silent switch

The quickest way to mute all sounds is to flip the ring/silent switch on the left side of your iPhone. You can still play audio, but your iPhone mutes all notifications. Incoming calls, however, will still stop music playback; your phone won’t ring but the music will stop until the call goes to voicemail.

If you are using a newer iPad that doesn’t have a ring/silent switch, the mute button can be found on the Control Center panel, which you can access by swiping up from the bottom edge of the screen.

2. Do Not Disturb

Also in the Control Center is the Do Not Disturb button — it’s the one with the crescent moon sitting between the Bluetooth and screen-rotation lock button. Do Not Disturb mutes both alerts and incoming calls, making it the better option if you want zero interruptions.

alt=”do-not-disturb.jpg” width=”370″ height=”658″ />Matt Elliott/CNET

Do Not Disturb lets you set exceptions for contacts listed in your Favorites or a specific group you created. Go to Settings > Do Not Disturb to set an exception.

Do Not Disturb also had another advantage over using the ring/silent switch: it provides a small, visual reminder so you remember to turn it off when your dance party or podcast is over. When enabled, Do Not Disturb places a small crescent-moon icon at the top of your screen.

3. App by app

If you prefer an a la carte approach so that some notifications still get through while others are halted, head to Settings > Notifications. Here, you can disable notifications on an app-by-app basis. The apps you likely want to target are Mail, Messages and Phone. I also get frequent notifications from Slack and, at this time of year, Yahoo’s fantasy football app.

For third-party apps, you can disable notifications altogether with the Allow Notifications toggle switch or just mute them with the Sounds toggle switch.

Matt Elliott/CNET

For Apple’s apps such as Mail and Messages, also be sure to disable vibration. After choosing None for Sounds, choose None for the Vibration setting at the top for the screen.

You’re listening to the emotionally charging and adrenaline pumping sounds of ACDC when suddenly a notification pops up and breaks the whole tempo. Being a music fanatic, that would infuriate me. An arrival of a text, an app update or a notification of any sort, could invade your personal space, and chime down the music volume, without your consent. Well, it’s time you took over and ensured the smooth flow of your killer playlist. There are some methods you can use to stop notifications form interrupting music play back. In this tutorial, I’m going to mention them. You can use the method which suits you best or is most convenient for you.

How to Stop Notifications from Interrupting Music in iOs

Method 1: Flip the Silent Switch

One effective and immediate way of stopping iOS notifications is by flipping the silent switch on the side of your IPhone. The music will continue to play, but the notifications will no longer disturb you with their incessant and intervening sounds. One caveat to this method is that, incoming calls, will however, stop music playback. Your phone will not ring, obviously(because it’s in silent mode), but your music will halt until the call goes to voicemail.

Method 2: Do not Disturb Feature

Alternatively, you can turn on the “do not disturb feature” on your iOs device. it can be found in the setting panel.

1. Go to Settings.

2. Tap Do Not Disturb.

3. Toggle on the Manual Switch. Set other preferences according to your needs.

Method 3: Disable Individual App Notification

This is a labored approach to stop iOS notifications. iOs gives you the liberty to deactivate notifications from certain apps. Target apps such as phone and messages, that you know will cause problems while you’re listening to music. Here’s how to do it.

1. Go to Settings>Notifications.

2. Now, tap on the apps you wish to silence. I chose Messages.

3. Switch off the Allow Notifications option.

4. Now, tap Sounds.

5. Set the Vibration alert tone to None.

You can do this for any number of apps you desire. And In case of third party apps, you can deactivate notifications altogether with a single flick of the switch.

For Android Users

Method 1: Don’t Pause for Android

The Don’t Pause app for Android is a really handy app that sets the notification sounds to vibrate and also has many other additional features. The free commercial version doesn’t cost a penny, and does the job pretty well. Keep in mind that this application is only compatible with devices running Android 3.0 or higher. So, if you’re using an obsolete version of Android, we would suggest updating at the earliest.

Method 2: Set to Vibrate

One way you can stop sound interruptions on your Android device is by setting your device to vibrate. Here’s how you can do that.

1. Swipe downward on your main homescreen.

2. Move the sound switch back to zero.

So, these are the simplest solutions you’ll find on the web. Other methods are not only complicated, but also quite ineffective to say the least. I tried these out, especially the do not disturb feature, and was able to screen most calls and notifications, without much of a hassle. However, it’s up to you to decide which way works the best for you.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does my IPhone automatically lower the volume?

