Rick wrote (in response to “How to turn off your iPhone’s unread email badge”): Unfortunately, there still doesn’t seem to be a way to turn off the actual notification [for new email messages] itself. Even if you switch everything to off, the phone still makes a sound and vibrates when a new mail comes in.

Hi Rick! Actually, you can turn off the beeps and vibrations for new emails on your iPhone—it’s just that the actual controls for doing so aren’t sitting in the iPhone’s Notifications settings, where you’d think they’d be.

Here’s where to look instead.

  • Tap Settings, Sounds, then scroll down and tap New Mail.
  • Don’t want to hear a beep or feel a vibration each time a new email arrives? If so, tap None.
  • While you’re here, you can also turn off the sound and vibration alerts for several other events, including sent mail (although I personally like the “swoosh” sound after hitting the “Send” button), an incoming text message, and calendar or reminder alerts. You can also switch off key “clicks” and the “lock” sound when you put your iPhone to sleep or wake it up.

That’s it! And if you later decide that you miss the sound of new mail, you can always return to the Sound settings and simply pick an alert tone or a ringtone.