How to Turn Off Siri Reading Messages on AirPods: A Comprehensive Guide

Siri, Apple’s intelligent personal assistant, has a handy feature that reads out text messages through AirPods, keeping you updated even when your hands are busy. However, this feature can sometimes turn into an inconvenience, especially when you’re engrossed in your favorite podcast or immersed in a soulful symphony. The constant barrage of announce messages with Siri can disrupt your listening experience. If you’re searching for a solution, you’re at the right place. This comprehensive guide will help you discover how to turn off Siri reading messages on AirPods.

Understanding Siri Announcements

Before diving into the steps, it’s important to understand the functionality of Siri announcement messages. Usually, when you pair your AirPods for the first time or upgrade to a new iOS version, Siri’s announcements get enabled by default. This feature allows Siri to read out incoming notifications from iMessage, Reminders, and even third-party apps like Slack, Snapchat, Twitter, WhatsApp, and more.

Siri’s announcement feature can be quite useful for those who need to stay updated with their notifications without constantly checking their phones. However, if you’re part of busy group chats or receive frequent notifications, Siri’s persistent announcements can cause annoyance, especially during a deep immersive listening session.

The Road to Silence: Turning Off Siri Announcements

The good news is, Apple provides a simple way to stop Siri from reading texts aloud through your AirPods. You can easily access these controls in the Settings app menu of your Apple device. Here’s how you can turn off Siri’s announcement notification messages:

Step-by-Step Guide:

1. Launch ‘Settings’: Tap on the gear icon, typically located on your home screen or within the app drawer to open ‘Settings’.
2. Access ‘Notifications’: Scroll down the list until you find the ‘Notifications’ option. Tap on it to proceed.
3. Navigate to ‘Siri & Search’: Under the ‘Notifications’ settings, you will find the ‘Siri & Search’ option. Tap on it to bring up the Siri-related settings.
4. Select ‘Announce Notifications’: In the ‘Siri & Search’ settings, look for the ‘Announce Notifications’ option. Tap announce notifications to continue.
5. Toggle Off ‘Announce Notifications’: On the ‘Announce Notifications’ screen, you will see a switch labeled ‘Announce Notifications’. By default, it is turned on, indicated by a green color. Tap the switch to turn it off. When the switch is not green, you know that the feature is disabled.

Once you’ve disabled the ‘Announce Notifications’ feature, Siri will no longer read your incoming messages aloud, allowing you to enjoy your AirPods experience without interruptions. Remember, this turn off announce notifications feature affects all connected Bluetooth devices, not just your AirPods. So, if you have other Bluetooth devices paired with your iPhone or iPad, the same change will apply to them.

Gaining More Control: Customizing Siri Notifications

Apple offers plenty more ways to customize Siri AirPod notifications, giving you complete control over what Siri announces and when. For instance, under the ‘Announce Notifications’ settings, you can choose to have Siri announce notifications only when connected to CarPlay, allowing you to stay updated while driving. You can also specify a specific app you want Siri to announce notifications from, ensuring you’re only alerted about the things that matter. Here’s how you can do it:

1. Open ‘Settings’: Tap on the gear icon on your home screen or app drawer to open ‘Settings’.
2. Tap on ‘Notifications’: Scroll down until you find ‘Notifications’. Tap on it.
3. Select ‘Siri & Search’: Under ‘Notifications’, tap on ‘Siri & Search’ to access Siri-related settings.
4. Go to ‘Announce Notifications’: In the ‘Siri & Search’ settings, tap on ‘Announce Notifications’.
5. Customize ‘Announce Notifications’ Settings: Here, you can choose when Siri announces notifications. For example, you can toggle the ‘Headphones’ switch off if you don’t want Siri to announce notifications while your AirPods are connected. You can also turn off the ‘CarPlay’ option if you don’t want Siri to read notifications while you’re driving.

In addition to these settings, you can also choose a specific app you’d like Siri to announce notifications from. For instance, you can turn off notifications for certain apps like WhatsApp or Twitter, if you don’t want Siri to interrupt you with these alerts. It is a handy Siri feature for message announcement notifications.

A Shortcut to Silence: Using Control Center

If you want a quick way to turn Siri’s announcements on and off without navigating through the ‘Settings’ menu, you can use the Control Center setting. By adding the ‘Announce Notifications’ shortcut to your Control Center, you can easily toggle the feature on and off with a single tap. Here’s how to add the shortcut:

1. Open ‘Settings’: Tap on the gear icon on your home screen to open ‘Settings’.
2. Select ‘Control Center’: Scroll down until you find ‘Control Center’. Tap on it.
3. Add ‘Announce Notifications’ to Control Center: Under ‘More Controls’, find ‘Announce Notifications’ and tap on the green plus sign button to add it to your Control Center.

Now, you’ll have the ‘Announce Notifications’ shortcut in your Control Center, allowing you to quickly toggle the feature on and off whenever your AirPods or other compatible headphones are connected.

Conclusion

Siri’s announcements can be a blessing or a frustration, depending on your needs and circumstances. Thankfully, Apple provides an easy way to control how and when Siri reads messages on your AirPods. With this guide, you now know how to turn off Siri reading messages on AirPods, allowing you to enjoy your listening experience without any interruptions. Whether you want to turn off all notification announcement messages or customize them to suit your needs, the choice is yours. Happy listening!