Focus status "driving" shared?

[christianji]

One weird thing here, and I cannot find a word about it in the Apple documentation. In my favorites widget I can see the "driving" status of my wife's iPhone. Why is this possible? Anywhere it is mentioned, that apps do not know the focus status, but only the silenced status. From my understanding it should only be allowed to show the half-moon (silenced) icon. Anyone else seeing this?
Or am I missing a setting where I can specify what is shared related to focus? Or is this some undocumented feature of family sharing we have setup?

 

[kaardowiq]

Good catch, haven't seen this before.

 

[NoBoMac]

Or is this some undocumented feature of family sharing we have setup?

Possibly.

But, it's also documented that "your [driving] status is automatically displayed in the Messages app". Not very specific, but might mean that other Messages users will see the status without having to send anything.

 

[christianji]

Possibly.

But, it's also documented that "your [driving] status is automatically displayed in the Messages app". Not very specific, but might mean that other Messages users will see the status without having to send anything.

In Messages App she is half-mooned… no hint to driving there.

 

[NoBoMac]

Was she driving at the time of the half moon?

What seems to be happening is Driving Focus is going the extra step to have a different bubble when that Focus is on vs generic half-moon bubble when "Focus Status" is "On". Which fits as Driving Focus always went the extra mile (no pun intended) re: auto replying to messages with "hey! I'm driving", so makes some sense that putting up a bubble for "I REALLY can't text right now".

 

[christianji]

Was she driving at the time of the half moon?

She was.

"hey! I'm driving", so makes some sense that putting up a bubble for "I REALLY can't text right now".

apart from the question if it makes sense (what it does) that feature should be mentioned somewhere and/or there should be a toggle for this. I am not even sure if it is a signalization of her iPhone's focus status or - what could be possible as well - if the car icon is a result of regular background checks of her location (which is refreshed from time to time) and interpretation of travel speed, direction etc. and then deriving the driving status from that location and movement data.

We have four family iPhones and we travel regularly together by car... I will play around and observe.

 

[kaardowiq]

With the beginning of car focus mode I ever asked myself why it just looks the same like all other focus modes. IMHO it makes a different if I'm in regular focus while sporting, meeting etc. or driving. Ever missed an indicator for this within the messages app. Furthermore, I'd like to share my focus mode icon - so people can guess how long it would take to get an answer (e.g. sport around an hour, business meetings could take longer, sleeping could take several hours,...).

 

[contacos]

I also find the whole Focus thing pointless without actually showing the focus status. I'd like to share "working" for example and people can expect that I will answer but that it may take a little longer while "sleep" will indicate "not a chance right now"

 

[TimFL1]

She was.


apart from the question if it makes sense (what it does) that feature should be mentioned somewhere and/or there should be a toggle for this. I am not even sure if it is a signalization of her iPhone's focus status or - what could be possible as well - if the car icon is a result of regular background checks of her location (which is refreshed from time to time) and interpretation of travel speed, direction etc. and then deriving the driving status from that location and movement data.

We have four family iPhones and we travel regularly together by car... I will play around and observe.

The driving focus icon also shows up for people you do not share a location in Find My with, which makes this extra creepy being able to tell whether someone is driving or not.

I‘ve noticed this literally day 1 of iOS 15 when my contacts started updating, it‘s why I already sent feedback suggesting the API to be expanded to include icon & focus name data so apps can display the info more granularly.
Like I want people to know that I‘m driving right now so they can break through to me (when they e.g. want me to pick up groceries while I‘m on my way home from work) or know to not disturb me when I‘m in fitness or work focus (cause I wont respond anyways).

 

[christianji]

The driving focus icon also shows up for people you do not share a location in Find My with, which makes this extra creepy being able to tell whether someone is driving or not.

Huh? I was expecting this is somehow related to family sharing or at least contacts which are favorites... That means I am sharing the driving focus to the world?

 

[kaardowiq]

More or less it makes sense. Imagine a recruiter would call on you. But to be honest, this should be implemented in a more suitable way.

 

[TimFL1]

Huh? I was expecting this is somehow related to family sharing or at least contacts which are favorites... That means I am sharing the driving focus to the world?

Yes it's not tied to family or location sharing since I can see it when my boss drives his car (yes, I have my boss as the 4th contact in my contact widget).

 

[kaardowiq]

Yes it's not tied to family or location sharing since I can see it when my boss drives his car (yes, I have my boss as the 4th contact in my contact widget).

Wow, just used the contacts widget and saw that the car icon even gets displayed when driving focus is NOT activated. I can see that my wife is moving, even see hates this mode and has it therefore deactivated

 

[TimFL1]

Wow, just used the contacts widget and saw that the car icon even gets displayed when driving focus is NOT activated. I can see that my wife is moving, even see hates this mode and has it therefore deactivated

Does she use CarPlay? Could be tied to that too, don't think it's tied to Car Stereo Bluetooth & movement data.

 

[kaardowiq]

Does she use CarPlay? Could be tied to that too, don't think it's tied to Car Stereo Bluetooth & movement data.

Nope her car doesn’t support it, but it’s connected to a native BT unit within the car. Since the location of the car in maps is displayed, it probably gets recognized by this or by the gyrometer.

 

[christianji]

Wow, just used the contacts widget and saw that the car icon even gets displayed when driving focus is NOT activated. I can see that my wife is moving, even see hates this mode and has it therefore deactivated

Yes, that is totally crazy. This is what I meant above that the car icon appears based on movements and travel speed. I am pretty sure that she didn't activate the driving focus manually.

She was traveling by public transport when the icon appeared.

Does she use CarPlay? Could be tied to that too, don't think it's tied to Car Stereo Bluetooth & movement data.

No car play in the bus

 

[NoBoMac]

DnDwD and turning on has had trouble with public transport since day one. Example:

Is there a way for Do Not Disturb while driving to know I’m actually driving?

A few times a week I usually use public transportation instead. But of course the iPhone can’t differentiate I’m on the bus or driving my car, it still says that I won’t get notifications if I’m driving. I do play on my phone when I’m taking the bus/train. I set it up so it should only activate...

forums.macrumors.com

Set the Focus to "Manual" or "Bluetooth" for when truly driving.

 

[kaardowiq]

DnDwD and turning on has had trouble with public transport since day one. Example:

Is there a way for Do Not Disturb while driving to know I’m actually driving?

A few times a week I usually use public transportation instead. But of course the iPhone can’t differentiate I’m on the bus or driving my car, it still says that I won’t get notifications if I’m driving. I do play on my phone when I’m taking the bus/train. I set it up so it should only activate...

forums.macrumors.com

Set the Focus to "Manual" or "Bluetooth" for when truly driving.

The here mentioned issue is that it seems to be active even when it‘s set in manual mode. Therefore, this shouldn’t be displayed. However, it shows up within the contacts widget (probably indicated by movement data).

 

[christianji]

Did some sporadic testing while travelling with my family: Driving status is definitely linked to location sharing and is shared between all my family members who share their location, too. It is not related to the focus driving at all, since that focus does not need to be active to show "driving" to the others.

 

[Ams3280]

Has anyone gotten any further info on this?? I have also had this icon show up, anyone know what it is for?? Is it a running icon, she was not running at the time.