Sometimes, it so happens, that the IPhone automatically lowers the volume in certain tracks for your own safety. However, if you do not wish it do that, you can disable it. Here’s how to do it. Go to Settings>Music>Soundcheck>Turn off. Simple as that. But we would still recommend you to listen songs at auditory safe frequencies.

Still not satisfied with this comprehensive article? Well, just comment below and we’ll respond to any questions you have.

Also block incoming calls and disable alerts while playing games in iOS 13

A ndroid smartphones from Samsung, OnePlus, and others have a built-in gaming mode to improve your gaming experience. iPhone running on iOS, however, doesn’t include a similar feature till date. This is disappointing for iOS users who spend most of their time in gameplay. That’s because iOS neither disables the notifications nor has a setting to completely block app notifications while gaming.

The frequent email, calls, message, and chat notifications are indeed annoying while you’re in the middle of an interesting game. They interrupt the game flow, cause distraction, and can also make the game stutter.

Though you can simply use Do Not Disturb mode in iOS to temporarily stop notifications from all apps and enjoy gameplay without interruption. However, this isn’t the most convenient way as one has to manually enable the DND mode every time before starting a game.

What if we can automate the task to turn on DND mode while gaming on the iPhone?

Update: Check our new guide if you wish to turn off notifications as well as lock the pull-down notification bar while gaming in iOS.

‘Do Not Disturb’ Shortcuts Automation in iOS 13

Do Not Disturb Automation on iPhone

Thankfully, the Shortcuts app in iOS 13 comes with a new Automation feature. It lets you configure a shortcut that can automatically run in the background when you perform a certain action. In this guide, you will learn how to create a Do Not Disturb automation using the Shortcuts app.

This particular shortcuts automation will automatically enable DND mode whenever you start a game on your iPhone. What’s interesting is that you can explicitly choose the games that you want to include in DND automation. This way you can flexibly turn off notifications only for specific games.

Without further ado, let’s see how it can be done.

Steps to automatically enable DND mode while playing games on iPhone

Requirements:

• iPhone running iOS 13 or later | iPad running iPadOS 13 must be installed

STEP 1 – Go to Settings > Do Not Disturb. Under Silence, select “Always” instead of While iPhone is Locked. This is to ensure incoming calls and notifications are silenced even when you are actively using the device or while gaming.

STEP 2 (Optional) – How to block calls while playing games on iPhone

By default, incoming calls from your favourite contacts are allowed when Do Not Disturb is enabled. You can, however, choose to block all calls in DND mode for uninterrupted gaming.

To do so, go to Do Not Disturb settings > Allow Calls From and select “No One” instead of Favorites.

STEP 3 – Set up an Automation Shortcut. To do so, follow the steps below.

1. Open Shortcuts and tap the “Automation” tab.
2. Tap “Create Personal Automation” or tap the + icon at the top-right.
3. Scroll down to the bottom and tap the “Open App” option.
4. Tap on “Choose” and select all the game apps for which you want to disable the notifications. Hit Done and then tap Next in the upper-right corner.

That’s it. Now open one of the games that you added in step #4 and you should get a notification about the automation running.

Running Automation Notification when opening Monument Valley 2

This means that DND mode is active and you can confirm the same by opening the Control Center. Any notifications received during gameplay will continue to appear in the Notification Center and you can view them later on.

Do Not Disturb mode is active

TIP: You can edit your Do Not Disturb automation anytime to add more games or even disable it whenever needed.

The downside

The only shortcoming of this method is that Do Not Disturb doesn’t turn off automatically when you exit a game. You rather need to turn it off manually from the Control Center. Hence, make sure to turn off DND after playing games so that you don’t miss important calls, messages, or email notifications.

On Tuesday, I shared my frustration with iOS 6’s lack of a systemwide mute switch for notifications that silences such alerts even when your iOS device is in use. As I complained about then, I find it annoying when incoming notifications interrupt streaming video or turn-by-turn directions, and Do Not Disturb is no help in those situations. I don’t want to disable those notifications entirely; I just want to silence them when I’m using certain apps.

Since then, I’ve discovered two workarounds. To be clear, neither of these workarounds is ideal or resolves all the concerns I laid out in my original piece. At the same time, they’re distinctly better than nothing.

