How to Turn On the New ‘Announce Notifications’ on Your iPhone

One of the convenient new features that’s coming in iOS 15 (already available in public beta) is the ability to have Siri read out notifications from both Apple and third-party apps. Users have had the option to have Siri announce calls and texts for a while, but Announce Notifications lets you customise what additional alerts you’ll hear when wearing AirPods or certain models of Beats, or using CarPlay.

Plus, once a notification is read, Siri will pause and listen for you to reply without needing to say “Hey, Siri.” This means you can receive and respond to alerts while running or driving without needing to pick up and unlock your device.

How to set up Announce Notifications in iOS 15

First, iOS 15 is available as a public beta, which you can try out now if you can’t wait to use the feature. Otherwise, iOS 15 will be released this fall.

When you first launch iOS 15, you may be prompted to set up notification announcements. If you miss this or want to come back to it later, you’ll find what you need in Settings > Siri & Search. Tap Announce Notifications to toggle on and customise this feature.

For example, you can select whether to use Announce Notifications with your paired headphones or CarPlay, or both. You can also enable Reply Without Confirmation, which allows Siri to respond without first reading back your reply. Finally, you can select which apps you want to receive notification announcements from.

Back in your Siri & Search settings, you can also customise Announce Calls. Just as with iOS 14, select whether to receive announcements via your headphones and car, your headphones only, always, or never.

Note that Announce Messages (which is the existing text message announcement function) is now part of Announce Notifications, rather than a separate setting.