Many of us dislike any kind of alert or notification sound and do everything we can to prevent them. Others like to make sure they know the minute a notification drops or a call comes in, and so they have audible alerts turned on. And a third group would prefer not to be interrupted in some situations but are not sure of the best way to turn sounds off. If you’re in that third group, we’ll show you how to turn the ringer off on MacBook.

What is the ringer?

If you have FaceTime set up to take calls from your iPhone, it will ring on your Mac when someone calls you. Likewise, if you have Zoom or Teams configured to alert you audibly when you receive a call, you’ll hear them ring. It can be useful to know that someone is calling. But it can also disrupt your focus or disturb people around you if you’re, for example, working in a library or a coffee shop.

How to turn ringer off on Mac

There are several ways that you can turn off the ringer on your Mac. The one you choose will depend on whether you just want to turn off the ringer for specific apps or for everything.

Check FaceTime settings

If you want to disable ringer for FaceTime only, you can do it in settings. Here’s are the steps you need to follow:

  1. Go to the main Apple menu and choose System Settings.
  2. Click Notifications > FaceTime.
  3. Either turn off all notifications or turn off ‘Play sound for notification’ only.
  4. Quit System Settings.

You can turn off the ringer for Zoom and Skype using the same steps, but choose Zoom or Skype at step 2.

Mute the speakers

You can also turn off the ringer on your Mac by muting the speakers. The way you do that will depend on the speakers you are using with your Mac. Follow the steps below for your MacBook’s internal speakers:

  1. Go to System Settings.
  2. Choose Sound.
  3. Under Output Volume at the bottom of the window, select the checkbox next to Mute.

Or you can go to Control Center from the menu bar, click Sound, and drag the slider all the way to the left. You can also use the media keys on your Mac’s keyboard to mute its speaker.

If you use external speakers with your Mac, you will have to press the mute button on those or turn their volume all the way down.

Use Focus

The Do Not Disturb feature turns off all notifications by default. So, when it’s turned on, you won’t be disturbed by your Mac ringing if a call comes in. The benefit of using Do Not Disturb over muting your Mac completely is that you will still be able to listen to music or podcasts, watch videos, or play games with sound.

Here’s how to enable it:

  1. Go to Control Center in the menu bar.
  2. Choose Focus.
  3. Select Do Not Disturb.

Alternatively, if you press the F6 media key, it will turn Do Not Disturb. Press it again to turn Do Not Disturb off.

You can configure the Do Not Disturb focus so that it allows notifications from important contacts. Here’s how:

  1. Go to System Settings > Focus > Do Not Disturb.
  2. Turn ‘Intelligent Breakthrough & Silencing’ on to allow macOS to choose which calls to allow through.

Alternatively, if you want to choose yourself, leave ‘Intelligent Breakthrough & Silencing’ off and click Allowed People or Allowed Apps. Choose which people or apps you want to allow to ignore the focus. Do not forget to System Settings.

Why can’t I turn off the ringer on my Mac?

If the Mute option is grayed out in System Settings, or you can’t use the volume slider in Control Center, it’s most likely because you have chosen a sound output that is not controlled by macOS. Usually, that means an external speaker or speakers. But it could also be a monitor if your Mac is connected to one that has its own speakers. Or it could be a USB headset. In those instances, you will need to use the device’s own volume controls to mute it.

How to keep your Mac running smoothly

If you are the kind of Mac user who needs to be able to focus on work by turning off the ringer, then you probably don’t want to be distracted by your Mac running slowly or being unstable. That can happen for a number of reasons:

  • Junk files can conflict with other files on your Mac.
  • Clutter can fill up storage, causing problems when your Mac needs to offload data from RAM.
  • Apps may need to be updated.
  • There may be malware present.
  • Login items or background extensions could slow down performance.

Dealing with all that yourself takes up lots of time you could be spending doing work or taking time out to watch a movie or play a game. And we know which we’d rather do. That’s why we prefer to use the Smart Care feature in CleanMyMac to do it all. It scans your Mac, looking for junk, clutter, and malware. It also checks for updates to installed applications and reviews login items and background extensions. When it’s done, it reports back to you and allows you to implement its recommendations in one go by simply clicking Run or review them and decide for yourself what to perform. Start your free CleanMyMac trial.

There are several ways to silence incoming calls on your Mac. The one you choose will depend on whether you want to turn off the ringer for one app, for all apps, or to mute all sounds from your Mac. Follow the steps above to turn off the ringer on your Mac.