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Learn what is focus status iOS 15 and how it works to block all that unwanted notifications and calls when doing meaningful work.
A recent research study published in the Journal of Behavioral Addictions proved that different kinds of notifications, calls, and phone-related activities decrease the focus on important tasks. Another study on the digital distraction epidemic revealed that 75% of Americans feel distracted and lose focus due to their phone notifications. Another shocking fact study revealed that youngsters waste the whole 8-hour workday time checking their notifications over the entire week.
Although Apple’s Do Not Disturb mode was helping users to put their phones on silent mode to focus on the important task at hand, still, there were some limitations to it. Well, it seems like Apple’s new update, iOS 15, has worked wonders in this feature too, by introducing the Focus Status.
So, what is focus status iOS 15? The iOS 15 update has the Do Not Disturb mode in all-new form and with plenty of other features to get rid of the digital notifications and enjoy being in the moment for some time. You can simply say that Focus Mode is the evolution of Apple’s Do Not Disturb Mode.
You can easily set focus modes for different tasks like at work, exercise, at home, with family, etc., and block out the unwanted calls and notifications to stay focused. Here in this guide, you can find everything related to what is focus status iOS 15, how to turn it on and off, and what other advantages pros it holds for us.
What is Focus Status iOS 15?
As mentioned above, the Focus Status is the updated version of Do Not Disturb. When you update your iPhone to iOS 15, you will see the ‘Focus’ status instead of Do Not Disturb.
With Focus Status, you can control;
- Who can contact you when the Focus mode is on
- Which apps can send notifications
- What home screens do you want to see during your current activity. For example, you can customize a home screen solely based on emails, files, and documents when you are in work mode, leaving out all the distractive apps like Instagram, Whatsapp, Facebook, etc.
Read More: How To Switch On Dark Mode With A Focus In iOS 16?
In short, Focus status, unlike DND, does not just block notifications and calls; it allows complete customization of your iPhone homescreen, notification, and contacts to suit your activity. For example, block out all digital notifications when you are meditating and allow just Apple Music to play the music. Or you can simply turn off all the notifications during sleeping hours instead of alarms.
What is Share Focus Status on iPhone?
There is another great feature iOS 15 focus status has stored for us, and that is ‘Share Focus Status.’ You must know what is focus status iOS 15 to know how to use share focus status. These features notify the people who are sending you messages that you have Focus Status set up on your mobile, and they won’t be notified of your text messages. A message like ‘[Name] has notifications silences’ will appear below the messages.
Remember that the Share focus status is on by default whenever you turn on any Focus mode. Some people are bothered by this feature, and if you are also one, you can quickly turn it off. Later in the article, we will tell you how you can turn off the Focus status on your iPhone.
How Does Focus Status Work?
So, you have a definition of ‘what is focus status iOS 15’. Here is what you need to know about how to use it. In Focus status, you create different Focus modes for each of your activities, and you customize which apps can notify you during that activity time.
In every Focus mode, your contacts, who will try to text you, will receive the notification at the bottom of the app that you have silenced the notification.
But if it’s an emergency, then they can tap on ‘Notify Anyway’, and you will be notified of that message. The best thing is that your friends are not informed of which focus mode is on your iPhone. They are just notified that your phone is in silence mode.
Keep in mind that the Focus Status notification banner appears only in messages and not in other apps. When you turn off the focus mode for some activity, let’s say you will turn off the focus mode of sleep, it will turn off the focus status of just that mode. To turn it on, you can enable it by going to the Focus app again.
But if you will turn off the Focus Staus overall, it will turn off all the Fous Modes, i.e., sleep, work, meditation, family time, etc.
How to Turn Off Focus Status?
So, now you have a clear understanding of what is focus status iOS 15. Let’s talk about how to turn it on or off. Whether you have created a new focus mode or you have a previous focus mode set up, the focus status will be on by default. But you can easily turn it off by following the steps mentioned below. These are the same steps you can perform to enable the focus status as well.
Step 1: Open the Settings of your device.
Step 2: You will see the option of ‘Focus’ with the icon logo of a half-moon. Tap on it.
Step 3: Here, you will see the different focus modes you have created over time. Like driving, gaming, working, etc. Tap on the relevant focus mode. The one you want to disable the focus status of.
