IOS 11 Lets You Automatically Turn Off Text Messages and Notifications When You’re Driving
You’re trying to follow Google Maps to a place you’ve never been before, and as soon as things get complicated, your mom writes. Seconds later, you send a group email with everyone in the office, and new message notifications start to arrive, just like other messages from your mom who wants to know why you haven’t answered her first message yet. You start to regret teaching your mom how to write lyrics.
Driving is distracting. While we all know we shouldn’t pay attention to texts and messages on our phone while we are driving, when you receive a ton of notifications, ignoring them all can be quite difficult.
There are many apps like Drive Smart and AT & T’s Drive Mode (both are also available for Android) that can help you stay focused on the road. However, in iOS 11, Apple has built in a new Do Not Disturb mode that allows you to drive directly from the operating system. If you are already using one of the distracted driving apps, you do not need to configure it. If you don’t, then tweaking it can potentially help you regain some focus on your daily commute.
Basically, this is the same Do Not Disturb feature you use at night so your mom’s messages don’t wake you up early in the morning. Once you turn it on, it will prevent text messages and other notifications from appearing when you are driving and will send people who will send you a text message informing them that you are driving. The best part? You can configure it to start automatically.
Configure Do Not Disturb Mode
Setting up Do Not Disturb is easy. Go to the Settings menu on your iPhone (that gear-like thing), then select Do Not Disturb from the options and then scroll down to Do Not Disturb While Driving.
From there, you have three options: automatically, when connected to car Bluetooth, and manually.
The option you want to choose here depends a lot on your driving habits. In general, a smart person, in my opinion, should select “While connected to car Bluetooth”. The reason is that the “Automatic” option starts the function every time your phone detects that you are moving at a speed. Yes, it can be when you are driving, but it can also be when your friend is taking the team to breakfast or when you are on the train to work.
If you drive everywhere, then Automatic is a great option. If you’re not always a driver, it gets boring quickly. The Bluetooth option appears to at least restrict it from starting up when you’re in the vehicles you drive. For automatic operation, you also need an iPhone 6 or later (older models don’t see this option).
Manually is not a bad choice either, but then you have to rely on yourself to physically turn it on every time you drive. I know that when it comes to me it means it just doesn’t turn on at all, which makes this feature pointless.
Add to Control Center
If you still want to do things manually, make it easy for yourself by adding Do Not Disturb While Driving to your Control Center.
You can do this by going to the same Settings menu as before, then to Control Center, and then to Customize Controls. Now, when you swipe up on the screen to access the Control Center (where you usually do things like put your phone on airplane mode or use a flashlight), you’ll see a dedicated car icon. Click on this machine to turn this function on and off.
Disabling notifications when using advanced technologies? Of course not. But enabling this could make your morning commute to work a little safer.