Owners of Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO smartphones often face intrusive audio accompaniment of incoming messages. The standard MIUI shell or the new HyperOS have many levels of audio tuning, which can confuse even an experienced user. The problem is that one application can use system settings, and the other - its own, internal rules for audio playback.
Understanding the structure of notifications in Android is the first step to silence. The system separates incoming data into important and background, allowing you to flexibly manage their voiceover. Disabling SMS audio does not require installing third-party applications or obtaining superuser rights (Root), all actions are performed by regular means. In this article, we will discuss in detail all the ways to customize the audible alert to your needs.
Notifications may not only be affected by volume settings, but also by application version conflicts. For example, Google’s standard Messages app may behave differently than Xiaomi’s system client. Next, we’ll look at the algorithms for different smartphone use cases.
Setting the volume of notifications in the system
The most obvious, but often ignored, way is to adjust the system volume. Unlike older versions of Android, modern shells allow you to control the volume of notifications separately from media files and calls, and you need to press one of the volume buttons on the side of the device body.
Once the slider appears on the screen, click on the three-dot icon or gear to unfold the full mixer. Here you will see a separate slider signed as "Notifications" or "Notification Sound," moving this slider left to stop completely disabling the sound for all applications using the system channel.
But remember, this is a global approach, and if you turn down the volume of notifications here, not only will SMS be no longer heard, but emails from emails, messengers, and system aerials will be no longer heard, and this can lead to important information being skipped from banking applications or delivery services.
⚠️ Warning: A complete shutdown of system volume notifications may result in you not hearing critical alerts about low battery power or account sync errors.
To fine-tune it, you'd better use the Sound and Vibration section in the basic smartphone settings, where you can select a specific tone or set the No Sound mode specifically for the notification category, leaving the vibration on, and this will provide a haptic response without unnecessary noise.
Disabling the sound in the standard Messages app
Most users use a standard text messaging app that's pre-installed in the factory, depending on the region and firmware version, it could be Google Messages or its own MI Messaging client, and the audio settings may vary, so it's important to know where to look for the switches.
If you have a Google app installed, open it and click on the profile avatar in the top right corner. In the drop-down menu, select Settings, then go to Notifications. You need to find the Inbox option and click on it. In the menu that opens, you can turn off the sound, select No Sound, or change the alert tone.
If you use a system application from Xiaomi, the algorithm is a little different. Open the application, click on the three-dot icon in the upper right corner and select Settings. Next, look for "Sound and vibration" or simply "Notification Sound." Here you can set a specific file or select silence.
☑️ Checking the application settings
It's important to check the settings not just for all messages at once, but for individual categories. Modern versions of Android support splitting notifications into channels. You can leave sound for important contacts, and set silent mode for advertising mailings and confirmation codes.
Sometimes changes don't take effect immediately because of aggressive energy savings, the system can freeze the background processes of the messenger. To avoid this, find the application in the list of installed programs, go to Battery and select No Limits mode, which ensures timely receipt and voiceover of messages.
Setup of Android notification channels
Since Android 8.0, the system has introduced the concept of “Notification Channels,” which allows developers and users to share messages within the same app, meaning that for SMS, you can customize the sound for plain text, group chats, and service codes separately.
To access these settings, go to Settings → Apps → All Apps. Find your SMS application (like Messages or Messages) in the list. Click on Notifications. You will see a list of categories like Incoming Messages, Send Messages, Backup.
Click on the text of the category "Incoming messages" (not the switch on the right, namely the name), and will open a detailed menu where you can:
- 🔇 Select “No Sound” as the default behavior.
- 🔔 Change the sound to a quieter or more pleasant one.
- 📵 Disable the display on the lock screen.
- 🌟 Mark the channel as “Important” if you want the sound to be even in “Do Not Disturb” mode».
Using channels gives you the most flexibility, for example, you can set your phone so that normal text messages from friends come with sound, and messages from banking and delivery services only with oro vibration, which helps you stay focused and not be distracted by information noise.
What to do if the inbox channel is not available?
Do Not Disturb and Schedule
For those who want to temporarily eliminate sounds, Do Not Disturb mode is ideal. Unlike a complete shutdown, this mode allows you to create exceptions. You can set it so that texting does not make sounds, but calls from favorite contacts pass.
You can activate mode through the notification curtain (month icon) or through Settings → Sound and vibration → Do not disturb. In the mode settings, go to the People or Apps section. You can prevent interruptions from the Messages app, in which case SMS will come, appear in the curtain, but the phone will be silent.
A very useful feature is setting the schedule, so you can set the "Do Not Disturb" mode to automatically turn on at night or during meetings, for example, from 23:00 to 7:00, all text messages will come without sound, which eliminates the need to manually switch modes every day.
| Parameter | Description | Impact on SMS |
|---|---|---|
| Total silence. | Banning all sounds of the system | SMS without sound, no vibration |
| Just an alarm clock. | It's just alarm clocks. | SMS without sound, vibration possible |
| Priority interruptions | Sound from a select few only. | SMS is silent if the number is not on the list |
| Schedule | Automatic onset | Depends on the time of day. |
Remember that in Do Not Disturb mode, notifications may not sunbathe the screen or appear in the status bar unless additionally allowed in the display settings. Check these settings if you expect an important message but are afraid to wake up to the sound.
Sound management in third-party applications
Many users prefer third-party clients for SMS, such as Textra, Pulse SMS or Chomp SMS. These applications have their own, independent of the sound setting system. If standard methods do not work, it may be the settings of a particular application that are the problem.
Open the settings of a third-party app and find the section associated with notifications or sound. Often there is a tick on "Use system settings." If it is active, the app will follow the general rules of Android. If you uncheck this box, you will open internal settings where you can set a unique sound or turn it off completely.
In some cases, third-party apps require additional permissions to work in the background: Make sure the app is allowed to "Map on top of other windows" and access contacts.Without these rights, the app may not work stable, and the audio settings may be reset after the reboot.
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Use the silent notifications feature for spam, and in the channel settings, you can mark the sender as spam, and these messages will come without sound or vibration, and will not appear in the status bar, being only in the list of applications.
Also worth noting is integration with cloud services, some apps synchronize audio settings through a Google account or a developer account, and if you changed your phone but logged in to the same account, the audio settings could have been copied from your old device, including unwanted sounds.
Solving problems with repetitive sound
Sometimes users are faced with a situation where the sound of the SMS repeats several times or sounds constantly, even if the message is read. This can be a sign of a malfunction of the notification service or application conflict. First of all, try to restart the device - this clears the RAM and restarts system processes.
If the reboot didn’t help, clear the Messages cache. Go to Settings → Apps → All Apps → Messages → Memory and click Clear Cache. It’s important not to confuse it with the Clear All Data button, as this can lead to deleting your correspondence history if it’s not synced to the cloud.
In rare cases, the cause of the intrusive sound is malware or an ad module masquerading as a system notification. Check the list of installed applications for suspicious programs with names like Flashlight, Clearer or Battery Saver that you did not knowingly install.
⚠️ Warning: If the sound of SMS is accompanied by pop-up ads to the full screen, immediately check the phone with antivirus. This is a sign of infection with an ad virus, not a regular Android feature.
Also check if Reminder is enabled. In the accessibility or special features settings, a setting can be activated that causes the phone to re-voic unread notifications at certain intervals.
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A systematic approach to setting up SMS sound on Xiaomi involves checking global volume, app-specific settings, notification channels, and Do Not Disturb modes. Only a comprehensive check of all levels guarantees the desired result.