How to Use Focus Mode on iPhone (Complete Guide)

Apple released Focus Mode for iPhone with iOS 15 and it has changed a lot since then to help users improve their productivity by reducing the distractions caused by their iPhone.

But despite the many features, it’s difficult to keep track of them all, and even after looking at the options, you may have doubts about what and how each of them can be useful. I’ve detailed iPhone Focus mode for you so you can save that time and use it to improve your productivity.

• What is Focus Mode on iPhone?
• How to Adjust iPhone Focus Mode
• Customize your lock screen or home screen based on focus
• What is Share Focus Status and how to enable/disable it
• How to Use Focus Filter on iPhone
• Link focus to Apple Watch face
• How to Prevent Focus Mode from Sharing Your Status
• How to Enable Focus Mode on iPhone
• How to Remove Focus Mode on iPhone

What is Focus Mode on iPhone?

Simply put, Focus Mode is an advanced Do Not Disturb mode with many features and flexibility. Focus also lets you customize existing Do Not Disturb and Sleep modes.

Depending on the situation, you can choose any of them. You can also turn off notifications from a specific contact or app, even if you have Do Not Disturb or Sleep modes turned on.

How to Adjust iPhone Focus Mode

There are basically two ways to set the focus mode on your iPhone. The easiest is to access or create a Focus from the Control Center. Here’s how:

1. Open Control Center.
2. Tap Focus.
3. You also can:
   • Scroll down and tap the plus icon to create a new focus.
   • Tap the three dots next to the focus mode and select “Settings”to customize.

Or you can also set up Focus from Settings by doing the following:

In iOS 16

1. Open Settings → Focus.
2. To create a new focus, click the + button in the top right corner.
3. Here:
   • Select the desired focus → Adjust focus
   • Select Custom → assign a name, color, icon and click Next → Adjust Focus.
4. Select “People”to customize the contact notifications you want to receive.
5. Here select:
   • Allow notification from: To allow notifications from specific contacts.
     1. Click Add
     2. Select contacts and click Done.
     3. Click “Allow calls from”and choose who can call you.
     4. You can also turn on Allow Recalls. (You allow the same person to call again within 3 minutes of the first call)
   • Disable notifications from: Block notifications from a specific set of contacts.
     1. Tap Add.
     2. Select contacts and click Done.
     3. Turn on “Allow calls from silenced people”if you want them to call.
6. To control which apps can send you notifications, select Apps and tap:
   • Allow notifications from: Allow notifications from selected apps only.
     1. Tap Add.
     2. Select apps and click Done. (You can also select apps from the Offers section)
   • Disable notifications from: Disable notifications from selected apps.
     1. Tap Add.
     2. Select apps and click Done.
     3. You can also enable time-sensitive notifications (disabled apps can send notifications marked as time-sensitive)

To remove added people/applications, go to these sections and click the – button above them to remove them. To uninstall all applications, click Uninstall All.

In iOS 15

In iOS 15, you can set up a ready-made Focus, or you can create a separate Focus and then customize it. Let’s first see how to set up the finished Focus.

1. Go to Settings → Focus.
2. Choose from any of the pre-made Focuses.
3. Click next. (if prompted)
4. Then click People.
5. Click + Add.
6. Add contacts and click Finish.
7. Choose who can call you in the Calls from section.
8. Tap “Allow”or “No Permissions”(if you don’t want to make a call).
9. Then click “+Add”to select apps and click “Allow”or “Don’t Allow”. You can also turn on Time Sensitivity if available.
10. Click Done.

Now that you know how to set up a preset focus, let’s see what you need to do to create your own focus:

1. Open “Settings”→ “Focus”→ “+”button.
2. Select Custom.
3. Assign a name, color, icon and click next.
4. Click Add → select contacts and click Done. (Press the “–”button above a contact to delete it, or “Delete All”to delete all contacts.)
5. Select Allow. (You can also select Allow No if you want to change later)
6. Select apps to block notifications (tap Add → select apps → Done).
7. Turn on time-sensitive notifications if you like.
8. Click “Allow”to continue (choose “No”if you don’t want to edit at the moment)
9. Now click “Done”to complete.

