10 Ways You Don’t Use Focus on IPhone but Should
With the release of iOS 15 , Apple has enhanced Do Not Disturb for iPhone, iPad, and Mac, giving you the ability to fine-tune which apps or people can and can’t contact you when Do Not Disturb is turned on. keen.
Now you can use multiple focus modes for work, sleep, reading and more. This is great freedom. However, when you’re starting out, setting up Focus can seem a little daunting (which often happens when there are a lot of new features in a single update).
We’ve already covered the basics of Focus Mode , but there’s a lot you can’t do, which means you’re not getting the most out of this versatile feature. If you’re already using Do Not Disturb or Focus mode for work, use these tips to further enhance your experience.
Notify others in advance when you are focusing
Focus status is a feature that lets people know that you are either busy or focused on something. Once enabled, Apple will display the text ” This person has notifications turned off ” in the Messages app.
If they choose, your contacts can choose to Notify you anyway. But it will at least give them a chance to consider whether their message is really important enough that it can wait until you release it. At least they will know why you are not returning their calls.
Go to Settings > Focus > Focus Profile > Focus Status and enable Share Focus Status .
Disable or change focus status on the lock screen
You can enable, disable, and even customize Focus without leaving the lock screen. When Focus is active, you will see an icon displayed there, below the time. Touch it to view a list of all your Focuses, switch to another Focus, or turn off the current Focus.
Tap the three-dot Menu button to see additional options, such as turn on Hourly Focus, or jump directly to the Focus settings menu.
Use Siri to turn Focus speakerphone on or off.
Don’t even want to touch your phone to set Focus? You can do this with Siri. If you have “Hey Siri” turned on, say “Hey Siri, turn on driving mode” (or work mode, or sleep mode, or any other focus mode) and Siri will handle it.
You can also use Siri to disable focus.
Be sure to allow repeated calls through
For each Focus you have, you can choose which calls can be accepted – say, only people on your Favorites list, or your close friends and family.
However, you don’t want to end up in a situation where you miss an emergency call. Go to ” Settings ” > ” Focus ” > [Focus profile] > ” People ” > ” Calls from” and here enable the ” Allow repeated calls ” feature. Now the second call from the same number, made within three minutes after the first one, will be missed.
View disabled notifications on the lock screen (if needed)
By default, Focus hides all notifications on the lock screen. If you wish, you can turn them back on even while in focus mode, although they will remain disabled.
Go to Settings > Focus > Focus Profile > Lock Screen and turn on Show on Lock Screen .
Set up an auto-reply message for Driving Focus
The previous “Do not disturb while driving” feature is now Focus’s driving mode. And just like before, you can set up an auto-reply message when you’re in driving mode. This message will be sent when someone tries to contact you while you are driving.
Go to Settings > Focus > Driving > Auto Answer to change the text.
Disable Focus Sharing for iPad and Mac
Apple really wants you to use Focus on all of your devices, which is why it enables Focus Sharing between iPhone, iPad, and Mac by default. But if you want your devices to be shared, you need to turn off the focus sharing feature. To do this, go to ” Settings ” > ” Focus ” and turn off the ” Share between devices ” option.
One caveat: if you disable this feature, it will also stop sharing your Focus status.
Use the smart automation feature
Another big change to Focus is the fact that you can set up multiple schedules and automations for a single Focus, which can run multiple times or in different locations throughout the day.
But if you’re new to all this automation, you can let Apple do the hard work of figuring out when to enable Focus throughout the day, depending on how you use your devices. Go to Settings > Focus > Focus Profile > Add Schedule or Automation and select Smart Activation to get started.
Use shortcuts to create your own Focus automations.
Shortcuts and Focus are deeply integrated. (You can get a glimpse of this fact in the scheduling section of Focus.) But here’s the secret: Focus is also directly supported in Shortcuts Automation. This means you can go to Shortcuts > Automation > Create Personal Automation to create an automation that will run when focus is enabled or disabled.
Because automation supports any action in the Shortcuts app, the sky is really the limit in terms of how you can customize your focus modes.
Change your home screens when you change your focus
This is a massively underrated feature in the Focus: while a little tricky to set up, it’s possible to transform your iPhone with the push of a button, as each Focus lets you choose which home screen pages to show and which to hide. This means that you can create multiple home screens and only show them during a specific focus. It can, say, help you avoid entertainment and social networking apps when you’re at work.
To get started, go to Settings > Focus > Focus Profile > Home Screen . Enable the ” Custom Pages ” option, select the home screen pages, and click Done. ”