Slack’s relentless red dot might keep you responsive, but it can also hijack your focus and stress you out. This guide from 3minread.com shows you exactly how to turn off Slack’s badge notifications on Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android—so you can stay in control of your time without missing what matters.

Why Slack’s Red Dot Exists (and Why It’s So Distracting)

Slack’s notification badge is engineered to grab your attention—sometimes too well.

By default, Slack adds a red badge to its app icon any time you have unread activity: direct messages, mentions, reminders, or highlighted keywords. Whether it’s a small dot or a number indicating how many notifications are waiting, it’s a persistent alert that nudges you to check Slack immediately.

This might seem helpful, but over time it becomes a constant drain on your focus. You could be about to walk the dog, start dinner, or finally tackle that important project—only to spot the red dot, open Slack “just for a second,” and lose another twenty minutes. If that sounds familiar, it’s time to dial back these alerts.

How to Turn Off the Red Dot on a Mac

Tired of the glowing Slack badge on your Dock? Here’s how to hide it.

On Mac, Slack’s badge notifications appear on your Dock icon. A dot indicates there’s general unread activity, while a number means you’ve been mentioned directly or received a DM.

To disable it:

• Open the Slack desktop app (note: this won’t work from a browser).
• Click your profile photo and select Preferences, or use the shortcut command + ,.
• Under Notifications, scroll to Sound & appearance.
• Uncheck Show a badge on Slack’s icon to indicate new activity.

If the badge still stubbornly appears (due to one of Slack’s occasional glitches), you can take a more direct route via macOS settings:

• Open System Settings and go to Notifications.
• Select Slack from your list of apps.
• Turn off Badge application icon.

This ensures your Dock stays blissfully badge-free, so you’re only checking Slack when you choose to.

How to Turn Off the Red Dot in Windows

On Windows, the red dot (or sometimes blue dot) shows up in multiple places—but you can silence most of them.

Slack’s badge notifications in Windows can appear:

• On the Taskbar icon (with a dot or number).
• In the System tray (as a colored dot).
• Or sometimes in your Notifications area, showing previews instead of dots.

To turn off the taskbar badges entirely:

• Open Settings > Personalization > Taskbar.
• Click Taskbar behaviors.
• Deselect Show badges on taskbar apps.

This stops Slack (and other apps) from showing those little red or blue alerts on the taskbar.

Unfortunately, there’s no built-in way to remove the System tray icon’s badge. However, you can hide the Slack icon itself by dragging it above the Show hidden icons arrow (^). This tucks Slack out of sight and keeps that dot from pulling your attention.

How to Turn Off the Red Dot on iOS and Android

Badge notifications on your phone can follow you everywhere—unless you switch them off.

On both iOS and Android, Slack displays a numbered badge on your home screen icon whenever you have unread DMs, mentions, or keyword alerts.

To disable this from inside the Slack app:

• Open the Slack app on your phone.
• Tap your profile picture in the top-right.
• Select Notifications.
• Under On mobile, notify me about, choose Nothing.

If that doesn’t fully solve it (some Slack users report it still sneaks through), you can cut off badges from your phone’s system settings.

On iOS:

• Go to Settings > Notifications > Slack.
• Toggle off Badges.

On Android (Samsung Galaxy example):

• Open Settings > Notifications > App notifications > Slack.
• Under Notification types, disable Badge (it should show as Badge not allowed).

Steps might look slightly different depending on your Android device, but most phones have a similar path.

If you’re feeling especially overwhelmed, consider turning off all Slack notifications or using Focus modes to keep work chatter out of sight for a few hours. Your brain will thank you.

Extra Tip: Automate Your Slack Notifications for More Control

Use integrations to decide how, when, and even where you get notified.

If you don’t want to lose Slack alerts entirely—but still want more control—try automating them. With tools like Zapier, you can customize how you receive Slack updates. For example, you can set up a workflow to:

• Get an email summary of important Slack channels.
• Post Slack mentions into a Google Sheet for review later.
• Send Slack reminders only during certain hours.

This way, you still stay on top of key conversations—without letting Slack run your day.