You can remove added people/apps by opening any of these sections and then clicking the – button above it to remove them. You can also use the Remove All button to remove them.

Customize your lock screen or home screen based on focus

Focus also gives you control over how your home screen and lock screen look when certain modes are enabled. You can choose to show only certain pages of the home screen in focus mode and set a specific lock screen for your focus.

Let’s see how you can customize the home screen on your iPhone.

1. Go to “Settings”→ “Focus”→ select a mode.
2. Tap Home Screen. In iOS 16, tap Select under the Home screen illustration.
3. Enable custom pages. You will be taken to the page selection directly on iOS 16.
4. Select the pages you want to display in this mode and click Finish. In iOS 16, select either the suggested home screen page or any of your pages.

Note. Other than that, if you want notification icons in apps to be hidden, you can enable the “Hide Notification Icons”feature.

That’s all for the home screen. But when it comes to screen lock, the steps go in different directions for iOS 15 and 16. Let’s start by looking at the steps looking at them now:

For iOS 16

As of iOS 16, Apple has completely revamped the lock screen. Now that iOS 16 has multiple lock screens, users can associate their iPhone’s lock screen with each focus mode. Here are the steps:

1. Unlock your iPhone with Face ID or Touch ID and stay on the lock screen.
2. Press and hold the screen and select Focus.
3. Select a mode.
4. Now press the cross button to exit.

Or you can also go to “Settings”→ “Focus”→ choose a mode → press “Select”under the “Lock Screen”illustration. You can either create a new lock screen, or select one of the existing ones, if available, and click Done. If you want to change it, click “Edit”and choose a new option.

For iOS 15

As with customizing the home screen, you can also make changes to the lock screen depending on the focus mode you choose. Here are those features and the steps to access them.

1. Open settings.
2. Tap Focus.
3. Choose a focus mode.
4. Then tap “Lock Screen”.
5. Here you can enable the desired options:
   • Dim lock screen: Dim the lock screen when using focus.
   • Show on lock screen. Display disabled notifications on the lock screen.

What is Share Focus Status and how to enable/disable it

With Share Focus turned on, whenever someone sends you a message, the app will inform them that you are currently in the Focus app and have turned off notifications from that app.

The sender gains the ability to use Notify Anyway, which will notify the recipient even if they have disabled notification. To enable focus status sharing in iOS 15, follow these steps:

1. Open settings.
2. Tap Focus.
3. Then click Focus Status.
4. Turn on Share focus status.

To disable the focus status, follow the same steps and disable the focus status at the end.

As for iOS 16, you need to go to Settings → Focus → turn on Shared Devices → tap on Focus Status and turn it on. To turn it off, open the Focus page, turn off Shared Devices, or you can also turn off Focus Status, or even turn it off for that particular focus.

Note. To enable focus status sharing, you must be in any specific focus mode and grant permission to that specific application.

How to Use Focus Filter on iPhone

Focus filter, as the name suggests, filters content in applications when using any particular focus. When enabled, Focus Filter only shows content allowed for applications and hides everything else from it. These features are mostly useful for those who use their iPhone for work and personal use.

Currently, you can filter the following content from default apps and features:

• Appearance: The phone will switch between dark and light modes depending on the focus.
• Power saving mode. Similar to dark mode, you can automatically put your iPhone into power saving mode once focus is turned on.
• Messages: Receive messages only from the contacts you want to reach.
• Mail: If this feature is enabled, the Mail app will only show you emails from the accounts you have enabled.

• Calendar: If you have a separate calendar for work and family, the focus filter will help you only use one calendar when using that particular focus mode.
• Safari: When using the Focus filter, Safari will only show the tab group. But remember, you need to create a group of tabs before adding them to the focus filter.