Oh, and if you’re thinking that the answer is Airplane Mode, note that—as I mentioned in the original piece—I’m specifically looking to silence incoming notifications when my iOS device still needs an active connection to the Internet.

The mute switch

One incomplete solution that I neglected to mention is iOS’s mute switch. On the iPhone, that’s the switch that shuts off your ringer. On the iPad, it might be the hardware switch—but that depends on your preference in Settings > General > Hardware switch; that switch can also work as an orientation lock that prevents your iPad’s screen from rotating (ideal for if you’re using the tablet while, say, lying down).

(If your hardware switch controls orientation and not mute, you instead mute the iPad by double-pressing the Home button, swiping on the multitasking bar from left to right, and then tapping the Mute icon at the left-hand side.)

So a huge benefit of the hardware mute switch is that it will silence the sound of incoming alerts. Normally, such audio notifications briefly duck down the volume of whatever else you’re listening to—movie dialogue, say, or spoken directions. With the mute option enabled, you’ll still get the visual interruption of incoming notifications, but without the audio interference that otherwise comes with them.

I was mad when Apple initially switched the iPad’s hardware switch’s functionality from an orientation lock to a mute control, and cheered when the company eventually added the preference for controlling its function. But I realized recently that, since I’ve returned to a Kindle for in-bed reading, I almost never use orientation lock these days—and I use streaming options like Netflix more frequently. So I’ve now set the slide switch on my iPad to mute again, since it does a fine job of minimizing the annoyance of alerts sounding while I’m trying to enjoy a movie.

That said, the visual interruptions don’t stop. And worse, some apps—including some third-party navigation apps—actually silence their own audio when you use the mute control—making this solution a no-go in those cases.

Guided access

Convenient though the mute option is, it doesn’t solve the issue of banners and alerts appearing when I don’t want to see them. As Federico Viticci at MacStories pointed out, sometimes you might want to mute notifications because you’re playing a game in which you don’t want to tap on a banner accidentally. And as I pointed out in my original complaint about the lack of a system wide notification silencer, notifications folding into view when I’m using my iPhone as a GPS are an added distraction I don’t need when I’m behind the wheel.

Developer Greg Pierce pointed out on his blog that a new feature in iOS 6 called Guided Access can act a hack notification muter. Guided Access is meant to provide assistance for iOS users with disabilities; parents can also use it to prevent younger iPhone devotees from messing up (or prematurely quitting) apps.

But Guided Access has a hidden perk: It mutes both the sound and visual effects of incoming notifications.

To enable Guided Access as an option on your device, head over to the Settings app, choose General, tap on Accessibility, and then scroll down to Guided Access and tap to turn it on. While you’re there, set a passcode to use in conjunction with Guided Access; otherwise, you’ll be prompted to set one every time you attempt to use the feature.

With Guided Access enabled, launch the app in which you’d like to experience some quietude—in my case, Netflix. After it’s launched completely (Guided Access can have trouble enabling properly if an app is still on its loading screen), triple-click the Home button on your device.

That scales down your app and presents the Guided Access setup screen. In this case, you don’t need to worry about disabling touch or motion detection; you just want to launch Guided Access, so you simply press the Start button at the upper right.

That returns your app to full-screen size, and mutes all those notifications and alerts you don’t want to hear from at the moment. (Every once in a while, I find that my iPad or iPhone can get confused, and do the temporary sound cut-out that accompanies an incoming notification—even though that notification isn’t visible. But it’s clearly a bug, and a rather rare one at that.)

To exit the app again, you’ll first need to exit Guided Access, which your device will remind you if you simply try pressing the Home button once. That’s because Guided Access disables that button—along with the volume and sleep/wake controls. (You can still adjust volume within your app, if it offers in-app controls to do so.)

When you’re ready to quit your app, triple-press the Home button again to re-enter the Guided Access setup screen. You’ll be prompted for your passcode first. Then, you can tap End and then the Home button again. Or, to save a little movement, you can to the triple-press of the Home button, then press the Home button again from the Guided Access setup screen, and then a fifth time to exit the app.

Guided Access isn’t any more of an ideal solution than the hardware mute switch: It locks out buttons, requires a passcode, and makes you issue a lot more taps when you’re ready to move on from the app you were using. But, as I said at the outset, though, both options are better than nothing. And we can keep hoping Apple will implement a real solution sometime soon.

