Avoid Distractions: How to Silence iPhone Notifications With Focus in iOS 16

You’re trying to work (or play) on your iPhone and don’t want to be disturbed by calls, texts, or other interruptions. One feature that can help with this is Focus.

Introduced in iOS 15 as an update to Do Not Disturb, Focus was enhanced in iOS 16 to make it more powerful and easier to use.

To use the latest version of Focus, you must be running iOS 16, which is currently in beta. After the update go to Settings > Focus. By default, the screen shows some focus profiles. They vary depending on whether you’re using an iPhone or iPad, but typically include Do Not Disturb, Driving, Personal, Sleep, and Work. Each profile is designed for a different purpose, activity, or time of day. Your task now is to customize the profiles you want to use, a process that is different and more streamlined in iOS 16 than in iOS 15.

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Allow or block notifications

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Choose the Do Not Disturb option, which you can use as your general Focus profile at any time. Under allow notifications, select the people and apps you want to allow or block notifications for. Select the field for persons. Focus suggests people you want to allow notifications for based on their past interactions. Tap the minus sign next to each suggestion you want to block notifications for while that profile is active. Tap the plus icon and select everyone you want to allow notifications for.

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Allow or mute calls

Under Phone calls, tap the current option for Allow calls from; You can then change it to Everyone, Approved Only, Favorites, or Contacts Only. Switch Allow repeat calls on one, with the notion that someone trying to reach you during an emergency might call you multiple times.

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Next, tap the option at the top for Mute notifications from. Tap the plus icon and select everyone you want to mute notifications for. Note that this process only works if the people you’re silencing are also running iOS 16 (or iPadOS 16) on their devices. Next, turn on the switch for Allow calls from muted people if you want to keep taking calls from people you’ve blocked in this way.

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Allow or mute app notifications

Return to the previous screen. Tap the apps box. The process here is similar to People. When the top option is set to Allow notifications from, remove any listed apps for which you do not want to receive notifications. Tap the plus icon and select all the apps you want to get notifications for.

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Change the top option to Mute notifications from. Tap the plus icon to add apps you don’t want to receive notifications for. Make sure the switch is on to see important notifications Time sensitive notifications.

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Show muted notifications on the lock screen

Return to the previous screen. Tap on the entry for options. Here you can choose to show muted notifications on the lock screen instead of in the notification center, dim the lock screen when this Focus profile is activated, and hide notification badges from muted apps on your home screen.

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Go back one screen. Next, you can set up specific lock screens and home screens that will help you turn off notifications. Apple’s iOS 16 offers ways to create and edit custom lock screens, something you might want to try in addition to enabling different focus profiles. In the Customize Screens section, tap the first thumbnail. Choose a lock screen to display when you turn on the Do Not Disturb profile. Next, tap on the second thumbnail and select the home screen to display in Do Not Disturb mode.

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Schedule notifications

You can manually turn on Do Not Disturb mode at any time. However, you may wish to set specific times or instances for the effective date.

In the section for Turn on automaticallytap the option for Add schedule. Select the first option for Time and choose a specific start time, end time, and day or days on which Do Not Disturb will automatically turn on. Next, select Location and enter an address or location for this profile. Next, select App and select a specific app that automatically turns on Do Not Disturb when opened. You can also enable Smart Activity, which activates Do Not Disturb based on your location, app usage, and other factors.

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Add focus filters for apps

Apple’s iOS 16 also offers a new Focus option called Focus Filters, which lets you filter out specific types of content in supported apps. For example, you may only want to receive text messages from specific people, or only view specific calendars if you have more than one.

Tap on the option for add filter. Select the app you want to create a filter for. Use Calendar to choose a specific calendar to display when Do Not Disturb is on and tap Add. For Mail, select a specific account to view. For messages, choose to filter the allowed list by people. For Safari, select specific tab groups for which you want to add a filter.

You can also enable system filters for appearance (light or dark mode) and power saving mode. The filters available with the iOS 16 beta are limited, but should increase in number after the official launch of the new operating system.

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Customize or create new profiles

After you’ve set up your Do Not Disturb profile, you can switch to any other profiles you want to enable, including Driving, Personal, Sleeping, and Work. They all work similarly with all or most of the same options. You can also delete a specific profile that you would never use. To do this, swipe down on the screen for that profile and tap the option for clear focus.

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You can also add a focus. Tap the plus icon at the top right of the main focus settings screen. Select Fitness, Gaming, Mindfulness, or Reading from the list. Choose the profile you want to enable and customize the allowed people, apps, screens, filters, and other options.

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To create a brand new profile, select Custom. Name the Focus profile and choose an image and color for its icon. Customize people, apps, and other settings.

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Back on the Focus Settings screen, turn on the switch for Share across devices if you want the same Focus profiles and settings to be pushed across all your Apple devices including iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Mac. Tap the Focus Status option. Here you can control which Focus profiles let allowed apps show that you’ve muted notifications.

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Finally, you can easily activate a specific focus profile. Swipe up or down on the screen to view Control Center. Tap the Focus control, then select the specific profile you want to activate. Tap the profile’s ellipse icon to set how long it should run. Tap the New Focus icon at the bottom to create a new focus profile.

(Image credit: PCMag/Lance Whitney)