Step 4: When that focus mode is open, you will find the option of Focus Status there. Tap on it.
Step 5: Next, simply tap on the toggle next to ‘Share Focus Status’ to on or off.
Read More: How To Stop Focus Modes From Sharing Your Status In iOS 16?
That’s it. That’s how you can easily turn off the Focus Status for all of your Focus modes.
How to Turn Off Focus Status in the Messaging App
The method and steps we shared above are good if you want to turn off the focus status of only a few focus modes. For example, you are not okay with receiving notifications during gaming or sporting, so you want to turn off the focus status for gaming and sports focus mode.
But what if you want to turn off the focus status overall and want to receive notifications for all messages?
In this case, you can tweak the settings of your iPhone by disallowing access to the messaging app to Focus. At this moment, only messages can share the focus status. This means only people texting you via imessages will be notified that you have focus mode set up on your iPhone. So, we will tell you how to turn off the focus status in the messaging app. Follow the steps below;
Step 1: Open Settings and scroll down a little bit. You will find the ‘Messages.’ Tap on it.
Step 2: You will find the choice of ‘Allow Messages to access.’ Under this option, you will see different apps, and settings messages to the app to have access. Locate ‘Focus’ and turn the toggle off to disallow access to the Focus app.
This step will lead to not notifying the other person that you have Do Not Disturb Mode set up on your iPhone. Now, even if the share focus status is enabled in Focus app settings, the other person will not receive the notification.
How to Fix Focus Status Disabled?
That’s all you need to know about what is focus status iOS 15 and how it works. Now, sometimes the Focus Status appears greyed out or disabled in the settings of any Focus mode you have opened. For this, you need to check a few settings.
1st Check:
First, check and make sure the ‘Share Across Devices’ is enabled. You can do this by going to the settings of your iPhone and opening the Focus option. There under all the Focus modes, you will the option of ‘Share across devices.’ Turn its toggle on to enable it, and it will enable the focus status.
2nd Check:
If it is not on yet, make sure your iCloud account is set up on your device. The Share across devices feature needs the user’s iCloud account to carry out the functions.
3rd Check:
Lastly, if you cannot fix the greyed-out disable Focus status, then try this; enable the two-factor authentication for your iCloud account.
How to Fix Focus Status Not Working
The checks we mentioned above are for the case if the Focus Status is disabled. But there can be times when the focus status is not WORKING. Do not worry; we have solutions for this issue as well. Try any of the below-mentioned fixes and get your focus status back to working mode.
Fix #1: Check your software
We would like to mention it again that Focus status is just for iOS 15 users. The iPhones with iOS 14 or previous updates do not support the focus status feature.
Fix #2: Restart your iPhone
Sometimes, restarting your iPhone or turning it off and then turning it back on will help fix the focus status not working issue.
Fix #3: Check the focus status of supported apps
Focus status can be changed for each app separately by turning the focus mode on and off for that app. For example, if others are not seeing the notification that your phone is in focus mode, then it is likely because the messages app has no access to the focus status. You can enable the access by going to Settings > Focus > Turn on the toggle of Focus status.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happens when the focus mode is turned off?
The focus status disables any kind of notifications and calls when any specific focus mode is enabled on the iPhone. Turning off the focus mode will notify you of all messages, emails, and rings.
What is the meaning of ‘Notify Anyway’ in Focus status?
When someone texts you on the imessages app, and you have focus mode on your iPhone they will receive a notification at the bottom of their imessages app that you have silenced your notifications. But there is an option of ‘Notify Anyway’ along with this line. If the other person taps on ‘Notify Anyway,’ you will be notified of that message even though focus mode is on. This is for emergency situations.
What is better; DND or Focus Mode?
Simply, the Focus mode is more flexible and better. Do Not Disturb just allow disabling of alerts and notifications. In contrast, Focus mode allows blocking of overall notifications, clearing notifications for specific apps, as well as stopping any further notifications from distracting you.
Bottom Line– What is Focus Status iOS 15?
So, this is it for now. This is all you need to know about what is focus status iOS 15, how it works, how you can turn it on/off, and how to fix focus status-related errors. Blocking notifications is just part of what Focus mode has to offer. It will take you some time to get used to the Focus mode functioning, but once you do, you will not regret it.