In addition, Apple has released the Focus Filter API, which allows third-party app developers to make their apps compatible.

Turn on Focus Filters on iPhone

1. Open settings.
2. Press “Focus”and select a mode.
3. Scroll down and click Add Filter under Focus Filters.
4. Select any of the application filters or system filters of your choice, make your selection, and click Add.

Link focus to Apple Watch face

In addition to lock screen and home screen settings, you can also set your own watch face for each focus. Remember that you need to have an Apple Watch paired with an iPhone. Here’s how:

Go to Settings → Focus → select Focus → click Select under the Apple watch illustration → select the desired watch face → Done.

To remove any Focus filter, go to the specific Focus mode page, scroll down, tap the filter, and select Remove.

How to Prevent Focus Mode from Sharing Your Status

While Focus mode is handy for turning off notifications from apps and people, iOS will notify people who tell you that you’ve turned off notifications. Well, as you can guess, this may not be good news for those who message you.

These features are mostly useful for those who use their iPhone for work and personal use. Currently, you can filter the following content from default apps:

1. Go to Settings → Focus.
2. Disable sharing on all devices.

In iOS 15, you need to navigate to Focus and then toggle Share Focus Status.

How to Enable Focus Mode on iPhone

Now that you know about the features and customization options of Focus, let’s see how to enable Focus on your iPhone.

1. Open Control Center on your iPhone.
   • On an iPhone with Face ID: Swipe down from the top right corner.
   • On an iPhone with Touch ID: Swipe up from the bottom of the screen.
2. Click “Focus”and select the mode you want to turn on.

In addition, depending on the version of iOS you are using, you can also enable Focus by doing the following:

• In iOS 16: Change the associated lock screen. (Keep in mind you must link the lock screen to focus)
• In iOS 15: Go to Settings → Focus → select a mode → turn on the toggle.

Automatically enable focus

Smart Activation automates focus modes on your device. When enabled, it will intelligently activate a specific focus at the appropriate time during the day based on your location, app usage, and more.

It does this by default, but you can set up smart activation. For example, your phone may automatically activate personal focus mode when you are at home. Or, when you’re in the Netflix app, it can activate Do Not Disturb mode.

It has countless uses and offers convenience. Here’s how to do it:

1. Select Focus.
2. Click Add Schedule or Automation. In iOS 16, select Add Schedule.
3. Select a time, location, or application.
4. Make the necessary changes and click Finish.

To remove Focus, open the schedule and click Remove Automation. Confirm again by selecting Remove Automation.

Automatically enable Focus using Smart Activation

Alternatively, you can also force iPhone to turn on Focus automatically using Smart Activation. It turns on Focus on your iPhone based on the location and time you use your iPhone. Let’s first see how we can enable it in iOS 16:

1. Select Focus.
2. Scroll down and click Smart Activation.
3. Turn on smart activation.

Sometimes smart activation is hidden behind Add Schedule or Automation.

And for iOS 15:

1. open focus.
2. Click Add Schedule or Automation.
3. Choose smart activation.

To remove, open the Smart Activation page and click “Remove Automation”. Confirm this again by clicking “Remove Automation”again.

How to Remove Focus Mode on iPhone

1. Go to “Settings”→ “Focus”→ select a specific “Focus”mode.
2. Scroll down and click Remove Focus.
3. Click Remove Focus again to confirm.

FAQ

While Do Not Disturb mode blocks all calls and notifications on your iPhone, Focus mode helps users customize which contacts and apps can send you notifications. Also, instead of switching DND at a certain time, you can use the Smart Activation mode to turn on

Yes, you can customize who’s call to block using a specific Focus.

That’s all!

Now you know how the new Apple Focus notifications work and how to turn them on. I’m very impressed with the level of customization it offers, especially with iOS 16. Focus mode makes working with your iPhone a lot easier and helps you find a balance between different aspects of life.