Has anyone figured out a way to automatically change the current Focus based on which of my contacts (or even, which of the users in my Apple Family account) I was with?
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Eight Tips for Getting the Most Out of Apple's Focus Modes
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It’s hard for me to remember all the steps off the top of my head, but you go to the shortcuts app, select automation at the bottom and hit plus at the top. Select the automation “when connected to WiFi …” and add the various inputs (like the WiFi network name). Select Next at the top, then pick your work focus. I think that’s all the steps. Play around with the shortcuts app, there’s a number of cool things you can do to make your life easier.
I am a big Apple user and have never managed to get my head around Focus Modes.
I tried when it launched but it seemed to blocked some telephone calls and I quickly gave up. I have tried again a few times and can’t seem to get it to do what I want.
Now, I use no mode - with ringer silenced but haptics on for all-day. I used Sleep Focus for bed and mainly manually switch it on in bed. Sometimes it’s putting itself into that mode if it’s after 11pm but even then, I find it hard to see notifications because they don’t even show in Notifications Centre clearly. AI re-writes groups of them and I have to clip to see them all properly. It’s a mess really.
I tried when it launched but it seemed to blocked some telephone calls and I quickly gave up. I have tried again a few times and can’t seem to get it to do what I want.
Now, I use no mode - with ringer silenced but haptics on for all-day. I used Sleep Focus for bed and mainly manually switch it on in bed. Sometimes it’s putting itself into that mode if it’s after 11pm but even then, I find it hard to see notifications because they don’t even show in Notifications Centre clearly. AI re-writes groups of them and I have to clip to see them all properly. It’s a mess really.
Focus Modes are a mess. They are basically Apple saying “we don’t know how to do this, figure it out yourselves”. It’s the most un-Apple feature I have seen in decades because it goes against everything they stand for: “It just works”.
No it doesn’t. It requires endless tinkering and configuration and in the end you still miss the call or message you’ve been waiting for.
So you’re 100% right: AI should fix this for us.
I’m extensively using Focus, primarily in 3 modes: sleep, DND and work. It is very consistent for me, so I really don’t get all the complaining above 🤷🏻♂️
Great article, never really looked into focus mode, how it has evolved and what options there is.
You're not wrong. But the default setting on iPhone and iPad is Focus -> Do Not Disturb, which is "silence all notifications." So it does do what you ask, and it's one swipe, one press to toggle Do Not Disturb "on" or "off."
And I'm sure many users appreciate at least some of the modes, and most importantly, the ability to customize Focus settings, right down to individuals in your contact list. But yes, for most users, these "modes" are mostly fluff, and what a big percentage of people want and need is "Do Not Disturb," the default "silence everything" Focus Mode.
I use the 'Analogue focus' feature.
I put the phone in another room if I dont want to be bothered by it.
I put the phone in another room if I dont want to be bothered by it.
I setup a work focus mode and only allow those work apps to send notifications in work mode.
All my focus modes use the allow notifications setting, and I don’t use the time sensitive setting.
So if an app isn’t setup in a focus mode it doesn’t get through (unless no focus mode is set, then anything can get through).
Focus mode is very weird. I chose to silence WhatsApp notifications, but I keep getting them on my phone and on my Apple Watch. It doesn’t work properly… so I end up switching to sleep mode.
Just turn off all notifications and check your phone from time to time, when you're not doing anything important, done.
Say, why does Apple sell you a bracelet with a bunch of sensors and then still wants you to tell it your sleep schedule when they can surely detect it?
Say, why does Apple sell you a bracelet with a bunch of sensors and then still wants you to tell it your sleep schedule when they can surely detect it?
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This kind of scenario is actually why I wrote this article. My partner doesn’t ever want notifications on his watch to disturb him with sound and haptics, but he wants iPhone notifications and to still be able to see the notifications come up on the watch. I’d personally like for him to get notified about texts from me, while muting everything else. He also wants to use the Sleep mode on Apple Watch, but not have it serve as an alarm/be linked to his morning alarm on iPhone, and I ultimately just didn’t see a way to set things up the way he wants. The link between sleep tracking and the sleep focus is frustrating.
For your DND mode though, the watch shouldn’t be pinging when it’s on. I’d check those settings and make sure you have mirror iPhone focus modes/notification settings turned on for the watch.
You can certainly combine apps and people, so blocking signal while also green lighting phone calls through the phone app works. I don’t think you can block Signal messages and allow calls through Signal, but there might be a way. You should be able to link Focus modes to home automations with Shortcuts, if there’s not an easier method.
Location based Focus modes can be set up by going into Settings, choosing a Focus, and then using the custom schedule feature. Location is an option in that menu.
Unfortunately I think the best way to achieve that would be a Focus mode you keep on all of the time, but I agree, when you really dig into it, there are weird limitations with focus modes and notifications.
Do Not Disturb would definitely block phone calls unless you’ve tweaked it. You should have another look, things have changed. You can set up Focus modes that won’t block phone calls, but will block other notifications.
You can turn off the AI summaries, which might help with some of the confusion. Sleep mode starts automatically at your set bedtime, so you could set it later and continue to manually enable it when needed.
I wish there was a way to integrate site blocking with focus modes, like to prevent checking macrumors at work.
In a fairly technical person and setting all of this up took me a while. I don’t even think I used it for the first year because the barrier to entry was so high. I talk to other people and they’ve never even tried using it or sound confused about what I’m even saying. They don’t even know what the focus modes do.
Once I did get it all setup it was very buggy. Like I cannot for the life of me get it to consistently set whether my iPhone is silent or not, which I feel like should be a pretty simple and straightforward boolean toggle. I do like that a can have it change my home screens based on whether I’m working or not, and silence certain work apps in the evening and on weekends. But sometimes it just glitches out. And all the settings to configure it are a bit overwhelming.
Now that I’ve gone into business for myself, I have most of it disabled, as the line between work and personal life is blurred. But the freaking silence toggle, I just cannot understand why it just doesn’t work on schedule!
Once I did get it all setup it was very buggy. Like I cannot for the life of me get it to consistently set whether my iPhone is silent or not, which I feel like should be a pretty simple and straightforward boolean toggle. I do like that a can have it change my home screens based on whether I’m working or not, and silence certain work apps in the evening and on weekends. But sometimes it just glitches out. And all the settings to configure it are a bit overwhelming.
Now that I’ve gone into business for myself, I have most of it disabled, as the line between work and personal life is blurred. But the freaking silence toggle, I just cannot understand why it just doesn’t work on schedule!
Since ~two iOS versions, my devices consistently broadcast "Notifications Silenced/DnD" . . . even with a 24/7 'Awake' focus manually created/enabled 🤷♂️
Started using the sleep focus M-F and it’s been pretty good. I don’t particularly care for the alarm in the morning though since I usually wake up before it anyway. I still haven’t figured out a good one for while I’m working.
Ever since Focus modes were introduced, I wanted to have the dumb DnD mode back. I'm too lazy to learn the new feature. Watched a couple of YouTube explainers and finally gave up 🤷♂️.
I agree with you… But just in case you didn’t know you can use do not disturb mode with the moon icon to disable most everything. I just turned that on wanna go to sleep and disable it when I wake up.
It’s done during the set up of a custom focus. Scroll down past Custom Screens and select Add Schedule. One of the options is Location.