How to stop Siri from reading out messages

If you own AirPods or Beats headphones like a lot of iPhone and iPad owners, you may have opted into Siri announcing notifications from apps like Messages and Reminders. If it’s becoming intrusive, though, here’s how to turn off Siri reading texts and other content. As a bonus, we’ll cover how to stop Siri from reading texts on your Apple Watch.

How to stop Siri from reading messages on iPhone or iPad

Siri doesn’t announce notifications by default — you have to enable the feature since Apple itself realizes that announcements can be annoying unless you need them. There are, however, times when iOS prompts you to make a decision, such as when pairing new AirPods or Beats products. Switching announcements on accidentally or without realizing what the results will sound like is possible.

Thankfully, there’s no big trick in how to turn off Siri reading texts.

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Select the Notifications submenu.
3. Tap on Announce Notifications, and you’ll be presented with a simple on/off toggle.
4. Toggle off this particular setting.

If you’ve paired an iPhone with CarPlay, you can optionally keep announcements on in your vehicle while disabling them in headphones, or vice versa. Leave Announce Notifications on, but toggle individual items off under Announce When Connected To.

You can get even more granular and toggle announcements on a per-app basis. If you regularly listen to music at the gym, for example, you might enable announcements from Messages or the Phone app in case your partner wants you, but leave them off for everything else.

How to stop Siri from reading texts on your Apple Watch

Generally speaking, any announcement settings changed on your iPhone should be mirrored on your Apple Watch. Sometimes you might want to toggle settings directly on your Watch, though, if you’ve got a cellular model and left your phone at home, or in the rare case, iPhone settings aren’t syncing properly.

Here’s how to turn off Siri reading texts from your Apple Watch:

1. Press the Digital Crown once to access your apps.
2. Open the Settings app.
3. Select Notifications.
4. Tap on Announce Notifications. You may have to scroll down a bit to find this.
5. Flip the toggle.

Like iPhones and iPads, Watches offers the ability to keep announcements active but toggle them per-app.