It Only Took Apple a Decade to Finally Fix One of the Most Annoying iPhone Problems That Makes Muting Conversations Feel Pointless

Apple is developing a new Messages setting that could finally stop muted conversations from increasing the unread badge count on your iPhone.

Code discovered in the iOS 27.2 Release Candidate points to an option that would exclude muted chats from the red notification badge displayed on the Messages app icon.

The feature isn’t available in the current release candidate, which means it likely won’t arrive with iOS 27.2 next week. However, its presence in the code suggests Apple is actively working on it.

Muted Conversations Still Count as Unread

Currently, muting a conversation in Messages prevents notifications from interrupting you, but it doesn’t stop new messages from contributing to the app’s unread count.

That can become frustrating when you’re part of a busy group chat.

Even if you’ve muted the conversation to avoid constant interruptions, every unread message still contributes to the red badge on your Home Screen.

As a result, the badge might show dozens of unread messages even when most come from conversations you’ve deliberately silenced.

The proposed setting would change that behavior by allowing muted chats to be excluded from the unread count.

For example, if you’ve muted a group conversation that receives 50 messages throughout the day, those messages would no longer inflate the badge count.

You could still open the conversation and read everything whenever you want, but the app icon would better reflect messages from chats you haven’t muted.

The option could also apply to individual conversations, not just group chats.

Also: If you use Apple Music or Books, iOS 27.2 has some surprises waiting, including one change you’ll see right on your home screen

When Will the Feature Arrive?

Although references to the setting appear in iOS 27.2 code, Apple hasn’t announced the feature or confirmed when it will become available.

Discovering functionality in a software build doesn’t necessarily mean it’s ready for release. Apple sometimes develops features across multiple updates before making them accessible to users.

That leaves open the possibility of the new badge setting arriving in a later iOS 27 update.

For now, muting a conversation will continue to silence notifications without removing its unread messages from the badge count.

iOS 27.2 is expected to arrive next week with several other improvements, but this particular Messages change appears to be something users will have to wait a little longer for.