If the notifications from a particularly active group chat or an over-eager friend are getting on your nerves, it's very easy on an iPhone to mute them and give yourself a break. Of course, you can mute notifications system-wide by enabling Do Not Disturb, but you can also selectively mute text notifications from specific people.

Before we dive in, it's worth mentioning that your contact won't be notified that they've been muted, and you won't get any Message notifications from that person until you unmute them.

How to mute message notifications from one personTo mute notifications from a certain person, there are two ways to do so. First, open the Messages app on your iPhone. Next, tap a contact's profile picture or icon, and a pop-up will appear with their contact details. There should be a toggle that says Hide Alerts. Enabling this toggle will prevent you from receiving push notifications when that specific person sends you an iMessage or text.

The other way to mute someone is to go to the Messages app again, then find your recent chat with them and then swipe left on the conversation. You should see a purple bell icon and a red trash can icon. The purple bell button will mute Message notifications from that person.

How to mute message notifications from a group chatMuting notifications from a group chat in Messages has a similar process. Head to Messages and find the group you want to mute. Open the chat and hit the group chat name at the top with all your profile pictures. You'll be taken to settings for that group chat and if you scroll down, you should see a Hide Alerts toggle. Tap the toggle and hit Done.

You can also mute a group chat by going to the Messages app, finding your group and swiping left on it to get the purple bell button and a red trash can button. Tapping the purple button will mute notifications.

How to mute message notifications using the Contacts appAnother way to turn off notifications from someone is by using the Contacts app. Open the Contacts app on your phone and find the person you want to mute. Tap on Edit and scroll down to Text Tone. Tap on Text Tone and choose None to disable an audio notification when they send you a message. Your iPhone may still vibrate when their notifications come in, but you can also disable that within the Text Tone menu for that contact.

How to mute notifications on your iPhone with Focus modeBack in 2022, Apple introduced Focus modes, which lets you reduce distractions such as notifications. To make a new Focus mode, go to Settings on your iPhone. Next, scroll down until you see Focus, which should be just above Screen Time and below Sounds Haptics. By default, Apple has a Do Not Disturb Focus mode enabled but they also have a Personal, Sleep, and Work Focus mode ready to be set up. You can also make your own by tapping the + icon in the top right.

When you create your own, after selecting a name for the new Focus mode, you should see a button at the bottom that says Customize Focus. Tap the + icon near People and choose which Contacts you want to silence notifications from. You can also choose to allow notifications from specific people, such as immediate family, etc. Tap Done to save your preferences.

To enable the Focus mode that you've just created, go to your home screen and swipe down from the top right corner to open Control Center. Then tap and hold the Focus button and you'll see all the Focus modes available, such as Do Not Disturb. Tap on the new Focus mode you made to enable it.