Do Not Disturb exceptions on Android: how to let one app through

By the Crypto Alerts & Alarms team · Published 28 October 2026 · Facts checked 28 October 2026

A Do Not Disturb exception lets the people, apps or sounds you choose through while everything else stays quiet. On a Pixel, open Settings › Modes, pick the mode and choose apps under Notification filters; on a Samsung Galaxy, open Settings › Notifications › Do not disturb and add the app under its exceptions. Alarms are an exception of their own, allowed in Android’s default settings, which is why an alarm can ring when a notification cannot.

What a Do Not Disturb exception lets through

Do Not Disturb silences calls, messages and notifications, and each exception reopens one door. Google’s settings sort them into three groups:

• People: calls, messages or conversations from the people you pick, and, if you turn it on, repeat callers: a second call from the same person within 15 minutes.
• Apps: notifications from the apps you pick.
• Alarms & other interruptions: alarms, media, touch sounds, reminders and calendar events.

Some notifications show whatever you choose; Google’s example is system security notifications. In Android’s own default settings, alarms and media are allowed through Do Not Disturb (the Android Open Source Project’s default configuration), but every mode can change that, and phone makers can ship other defaults.

An exception is a different thing from Do Not Disturb access (Modes access on phones with Modes), a special permission listed under Settings › Apps › Special app access. Android describes that permission as letting an app “turn on/off Do Not Disturb” and make changes to related settings. You do not need it to let an app through: exceptions are set in Do Not Disturb itself.

Add an app exception on a Pixel

Since the March 2025 update for Pixel phones (Android 15 QPR2), Do Not Disturb is one of several Modes, beside Bedtime, Driving and any you create (9to5Google, 4 March 2025). Google’s steps, checked 28 October 2026:

1. Open Settings and tap Modes.
2. Tap the mode you use, such as Do Not Disturb or Bedtime.
3. Under Notification filters, open Apps and choose the apps that can send you notifications.
4. Under Alarms & other interruptions, check that alarms are allowed.

Each mode keeps its own filters, so an app you allowed in Do Not Disturb can still be held back while Bedtime is on. When something does not alert you, Google’s advice is to “make sure they are not blocked by any Modes”.

On earlier Android versions, Google’s Android help puts Do Not Disturb under Settings › Sound & vibration › Do Not Disturb. There, Android’s settings have an Apps section, “Apps that can interrupt”, with an Add apps button, and an Alarms & other interruptions section.

There is also a route through the app itself: Settings › Notifications › App notifications › the app › Notification categories, then a category. Where your phone shows it, the switch Override Do Not Disturb does what Android’s settings text says: “Let these notifications continue to interrupt when Do Not Disturb is on.” It works one category at a time, so an app’s urgent alerts can get through while the rest of its notifications wait.

Add an app exception on a Samsung Galaxy

Samsung’s steps, from its Do not disturb guide and its US support page, checked 28 October 2026. Samsung notes that menus vary by model and software version.

1. Open Settings, tap Notifications, then Do not disturb. Or touch and hold the Do not disturb icon in Quick settings.
2. In the exceptions, which Samsung’s US page calls Allowed during Do not disturb, tap App notifications and select the apps that may notify you.
3. In Alarms and sounds, check that Alarms is on. Samsung lists Alarms, Media sound, Touch sounds, Calendar events and Reminders there.

Two more Samsung settings matter when an exception seems to be ignored. Schedules can turn Do not disturb on by themselves, and you can set several. And under Hide notifications, the option Hide full screen notifications does what its name says: “Full screen notifications will be hidden.”

When an exception does not work

• Another mode or a schedule is on. The app has to be allowed in the mode that is actually running, not only in Do Not Disturb.
• The phone is on vibrate or mute. That is a separate setting from Do Not Disturb, and on mute, Google says, “phone calls and notifications are silent”.
• The app’s notifications, or the category its alerts use, are off or silent. Google’s tip: “check the settings to make sure its notifications are turned on.”
• Battery saving. In Google’s words, Battery Saver and Adaptive Battery “can stop or delay some alerts to save power”. See delayed notifications, phone by phone.

Price alerts under Do Not Disturb: a push and an alarm

A price alert from an exchange, a tracker or TradingView is usually an ordinary notification, so Do Not Disturb silences it unless you let it through. Standard alerts from Crypto Alerts & Alarms work the same way: they arrive in a notification category called Standard Alerts, which you can let through like any other.

The full-screen alarm in Crypto Alerts & Alarms is built differently. From the app’s code: it uses a category of its own, Critical Alarms, each alarm is posted in Android’s alarm category, and its sound plays on the alarm volume. That is the kind of sound the alarms exception covers, so the alarm is built to come through a mode that allows alarms, which Android’s defaults do. Switch alarms off in a mode and expect it to be held back like any alarm; Google’s own Clock app warns in that case that “Do Not Disturb silenced your alarm”. So keep alarms allowed in the modes you sleep with.

The app’s checklist, “Make sure alarms ring”, also has an optional row, “Ring in Do Not Disturb”. It reads whether the app has Do Not Disturb access, and its Allow button opens that screen. The app leaves the row out of its count of settings that need a look, and nothing in its code changes your Do Not Disturb settings. For the app’s side of this, see the alarm guide’s answer on Do Not Disturb; for the lock screen, what “allow full screen notifications” means.

Common questions

Last updated: 28 October 2026. Android menus change between versions and phone makers. If anything here is out of date, email support@appsfromzero.com and we will correct it.