The Sims 4's June 30 update (PC 1.125.59.1030 / Mac 1.125.59.1230 / Console 2.35) tackles one of the community's longest-running complaints: the relentless flood of phone calls, pop-ups, and festival alerts that interrupt gameplay across nearly every pack.
Phone silence that actually works
The "Silence Phone" button has been reworked so it properly blocks all incoming calls, not just a subset of them. Any dialog tagged with a phone ring type other than NO_RING is now auto-dismissed while the phone is silenced. Previously, newer pack content slipped through the filter, meaning your Sim's phone kept buzzing regardless of the setting.
On top of that, a new "Festival Notifications" section in Game Options (under the Gameplay tab) lets you toggle festival alerts on a per-pack basis. If you want San Myshuno's festivals but couldn't care less about Henford-on-Bagley's Finchwick Fair announcements, you can finally split the difference.
The grim reaper has standards now
Life & Death owners will notice the Grim Reaper is pickier about who he cold-calls with job offers. He'll now only reach out to Sims who have the Macabre trait, thanks to a new Run Test added to his drama node. If your household doesn't include any death-obsessed Sims, those recruitment pitches should stop entirely.
Who can call, and how often
The patch raises the bar for who's allowed to ring your Sim in the first place:
- Neighborhood Stories calls now require at least a Friends-level relationship (35+ friendly, up from the old threshold of 5)
- Dating advice calls also require Friend status
- Festival and Getaway invites need a Friendly relationship before triggering
- Freelancer Sims no longer get gig calls for careers they aren't enrolled in
- Sims physically on your lot won't call to ask about your adult Sim's childhood for Formative Moments (Adventure Awaits)
Several notifications have been outright removed. The Get Together alerts about becoming friends or enemies with someone ("Hey, I heard you became friends with...") are gone. The ThrifTea reminder from High School Years is gone. The earbuds purchase notification is gone (you can still buy them via computer).
Others have had their frequency dialed down: Dancing and Bar Night invites (Get Together), Community Closeness calls (Eco Lifestyle), Romance phone calls (Lovestruck), and general invites from other Sims across multiple packs. Bess Sterling from Eco Lifestyle also calls less quickly and less frequently. The "Starting a Dynasty" Discovery Quest from Royalty & Legacy now fires only once per save file instead of repeating.
Part of a larger quality-of-life patch
The notification overhaul is the headline, but the same update includes fixes for 12 of the community's most-voted issues, a Mac save corruption fix, marketplace purchase improvements, and dozens of per-pack bug fixes covering everything from pets turning black at the vet to fairy wings vanishing after travel.
The June 23 Laundry List previewed many of these changes ahead of release.
Source: PC Gamer via Google News - The Sims