When you get a notification, long-press on it and then tap on the three dots that appear in order to access the instant tuning options. I tried this out with a Ring app notification and it pulled up the options to “Deliver Quietly” or “Turn Off.” You can also get to the same spot from the Lock Screen or Notification Center by swiping left on a notification and tapping on “Manage.”

The “Turn Off” option is self-explanatory, but the quiet option is interesting. Apple explains, “Quiet notifications appear in Notification Center, but do not appear on the lock screen, play a sound, present a banner or badge the app icon.” This is a great way to handle notifications you don’t want interrupting you, but still want to be able to access at will just by opening up your Notification Center.

You also get the option to tap on Settings and go directly to your Notifications settings for that particular app. This lets you designate where you want to see alerts, such as on your lock screen, in the Notification Center or through banners. You can turn sounds and badges off here as well. It gives you more detailed control options for each app.

Instant tuning works so well because it lets you wrangle your notifications immediately. It only takes a few seconds to make adjustments, so just plan on handling these settings changes as bothersome notifications appear.

Pretty soon, you’ll find you’re just getting notifications that are most important to you. You can either turn the others off entirely, or send them off to hang out quietly in the Notification Center instead.

Get your notifications back

Okay, so what if you miss having certain notifications after you’ve made them disappear? You can get them back by heading into Settings and tapping on Notifications. Tap on a particular app to access its settings. You can turn notifications on or off and also change up the grouped notifications settings if you like.

Notification grouping is a convenient way to gather all of an app’s notifications together, but you can turn it off if you prefer to get individual notifications. Most people will want to use the automatic grouping feature in iOS 12 to keep their lock screens from getting cluttered.

You could go into Settings and wrangle all of your app notifications at once, but iOS 12 makes it simple to handle them on an as-needed basis. Just remember to take the time to manage rather than just dismiss notifications and pretty soon your alerts will be cleaned up and your iPhone will be a lot quieter than it was before.

Imagine you are playing an intensive game on your Android, and aiming at your enemy. As you are about to pull the trigger for the kill shot, a notification pops on the screen, and you miss your target. And you get shot in the game instead. Oh, the horror!

Most new phones these days come with a built-in Game Mode which lets you snooze notifications and block calls when you are gaming. All you have to do is enable it, and that’s pretty much it. But if not, the following methods will let you enjoy your gaming time without any distractions.

We will be exploring two methods. While the first one automates the whole process of switching the DND mode on when you launch your gaming apps, the second method is a manual process, although a slightly different one.

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Method 1: Using MacroDroid

For this method, we will be taking the aid of an automation app named MacroDroid. This app is similar to Tasker. However, the interface is simple and uncomplicated so creating scripts and tasks is a child’s play. If you know the structure of the job at hand, all you need to do is craft a flowchart and recreate the same in MacroDroid.

Similar to most macros, you’ll need a trigger or an action to set the macro in motion. In our case, switching the DND mode on is the action, whereas launching the game app is the trigger.

Let’s see how to automate this task of disabling notifications while gaming.

Step 1: Tap on Add Macro to add your first trigger. Now, tap on Applications > Application Launched/Closed > Application Launched.

Select the names of the game from the list. All you have to do is check the boxes and hit the OK button.

Step 2: Now it’s time to add the action. Tap on the Actions tab, scroll down, and select Volume and tap on the first option (Priority Mode/Do Not Disturb).

That will prompt you with a window. Select Allow Priority Notifications and hit OK. Since MacroDroid will make a couple of changes to the built-in settings, you’ll need to provide some permissions.

Step 3: Once done, all you have to do is hit the tick icon and name the macro. From now on whenever you launch the game, your phone will switch to the DND mode. Cool, right?

However, this method is incomplete if you forget to switch back to the normal mode after you stop playing any game. We will need a second macro to do this switch. As you might have guessed, it will be the reverse of the first one.

Step 4: To create it, tap on Add Macro. Only this time, instead of creating an application launch event, we will be creating an app close event. Tap on Triggers > Applications > Application Launched/Closed > Application Closed, and select the games again.

Step 5: Next, tap on Actions, scroll down to Volume and Priority Mode, and select Allow All.

Step 6: Save the macro and give it a name, and that’s about it. From now on whenever you sit down to play, there will be no notifications to disturb you anymore.