Focus
Now that you have your notifications set up so you don’t miss anything… how do you give yourself uninterrupted quiet time? You don’t have to turn your device off or put it under the pillow— you can just toggle on a Focus.
What is Focus?
Focus is a collection of Do Not Disturb settings you can toggle on from the Control Center. You can use Focus to eliminate interruptions while busy or sleeping while still permitting emergency calls to come through. Turning on a Focus option will silence incoming phone calls and notifications and prevent your screen from lighting up.
Do Not Disturb and Do Not Disturb While Driving are now part of Focus.
If you own multiple Apple devices, like an iPhone and iPad or Apple Watch, turning on a Focus on one device automatically turns the Focus on across all devices.
Configure Focus modes
- Go to Settings
> Focus. - Tap a Focus mode. Or, tap the plus sign in the upper right to configure another Focus mode.
- Choose which contacts and apps can bypass the mode and whether your contacts can see your Focus status. You can even automate Focus to turn on at certain times of the day or when you arrive at specific locations. Driving focus can be set to activate when your device connects to your vehicle’s Bluetooth.
Manually activate Focus
- Open the Control Center by swiping down from the top right of the screen.
- Tap Focus.
- Tap a Focus mode to turn it on. Or, tap the menu […] to open options for that Focus
There are a lot of options for each default Focus. You can choose people and apps to permit through a particular Focus, set an auto-reply message for when you are driving, and even create a custom focus.
You can still summon Siri 
and say, “Turn on Do Not Disturb,” or “Turn on Driving Focus.”
Let favorite contacts through when Focus is on:
- Go to Settings > Focus > [Focus mode] > Allowed notifications > People and select Favorites.
Let specific contacts bypass Focus:
- Go to Settings > Focus > [Focus mode] > Allowed notifications > People > Allowed People and select Add.
Scheduled Focus times
Want to sleep without interruption? How about quieting your phone automatically when you walk into your office? You can schedule a daily quiet time for your device. For each of these Focus modes, you can designate which contacts and apps can notify you as normal. Go to Settings > Focus.
- Work Focus. Schedule Work Focus to activate at certain times of day, a location, or while using certain apps.
- Sleep Focus. Quiet time for your sleep schedule. Sleep schedule is part of the Health app.
- Personal Focus. This is a status like Do Not Disturb that you can turn on and off as needed.
Driving Focus
Your iPhone can sense when you might be driving and can be set to eliminate distractions by silencing messages, notifications, and incoming calls (unless connected to a Bluetooth hands-free device).
Go to Settings > Focus > Driving. If you don’t see Driving, tap the plus sign in the upper right, then tap Driving. Complete the set-up wizard.
Auto-Reply
You can activate auto-reply to let people know that you are driving and won’t see their message right away. Go to Settings > Focus > [Focus mode] > Auto-Reply, then select a group. You can edit the message if you wish.
If someone responds to your auto-reply message with the message “Urgent,” all subsequent texts from that person will come through for the remainder of your drive.
Do Not Disturb will activate if you are a passenger in a car as well. To turn it off, tap the Do Not Disturb notification on the Lock screen, then tap I’m Not Driving. Or press the Home button, then tap I’m Not Driving.