Is your iPhone 14 Pro Max not receiving text notifications? You are not alone! If your iPhone 14 Pro Max isn’t receiving text message alerts or playing sound, consider these solutions.
Note: information in this article apply to iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Plus, iPhone 14 Pro, and iPhone 14 pro max.
If you’ve noticed that you’re no longer receiving text notifications on your iPhone 14 Pro Max, you can usually fix the problem by adjusting your settings, restarting the Messages app, restarting your phone, and making sure all of your software is up to date.
What Causes Not Getting Text Notifications on iPhone 14 Pro Max?
When text notifications stop working on an iPhone 14 Pro Max, it can manifest in a few ways:
- You notice texts that weren’t accompanied by an alert sound
- Notifications for new iMessage or SMS messages aren’t showing up on the lock screen
- No red dot on the Messages app when messages arrive
There are a lot of reasons you might not be getting text notifications on an iPhone 14 Pro Max. If you aren’t receiving text messages at all, and you know people have sent you messages, then it’s probably a connectivity problem. In that case, make sure your phone is connected to both Wi-Fi and cellular data and that MMS and SMS are configured correctly. If you are receiving texts but not notifications, here are the most common causes:
- Misconfigured notification settings
- Incorrect volume settings
- Software bug
How to Fix iPhone 14 Pro Max Message Notification Not Working
If you pick up your iPhone from time to time and see messages that weren’t accompanied by a notification sound, vibration, or any other kind of alert, that means something is preventing you from receiving text notifications. To fix that problem and start receiving notifications again, try these fixes.
1. Check your notification settings
If your notification settings aren’t configured properly, your iPhone 14 Pro won’t receive message notifications.
Open Settings > Notifications > Messages, and make sure the Allow Notifications toggle is turned on. Then make sure the boxes for Lock Screen, Notification Center, and Banners are all checked.
2. Set or change your notification sound
If your notification sound is disabled or set to something quiet you don’t notice, you may not hear it.
Open Settings > Sound & Haptics > Text Tone, and select a message tone that you think you’ll notice in the future.
When you tap a sound in the alert tones list, your iPhone will play a preview of that sound.
3. Unmute contacts in Messages
The Messages app allows you to mute conversations. If you do so inadvertently or have forgotten that you muted someone, you’ll find you don’t receive messages from that person when you expect to.
Open the Messages app, and locate any conversation that has a crossed-out bell icon next to it. Swipe left on the conversation, and tap the bell icon that appears to unmute that person.
4. Make sure the contact isn’t blocked
After you block a person, they can’t call or text you. If your iPhone 14 Pro Max isn’t getting texts from a specific person, make sure they are not added (accidentally or on purpose) to the block list.
Open Settings > Messages > Blocked Contacts, and check to see if anyone is on the list accidentally. If they are, swipe left on the contact’s name and tap Unblock.
5. Make sure your phone isn’t on silent or Focus mode
After you put your iPhone in silent mode, new texts won’t have a notification tone. To fix this, turn off silent mode by pushing up the switch that’s above the volume buttons.
Secondly, when your iPhone is in Focus mode, it does not vibrate or play a sound for new texts. You can fix this by opening the iOS Control Center and ensuring the Focus icon is not turned on. If it is, tap it to turn off Focus.
iOS 16 has Focus modes that let you configure which apps and people you want to allow notifications from. If you’re using one of these modes, turn it off from the Control Center or Settings app.
6. Force quit the Messages app
If the Messages app is malfunctioning, that can explain why your iPhone 14 Pro Max is not receiving text notifications. In most cases, you can fix this by force quitting the app and then opening it again.
Swipe halfway up to open multitasking, then swipe up on Messages to close it.
7. Restart your iPhone
If you find your iPhone 14 Pro Max not receiving tex notifications after trying the above solutions, the issue may be with iOS and not the Messages app. When that happens, restarting the iPhone will usually fix the problem.
Press and hold the side button and volume down button simultaneously until the power off slider appears, then release buttons.
Alternatively you can go to Settings > General and tap Shut Down. After a minute, turn on your iPhone either by using the Side button or plugging in your charger.
8. Disconnect Bluetooth devices
If you have a Bluetooth device paired to your iPhone, text alerts may go to that device instead of the phone speaker. Either open the Control Center and tap Bluetooth to turn it off, turn off the Bluetooth device itself, or unpair the device to make sure it isn’t connected. Then check to see if you receive text alerts on your iPhone 14 Pro Max.
9. Check your custom text tones
Your iPhone allows you to set custom ring and text tones to each of your contacts. If you accidentally set it to none, your iPhone 14 Pro Max won’t receive a sound notification when that person texts you.
Open Contacts, and tap the name of the person you aren’t receiving notifications from. Tap Text Tone, and select any option other than None. After you’ve chosen a tone, tap Done.
10. Turn on Notify Me
Have you muted one or more conversations in the Messages app because you were receiving too many notifications, but now you aren’t receiving important notifications? If you turn on Notify Me, you’ll get an alert whenever someone mentions you in a Messages conversation even if you have it muted.
Open Settings > Messages, and make sure the Notify Me toggle is turned on.
11. Turn off Message Forwarding
Are you receiving text notifications on your other Apple devices, but not on your iPhone 14 Pro Max? Try turning off Message Forwarding, and see if that allows your phone to display alerts again.
Open Settings > Messages > Text Message Forwarding, and disable the toggles for each of your connected devices.
12. Turn Off Filter Unknown Senders
iPhone lets you automatically filter spam and texts from unknown people. When you enable this, in rare cases, your iPhone 14 Pro Max might miss a few meaningful text notifications. Plus, if someone who isn’t in your contact list messages you, chances are the Messages app will sort their text in a separate list and not notify you of it.
To fix this, go to Settings > Messages > Unknown & Spam and turn off Filter Unknown Senders.
13. Are You Using an Apple Watch?
If you have enabled text notifications on your Apple Watch, it may not show them on the iPhone 14 Pro Max or play the tone. To address this, make sure your iPhone and Apple Watch are running the latest versions of iOS and watchOS, respectively. You may also choose to turn off text notifications on the Apple Watch from the Watch app.
14. Check for updates for your iPhone
If your iPhone has an update available, try installing it.
Make sure to update your Apple Watch too if you have one, as having one up to date and the other behind on updates can cause notifications to appear on the Apple Watch but not on your iPhone.
Successfully Fixed iPhone 14 Pro Max not Getting Text Notifications issue
Not getting text notifications on your iPhone 14 Pro Max is annoying, but the above tips should help you fix the problem for good.