This week marks the time of year when Apple launches its newest version of its operating system. This year it is iOS 15. Last few years, Apple created some big tentpole features with their upgrades. Last year, iOS 14 brought widgets to the home screen. Before that, iOS got Dark Mode. This year, one of the best reasons to upgrade has been Focus Mode.
What Is Focus Mode?
Ever since the iPhone first included Do Not Disturb, we’ve actually had a type of focus mode. In iOS 15, Focus Mode allows users to program their devices to allow only the notifications that they want to get through. Think of it as a controllable Do Not Disturb mode. Instead of not letting anything through, users can now program the notifications they want to get during that Focus.
For example, I have a Focus Mode set up for when I show up to work. When I arrive at work, my iPhone with iOS 15, automatically goes into my Work Focus mode. There I have limited the applications that can send me notifications, as well as limited who can actually contact me while I’m in that mode. I set it up so that I don’t get Twitter or Facebook notifications unless I go looking for them at work. I also don’t get calls from anyone but the people I want to get calls from during that time.
iOS 15 even added the ability to hide home pages, so I could have a home page that has all my work apps and widgets on it, and the only time I will see it is while I’m at work. Plus Focuses sync across devices.
If you’ve ever used Do Not Disturb While Driving, or Sleep mode on your iPhone, you might have an idea of what Focus Mode can bring. In fact, these Modes now fall under the umbrella of Focus.
Accessing Focus Modes
To begin with, there are two ways to add or edit a focus mode. The easiest way is to pull down Control Center from the top right.
To the left of the brightness slider, you’ll see the Focus Mode button. Pressing on that will bring up all of your current Focus Modes.
From here you can either pick a Focus Mode, add a new Focus Mode by selecting the plus button at the bottom, or edit a Focus Mode by clicking the three dots to the right of a Focus Mode and then choosing settings.
If you are just starting you probably don’t have many options here already, so let’s set a new Focus by pushing on the plus button at the bottom.
Setting Up a Focus
Once you’ve pushed the plus button, you’ll be prompted with a splash screen with suggestions on which focus to create.
There are focuses for reading, mindfulness, and other things Apple has made suggestions for. If you want to create one of those, pick them and Apple will present you with suggestions on apps and people you’d like to receive notifications from while in focus.
You can also create a custom Focus. If you do this, you will be given choices for icons for the focus and you’ll also be prompted to name it as well.
Once you’ve picked your icons and named your focus, the next screen allows you to pick who can call or text you while in that Focus.
Click the plus button under the Allowed People and you can search your contacts and add people you want to allow calls and text from. Phone calls and texts from these people will be sent through while in this Focus. Any phone call or text from someone not on this list will still get delivered, but it will be delivered quietly. You’ll have to check Notification Center to see who sent it.
The entire idea for Focus Mode is to allow you to do just that. For Focus Mode iPhone will help you focus on what you are doing.
Of course, you can always change who you want on the list later. People can be added or taken off the list, and as you use it, Apple will make suggestions for you.
Once you finish with people, hit allow, and you’ll be taken to apps to repeat the process. Here you set the apps that you want to be able to break through the focus.
Setting Focus
Of course, when you want to set Focus Mode for your iPhone, you can swipe down in Control Center again. Push the Focus Button and you will see all the Modes on your iPhone. Just press the one you want and your iPhone will enter that Focus.
Of course, you can also set your focus to start at a particular time or location. To do that we either need to go to the Focus Mode in Control Center again and push the three dots to the right of it, then select Settings at the bottom of that menu, or we can go to the Settings app, then find Focus, and choose the Focus we want to edit.
On this page, there is a section below all the apps and people we’ve allowed to notify us, and below an options menu (which we’ll get to in a minute), that says Turn On Automatically. There should be a plus button that says Add Schedule or Automation. By selecting that button, you can add a time to engage the Focus, a location, or set it to start when an app is started. These you can set up by picking the time, app, or location.
Getting these fine-tuned is easy and editable for the future too. So have some fun playing around with them.
Change Your Home Screen
If you have a bunch of apps that you only during a certain time, you can build that into a Focus. Once again, you’ll need to go back into the Settings App for Focus. Pick the Focus you want to edit your home screen on and then select Home Screen. On the next page, you should have two options. The first option allows you to Hide Notification Badges on the home screen when in that focus. Turning this on will hide all the red badges on the home screen.
The second option says Custom Pages. If you flip this on you’ll be taken to a screen that lists all of your current home pages. Check the ones you want to see and the others will disappear when in this focus mode. You might need to make another page or two to get it just how you want, but you can also make other focus modes to only show you what you want when you want.
Finally, there are also options to change your lock screen. Dimming the lock screen during the focus mode will take away all the distractions from your lock screen. You might use this if you are tempted by notifications every time you pick up your device.
Focus Status
One thing that I haven’t gotten to test out much is the Focus Status option. Focus status displays that you have notifications silenced in iMessages. This way, if someone is trying to reach you, they will see that you are currently focused. This can be turned on and off, and it doesn’t tell the other user what focus you are in. Although, if you are in Driving focus, there is an autoreply message that you can customize.
Also, if you have multiple Apple devices, your Focus syncs across devices, or it will when macOS Monterey launches later this fall. As it is now, your iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch can all sync your focus across devices. So when you get to work, your iPhone, Watch, and iPad will all go into Work Focus.
Building Focus
For myself, I have a few Focus modes that I’ve put together. I have the standard, Personal Focus that allows most of my apps to get notifications and calls through, one for work that limits those (I’m also thinking about making a work home screen that has all my work apps on it to show up during work but I only use 3 apps at work that are different than any other app), a driving, a sleeping, focus, and I have made a Reading and Writing Focus that doesn’t let anything through when I open reading or writing apps.
What Focuses do you think you’ll use? Are you excited about this feature? Let me know on Twitter or on our Facebook page