Level 1

16 points

Do Not Disturb App Exceptions

I would love to see Apple implement an option to have user selected Apps override the Do Not Disturb feature. There are several alerts that most users would like to receive at any time while still blocking calls, texts and most other App alerts. As with most people there are several things that need to be monitored always. These include but are not limited to: camera zone alerts, stock movement alerts and emergency weather alerts. I feel this is an important and highly useful feature and am quite surprised it is not available. If you would also like to see this option, please voice it here with the hopes of getting this feature implemented in a near future update.

iPhone XS, iOS 12

Posted on Feb 16, 2021 7:21 PM

Top-ranking reply

raina_b22

Community Specialist

Posted on Feb 19, 2021 9:45 AM

Ratedr-1,

Thanks for posting in Apple Support Communities. From our understanding, you would like to set it up so certain app notifications alerts you even when Do Not Disturb is enabled, do we have that right? Currently, it is not possible for app notifications to bypass Do Not Disturb. You can only set up certain contacts to bypass it.

Use Do Not Disturb on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch

You can always submit feedback for things you would like to see directly to Apple here: Product Feedback.

Hope that helps!

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74 replies

leena249

Level 1

4 points

Jul 11, 2021 8:16 AM in response to sfls1397

I would hope that apple has some sort of alert system that lets them know when one of these discussions gets a certain amount of comments/notifications but in case they don’t, please also submit feedback to them here:

Feedback - iPhone - Apple

The more tickets they get regarding this, the more likely they are to include the feature.

Jun 16, 2021 5:47 AM in response to Methven777

Methven777 wrote:

A whitelist in settings to allow notification exceptions from both contacts and apps would be very useful.

Tell Apple:

Product Feedback - Apple

Apr 20, 2021 9:36 AM in response to Crickett Hoffman

Crickett Hoffman wrote:

Setting up contacts that will bypass DND is nice but I can’t set up my earthquake alert or fire alert as a contact. We need app control. It could save lives.

Then you should tell Apple:

Product Feedback - Apple

Jul 12, 2021 8:52 AM in response to leena249

leena249 wrote:

I would hope that apple has some sort of alert system that lets them know when one of these discussions gets a certain amount of comments/notifications but in case they don’t, please also submit feedback to them here:

They do not.

Directing people to the feedback page is excellent advice.

Feedback - iPhone - Apple

The more tickets they get regarding this, the more likely they are to include the feature.

Jul 14, 2021 6:24 AM in response to PAPA PA

PAPA PA wrote:

Completely agree! Earthquake alerts, security alerts, etc. app specific exceptions to do not disturb could be a real life saver!

Emergency alerts are not silenced by DND. And, as noted, app developers are free to add the option to override DND. If you have an app you think could benefit from that, contact the developer with that suggestions.

KevinGe1

Level 1

13 points

Apr 22, 2021 3:18 PM in response to IdrisSeabright

Information from medical devices such as cgm‘s provide vital data. I can’t believe no exceptions can be made for those apps.

For the time being the only option is to not use dnd at all.

May 10, 2021 4:01 AM in response to Ratedr-1

Yes please! Woke up this morning to an alert from the middle of the night that our garage door popped open. Would have been nice to let my security system alert bypass so that I could have woken up and closed it, instead of opening my house up to intruders for four hours... same thing for camera alerts, if there is motion on my outdoor cameras I want to wake up and know about it.

Jun 13, 2021 6:11 PM in response to Methven777

Methven777 wrote:

I’d love that capability. My organisation uses the Active911 app to page crew. I’ve had to turn DND off and now I’m interrupted at night by various messages and emails.

It is possible on Android I noticed…

Contact the developer of the app and suggest they add that feature.

Jun 15, 2021 9:09 PM in response to MartinGK2

To be fair, in my case I did eventually find a setting in the app for “Silent Override”.

Presumably that means Silent Mode is overridden and by implication Do Not Disturb as well. It probably seems obvious to the developer and Apple support but I find the term a little imprecise for 100% certainty.

A whitelist in settings to allow notification exceptions from both contacts and apps would be very useful.

Jul 2, 2021 10:15 AM in response to ChrisJ4203

Yohanan wrote:

Yes, DND is really basic right now and unfortunately almost useless for me. Not being able to configure which apps are concerned by DND is an issue. When I set the DND mode during my work hours because I need to concentrate I still need a few apps to continue notifying me like Slack. Also, configuring only one time range is not enough. For instance, I would love sometimes being able to set automatically DND on from 9AM to 12AM and from 2PM to 6PM.

You probably won't like this answer but, I suspect the way DND works on the phone is related to the existence of the Apple Watch. Apple made it very clear in the original release announcement that they saw the Apple Watch as a way to curate notifications so that you only got the most important ones on the Watch and were left free to concentrate on other things. I actually do use my watch that way. I only get notifications from a select group of apps on my watch. When my phone is locked, those are the only notifications I get. For me, it works extremely well.

Obviously, this will not solve everyone's problems.

Sep 2, 2021 10:50 AM in response to 2iphonefromandroid

2iphonefromandroid wrote:

Android had this feature. What gives?? I’d like to keep getting motion alerts from my security cameras while blocking out all the spam callers…😒

Contact the developer of the app and suggest they add the option.

Apr 20, 2021 8:49 AM in response to raina_b22

Setting up contacts that will bypass DND is nice but I can’t set up my earthquake alert or fire alert as a contact. We need app control. It could save lives.

Ratedr-1 Author

Level 1

16 points

Feb 20, 2021 4:09 PM in response to raina_b22

Hi Less! Thanks for your reply:) You are correct. Let me put it in a scenario. Let’s say my camera system that is hooked up at my business receives alerts through an app if the camera picks up movement in a certain zone, If someone was attempting to break into my property or vandalize equipment on the outside of the property, If my phone was on DND I would not receive the notification. The same can be said for my home cameras if someone was breaking into my vehicle I would have no alert and would have to rely on the video and the authorities to catch this person(s). Another case would be trading. If I trade on exchanges from a country that is in a different time zone I would not receive important alerts and be able to act in a timely manner. The same if I’m in another country and I’m trading in an American market during what would be my sleep hours there. Hope I was clear. Thanks again!

Apr 20, 2021 7:51 AM in response to raina_b22

Yes please! This would be such an incredibly helpful feature. If someone is near my door in the middle of the night setting off the doorbell motion sensor, I would want to be notified. App exceptions to DND are absolutely necessary right now.

leena249

Level 1

4 points

May 10, 2021 11:13 PM in response to Ratedr-1

I was googling this because I actually have a family member (my sister) who is diabetic and I also wanted to be able to allow notifications from her dexcom app and disable all other notifications. I think it would be extremely helpful!

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Do Not Disturb App Exceptions