Your phone should alert you about the things that matter — a message from family, a delivery update, a one-time password — not every promotional blast from an app you opened once. The good news: Android lets you silence notifications app by app, and even conversation by conversation, without turning the whole phone silent.
Why mute per-app, not everything
Flipping on full "Do Not Disturb" is blunt. You risk missing the one alert you actually need. Per-app muting keeps your ringer and important apps working while quieting the noise. Think of it as a volume knob for each app instead of one master switch.
Mute a single app
The exact path varies slightly by manufacturer, but the core steps are the same:
- Open Settings → Notifications (or Apps & notifications).
- Tap App notifications and choose the app you want to quiet.
- Toggle the app's notifications off, or tap it to open its categories and mute only the noisy ones (see our guide to notification channels).
- Alternatively, long-press a notification from that app on the lock screen or shade, tap Settings, and switch it off there.
On Samsung, the same control lives under Settings → Notifications → App notifications. On Xiaomi and other OEM skins it is Settings → Apps → Manage apps → [app] → Notifications.
Silence just one group chat
You do not have to mute the entire messaging app. In most chat apps (WhatsApp, Telegram, Messages), open the conversation, tap the name at the top, and choose Mute. You can usually pick a duration (8 hours, 1 week, always) and decide whether muted chats can still show a badge. This is the fastest way to reclaim peace without losing personal messages.
Keep the important ones visible
Muting noise is only half the job. The other half is making sure what is important never gets buried. That is where Dingpin helps: pin a notification — an OTP, a delivery tracking message, a reminder — and it stays pinned at the top of your list no matter how many new alerts arrive or how many apps you mute.
App-level mute
The simplest way: Settings → Apps → [app] → Notifications → toggle off. The app still runs; it just cannot post notifications. Re-enable any time.
Channel-level mute
For finer control: drill into a specific channel within the app and set its importance to Silent or Low. This silences one category of alert without affecting the rest. Useful for chat apps where you want to mute group messages but keep direct messages.
Per-chat mute (messaging apps)
For chats, the chat app itself usually has its own mute. WhatsApp, Telegram, Messenger, and Signal all let you long-press a chat and mute it. The app then routes that chat through a low-importance channel automatically.
Scheduled mute
Some apps support scheduled mute (silence during work hours, restore in the evening). When the system-level option is unavailable, check the app's own settings — many have this built in. See Focus Mode as a system-level alternative.
What happens when you block an app's notifications
Three behaviors to know:
- The app's notifications do not appear in the shade at all.
- The app does not lose functionality — only its ability to interrupt you.
- You may still see in-app alerts when you open the app.
Blocking vs. uninstalling
If you want to stop getting alerts from an app but still use it occasionally, blocking notifications is the right choice. If you never use the app, uninstalling is cleaner. Block notifications from system apps with caution — some Android features depend on those notifications to work.
For the broader story, see how to stop notifications for an app, how to silence notifications on Android, and muting WhatsApp group notifications.