Do you have an iPhone? And do you ever find that your phone becomes a distraction for you at work? Lots of people have this same issue – owing to the fact that your smartphone usually has all of your personal email and social media accounts, it receives notifications regularly throughout the day. Those notifications can easily distract you when you’re trying to focus on work – which is an issue that many businesses acknowledge. Companies like TechQuarters, and many other IT support companies London businesses partner with offer a range of tools to improve productivity – one of the biggest ways to improve focus, and by extension productivity, is to filter the notifications you receive during work hours. Luckily, there is an easy way to do this on your iPhone, using Focus Mode.
Focus Mode on iPhone
This is a fairly straightforward function on the iPhone that allows you to enter a ‘Focus mode’ where messages (and calls) from certain applications and contacts are temporarily blocked in order to limit the number of notifications that come through on your phone.
A lot of organisations nowadays have bring your own device (BYOD) policies implemented, allowing employees to use their own personal phones for work. This is usually when employees tend to get distracted by their phones. The Focus mode is a good way for people to avoid their personal lives compromising their productivity at work.
Where to Find Focus Mode
Using Focus Mode on iPhone is easy once you know how. The first thing to do is learn where to access it. In order to do this, simply swipe down from the top-right corner of your screen to bring down the Control Centre – this is where most of the useful functions can be accessed, including Focus Mode. You will see an oblong button that is labelled ‘Focus’ – it should also have a crescent moon icon in it.
Tapping the left-hand side of the Focus mode button will switch it on, with no further action. Tapping the right-hand side of the button will expand it.
By default, the only profile that will be set up on your Focus mode will be the ‘Do Not Disturb’ mode, but when you expand Focus Mode from the Control Centre, you will also see a plus (+) button saying ‘New Focus’.
Setting Up Profiles
You will notice that, from the Focus section in the Control Centre, there is the option to add a ‘New Focus’ at the bottom. With Focus Mode, you can set up a range of profiles – each one with different settings for managing notifications; thus, each profile is suitable for a different situation. A few examples of the different Focus Profiles include: Driving, Fitness, Mindfulness, Sleep and Work.
The best way to view and create Focus Profiles is to open the Settings app, and go to the Focus section.
In the top right-hand corner you will see a plus (+) button. Tap it to create a new Focus profile. You will be taken to a page with the headline “What do you want to focus on?”.
Here, you will see all the different pre-set Focus profiles you can create, along with a Custom profile option. Tap any of the profiles to set it up.
The first thing you will see is a summary of features unique to the profile you selected. For example, in addition to silencing alerts and notifications, the Driving profileshares your status with close contacts, sends an auto-reply to messages you receive, and gets turned on automatically when your connect to your car’s Bluetooth, or when your iPhone detects motion. Tap Next to continue setup.
The next screen prompts you to add ‘Allowed People’ – these are contacts whose notifications you may want to receive even while Focus mode is on. Simply tap ‘Add’ and choose your contact. When you are ready, tap ‘Allow’ (or skip adding contacts and tap ‘Allow None’).
For certain profiles, the next screen may prompt you to choose ‘Allowed Apps’. This is the same principle as ‘Allowed People’, but for any important apps whose notifications you need to be aware of. Simply tap ‘Add’ and select the application. When you are ready, tap ‘Allow’ (or skip adding contacts and tap ‘Allow None’).
Some profiles, such as the Gaming profile and the Driving profile may give you the option to have it turn on automatically when your iPhone detects the right action (such as connecting a wireless controller). You can either enable this option or skip it.
You will then see a screen telling you that ‘Your Focus is Ready’. Tap Done.
Once you have set up some Focus profiles, then next time you swipe down from the top-right corner and access Focus Mode from the Control Centre, you will see all your profiles, and you can enable any of them simply by tapping them.
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