Do Not Disturb used to be a simple toggle to suppress all notifications on your iPhone. But since iOS 15, it’s grown into a suite of profiles called Focus, which is so much more useful.

Putting Focus to good use can be confusing at first, but after some configuration, it’s a feature you’ll love. You get full control over which notifications can grab your attention at what times.

Meet and tweak your Focus modes

To get started, open Settings and enter the Focus section. You’ll see a list of various Focus modes, each customizable with its own options. Let’s walk through one as an example.

Allow Notifications is the primary section that controls each Focus mode. Tap People, then choose whether you want to Allow or Silence notifications from a chosen group. Use Add People to set that list of contacts.

With an allowed list, you’ll also need to set an option for Allow Calls From; you can choose Everybody, Allowed People Only, Favorites, or Contacts Only. Any groups you’ve set up in Contacts will also appear. If you’ve silenced select people, you’ll instead see a slider to allow calls from them.

The Apps section has a similar setup, letting you Allow or Silence alerts from chosen apps. Enable the Time Sensitive Notifications slider if you want apps to send alerts that need your attention immediately (even if they’d otherwise be silenced).

The right choice for these options depends on the purpose of your Focus. I find it more useful to allow a few people and apps, rather than trying to restrict every noisy source. Limiting alerts to a select group of people (like work colleagues or family) and apps using Allow is easier. If your aim is instead to quiet a few noisy apps, choose Silence to cut those out.

Customizing screens, schedules, and filters

After you pick which people and apps can send you notifications in Focus, you can set up more options to make the mode better suit you.

Check under Options for a few quick toggles related to notifications. Of particular usefulness is Silence Notifications, which you can change from Always to While Locked if you’d like to still get alerts while using your phone.

Under Customize Screens, you can choose one of your custom Lock Screens to show while this Focus is active (or create a new one). Similarly, you can limit your Home Screen to certain pages, including new ones that your phone suggests. If you have an Apple Watch, you can even tie a specific watch face to each Focus.

Using Add Schedule lets you activate the Focus at the right time without having to do so manually. In that menu, you can choose whether to enable it at certain times, when in certain locations, or while using certain apps. There’s also a Smart Activation option, though this can make mistakes.

Finally, there are Focus Filters, which let you hide content in certain apps when a given Focus is enabled. For instance, you can limit the Mail app to show only your work inbox. Not many apps are supported here, so its usefulness depends on the apps you use.

At the bottom of the page, you’ll find System Filters to apply changes like enabling dark mode or low power mode while using that focus.

Special Focus mode options

Most Focus modes follow the same options we walked through above. However, a few modes have special considerations you should know.

Driving can activate automatically when you connect to your car’s Bluetooth or CarPlay. It also has one of the best CarPlay upgrades: an Auto-Reply for chosen contacts with a message letting them know you’re driving.

As you’d expect, Fitness has an option to be toggled on when you start a workout using the Fitness app or your Apple Watch. Sleep will activate automatically based on your sleep schedule set in the Health app. Gaming activates when you connect a controller.

If you have Apple Intelligence enabled (I certainly don’t), there’s a special Reduce Interruptions Focus mode that uses AI to determine which pings are important. In this case, you’ll also see an Intelligence Breakthrough & Silencing toggle for each Focus mode, which has a similar effect.

Focus Status lets others know that you’re in Focus, which is useful so they don’t expect an immediate reply. This is supposed to apply across apps, but I’ve only seen it working in Messages. And if you have multiple Apple devices, enabling Share Across Devices applies your current Focus to them all.

Create your own Focus

In case these modes aren’t enough for you, tap the Plus icon at the top-right to add another. There are a few pre-made options you can enable (like Gaming and Reading), or you can create a fresh one. For each custom Focus (plus most of the existing ones), you can set an emoji and color to identify it.

The only custom Focus I’ve made is Calls Only, which allows calls from everyone but suppresses all other notifications. I use it when I’m expecting a call but don’t want to be bothered by texts or other alerts.

While it can be tempting to create a Focus mode for every possible situation, this can quickly become confusing. Try tweaking a few Focus modes that cover most of your day (like Work, Sleep, Driving, and Home), then build from there if you need.

Getting the most from Focus modes

The quickest way to enable a Focus on demand is by opening Control Center and tapping the Focus item. Use the three-dot menu to change how long it’s active for.

Each app has its own definition of “time-sensitive” notifications. If you find an app sends these too often, go to Settings > Apps [App Name] > Notifications and disable the Time Sensitive Notifications slider. This prevents such notifications from breaking through Focus.

I recommend keeping Do Not Disturb as a broad “no notification except alarms” mode, so you can have peace when pings are getting overwhelming. You don’t want to make exceptions for this mode, especially if you turn on DND when you expect your phone to be quiet and end up with a loud embarrassment.

One of the biggest worries with Do Not Disturb is that you’ll miss something important. Focus modes offer a few ways to mitigate this. First, you can enable Allow Repeated Calls so that a second call from the same person within a few minutes breaks through Focus. Second, when someone sees your Focus status in Messages, they can tap Notify Anyway to send a notification if something is urgent.

And for anyone you never want to silence, you can customize their contact entry. Open Contacts, open their entry, tap Edit at the top-right, and choose Ringtone. At the top, enable Emergency Bypass, and calls from that person will ring even when your device is in Focus. You can do the same for their Text tone.

Focus modes put you in control

Having multiple Focus modes might seem overkill at first, but once you set them up to match your usage, they become a powerful tool. I’m an advocate for restricting which notifications get your attention, and Focus is a great way to control that. You don’t need to be distracted by every ping all the time.

If you want to go further, try using iPhone Shortcuts with Focus modes. With these, you can take certain actions when you enable a given Focus mode, add more logic for when you switch between modes, and much more.