Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Focus is an incredible feature, but its way too deep for most people.
Switching DND on off is enough for 99.9%
Yeah its at the point where i suspect people will just put up with either some notifications they ‘dont want’ or jusr turn their phone off/down rather than try to figure out how to fine tune there prefs. Its like the whole focus thing creates a bigger user problem/headache than the issue its trying to fix.
 
Not getting all the hate here. You can make it as complex as you want. Or as simple as you want.

The filter functions for mail and calendar on the other hand are, for me, a total lifesaver. Being able to check my personal mail in evening and weekend without my brain getting back switched on and stressed because of seeing all the work crap is a feature I’ve been wanting for years.
Can you explain a little more about what you mean and how you implemented it? Because i have a work account email and i solve the issue of not being distracted by work email simply by not looking at my work email account. I dont get what the focus thing does except give me another thing i now need to worry about.
 
Yeah its at the point where i suspect people will just put up with either some notifications they ‘dont want’ or jusr turn their phone off/down rather than try to figure out how to fine tune there prefs. Its like the whole focus thing creates a bigger user problem/headache than the issue its trying to fix.
It feels a lot like the shortcuts app in a nutshell.

It can be useful, but as with any form of automation, it requires a fair amount of investment into making it work. You need to be extremely cognisant of your needs and your schedule, and it needs to be regular enough to work with little changes.

For the small group of people willing to spend the time and effort to make it work, I believe it will serve them well. I also suspect that most won't bother.
 
It feels a lot like the shortcuts app in a nutshell.

It can be useful, but as with any form of automation, it requires a fair amount of investment into making it work. You need to be extremely cognisant of your needs and your schedule, and it needs to be regular enough to work with little changes.

For the small group of people willing to spend the time and effort to make it work, I believe it will serve them well. I also suspect that most won't bother.
This statement sums it up entirely. Examples of why this requires serious thought:

1. Configuring a scheduled focus mode for school hours. Now it's summer time and you are out of school. This requires you to know that you need to turn off the scheduled focus mode for summer.

2. Scheduling DND with limited amount of people being able to reach you. You end up having a family emergency where doctors and phone numbers from the hospital can't get through to you.

You really have to invest time to make sure you cover all scenarios or are aware of how your focus modes are configured or just don't mess with it at all.
 
Just rename the app Severance, and choose home activities then select and repeat with work . Should easily last a few episodes in your life 😉
 
I am really happy with they introduced the additional list type and not only a blocklist
 
iOS 14's DnD had two variants. Focus only has one.
Ah. While it would be nice to have this back for the folks that want it, I remember turning that off years ago because it was annoying to have my phone chiming when I was using it when I was expecting it to be quiet. I'm sure a lot of people had the same idea. I don't think it was even an option for the first couple iterations of DND as well. I think iOS 6 only allowed the iOS 14 method, and made noise when the phone was unlocked. I guess all we can do is hope for more improvements. Send a feedback if you're on the beta.
 
Ah. While it would be nice to have this back for the folks that want it, I remember turning that off years ago because it was annoying to have my phone chiming when I was using it when I was expecting it to be quiet. I'm sure a lot of people had the same idea.

I mostly want the opposite.

When I'm at the doctor's office, yes, I want it "fully" DnD; silent even while I'm using it.

But when I'm trying to fall asleep and doomscrolling really quick, I do want to see notifications, but I also want it to be fully silent as soon as I lock the screen again.

 
Focus modes: a solution looking for a problem.

Totally disagree. My partner is a doctor. She absolutely needs to configure her phone specifically for work/home and vacation. She also uses geofencing. The problem this solves for her is patients trying to get at her all hours of day and night and conversely her personal contacts from bothering her when she’s with patients. So, yeah. It’s not a solution looking for a problem. It’s a massive problem on iPhone that Apple is FINALLY trying to fix.
 
It feels a lot like the shortcuts app in a nutshell.

It can be useful, but as with any form of automation, it requires a fair amount of investment into making it work. You need to be extremely cognisant of your needs and your schedule, and it needs to be regular enough to work with little changes.

For the small group of people willing to spend the time and effort to make it work, I believe it will serve them well. I also suspect that most won't bother.
Question, does focus work independently without Shortcut app or do I need to have shortcut app in the phone?
 
Hello,
I think it's not possible to combine date/time + geolocation, am I missing something ?

What I want to do is to put in DND focus mode, every wednesday 08pm-9pm, only if I'm in a specific location.

Because, everyday, I'm passing in front of this location to buy some food, but I don't want to be in DND if it's not during my singing class hours. And on wedneseday, I want to be in DND during the class hours, but not if it's canceled so I'm not in the specific location at this time.
 
Guys and girls, do you get the Low Power mode activation with the Low Power mode filter? I set it to my Sleep Focus, but the Low Power Mode does not kick in. Did I miss something?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Corgirat
Guys and girls, do you get the Low Power mode activation with the Low Power mode filter? I set it to my Sleep Focus, but the Low Power Mode does not kick in. Did I miss something?
Exactly this. When I first turn the filter on, it worked for like a day or so then something happened to it. It doesn’t turn on the low power mode automatically anymore. I restarted it, turned the filter on and off, tried everything but didn’t work. I do not want to fresh install OS for this though..
and please let me know if you find out how to make it work!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Sergiu.
Did anyone find out how to undim the lock screen while on sleep focus? I want the moon picture to show on the focus mode, but currently I can’t figure out how and it’s blurred out
 
Talk about a "complication"! That said, this is great functionality for those who can use it or, more likely, really need it. It wouldn't bother me if these focus designs could be created on an iPad or Mac and then distributed to one's IOS devices but it's not that much harder to figure this out on an iPhone. It will take me a while but ultimately I'm sure this will enhance my iPhone experience. I do wish that more apps could be surfaced on the locked screens but I imagine that Apple will get there.

Congratulations to the designers ... this was a very tough challenge and you made it work (and us work too!). :)
 
  • Like
Reactions: Surf Monkey
Talk about a "complication"! That said, this is great functionality for those who can use it or, more likely, really need it. It wouldn't bother me if these focus designs could be created on an iPad or Mac and then distributed to one's IOS devices but it's not that much harder to figure this out on an iPhone. It will take me a while but ultimately I'm sure this will enhance my iPhone experience. I do wish that more apps could be surfaced on the locked screens but I imagine that Apple will get there.

Congratulations to the designers ... this was a very tough challenge and you made it work (and us work too!). :)

I think people need to give the focus mode lock screens time to mature. They made so many changes to how the Home Screen works that it’s kind of remarkable that it holds together as well as it does in this first release.

But some things are still missing. For example: Apple used to provide dark and light mode versions of their built in wallpapers. I’d like to see those return. They could also load the “create focus” screen with some more options than the feeble selection they currently offer. Finally, I’d really like to see the depth/perspective effect come back. It no longer seems to work on the Lock Screen or the Home Screen. I miss it.
 
The shuffle mode revert back to photo1 if I switch the lock screen back and forth. Did anyone notice? I want the shuffling to continue when I go back to the lock screen that’s tied to a focus mode
 
Micromanaging times a hundred. Bring back the good old days when you just took the phone off the hook if you didn’t want to be disturbed 😎
Vehemently disagree. Just because you don’t have a use case that requires this functionality doesn’t mean it’s unnecessary or bloatware. This is an exceptional capability if you receive work calls and emails from Outlook, Teams and Blackberry applications (yes, BES on the iPhone), and want to mute all the noise will still selectively allowing key personnel to get through without as much as a hiccup. It’s certainly unfamiliar and you don’t need to enable it. But if you do, it’s exceptional.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.