# Can you turn off sounds/vibrations for app updates and stuff on phones?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-turn-off-sounds-vibrations-for-app-updates-and-stuff-on-phones/812464>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 15, 2018, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-turn-off-sounds-vibrations-for-app-updates-and-stuff-on-phones/812464 "2018-04-15T20:35:47Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![JakeRS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3ab097/32.png) [@JakeRS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JakeRS)\
**Post date:** [April 15, 2018, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-turn-off-sounds-vibrations-for-app-updates-and-stuff-on-phones/812464/1 "2018-04-15T20:35:47Z")

</div>

When I was a kid I used to always keep my phone sounds turned of for whatever reason, it stuck with me and I keep it silent now as well, that annoys people, so I’d like to turn them on, but then apps start sounding off and I always think someone is calling me and get annoyed when it’s just another small daily update of some app, I don’t want to delete apps, I don’t even have that many, so…what should I do?

edit: it’s a Samsung Galaxy, so a android os.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![goldmund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a4c791/32.png) [@goldmund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/goldmund)\
**Post date:** [April 15, 2018, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-turn-off-sounds-vibrations-for-app-updates-and-stuff-on-phones/812464/2 "2018-04-15T21:09:33Z")

</div>

On the Galaxy, open Settings, select “Notifications”, and then hit “Advanced”. Here, you can control whether an app is allowed to send notifications, or also make them silent.

I do find it really confusing that people would be annoyed when you keep your phone on silent mode. In my experience it’s generally the opposite; people are annoyed by others’ audible notifications.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\
**Post date:** [April 15, 2018, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-turn-off-sounds-vibrations-for-app-updates-and-stuff-on-phones/812464/3 "2018-04-15T21:26:33Z")

</div>

You can also probably long press on the notification itself if it went off recently, and tell it to be silent or turn off completely for that specific app.