No notifications for messages from one contact in one conversation

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Level 1

10 points

No notifications for messages from one contact in one conversation

My wife, my son, and I have a conversation in Messages where she does not get notifications for messages from our son, who is on Android. She does get notifications about messages from me in the conversation, though. The strange thing is that this only happens in this conversation between the three of us... she does get notifications about messages from my son in other conversations where she, my son, and other people are involved. Any ideas why this may be? She has already verified the usual things such as Hide Alerts and Do not Disturb, and if one of those were enabled, I would expect that she would not receive notifications about any messages in the conversation including mine. But again, the problem only affects notifications about messages from our son in this single conversation.

My wife and I are both on iPhone 14 with iOS 18.5. As I mentioned, our son is on Android, although I'm not sure what version.

Thanks!

iPhone 14, iOS 18

Posted on Jul 5, 2025 08:37 PM

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Answer 1

H1290

Level 6

10,073 points

Jul 8, 2025 10:56 PM in response to feutete

Ohhhh. So the messages arrive, it just doesn’t make the beep noise as you’d expect. Cliche, but did you check that silent mode is off, Focuses are all off, etc?

Also try a forced restart: Force restart iPhone - Apple Support. This will clear up glitches in the OS.

If all else fails, reach out to Apple Support:

Telephone: Contact Apple for support and service.
Support App: Get help in the Apple Support app.
Online: Support
More Contact Info: How to Contact Us - Apple.

If the messages are delivered, I don’t see how it’s a carrier issue, either. But you may want to ask them regardless. It wouldn’t hurt. But ring up Apple first.

Edit: Could you three possibly create a new group message, just to see if the issue carries over?

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Answer 2

feutete Author

Level 1

10 points

Jul 9, 2025 07:30 AM in response to H1290

Yes, that's right, the messages arrive, but there's no notification... No on-screen pop-up, no sound, no vibration. My wife also has her Garmin watch connected to her phone, and it also does not get notified. And again, it's just for messages from my son on this one 3-person conversation. Other messages from him on other conversations with multiple people produce notifications in all the expected ways as normal, and messages from me on this conversation also produce notifications on her phone as normal.

I suspect our next step will probably be to delete the conversation and start a new one. Unfortunately this conversation has been going on for a while so there's a lot of message history that will be lost, but it's probably worth it if it gets notifications working again.

If starting a new conversation doesn't fix it, I'll probably try the force restart and then will reach out to Apple support as you suggested.

Thanks!

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Answer 3

H1290

Level 6

10,073 points

Jul 8, 2025 08:00 PM in response to feutete

Hello!

If she or him has any VPN’s, delete the VPN profiles, then try again. If the problem persists, both your wife and your son should contact their specific carrier about this. Unless y’all share the same carrier then that would save a step. Take care!

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Answer 4

feutete Author

Level 1

10 points

Jul 8, 2025 08:40 PM in response to feutete

Thanks for the suggestion! Neither of them have any VPN profiles, so I guess there's nothing to try there. And they're both on the same carrier, so I can have that conversation with the carrier pretty easily, but the issue is not with the delivery of messages... they arrive just fine, so I imagine the carrier is not to blame either. The problem is that iOS doesn't notify when a message from my son is received, but just in this single conversation. The notifications work fine in other conversations that my wife and son are both a part of... it's just this one where notifications fail. It's really strange...

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Answer 5

H1290

Level 6

10,073 points

Jul 9, 2025 10:13 AM in response to feutete

You’re welcome. Keep us posted if it’s not too much trouble for you. Thank you sir.

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