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How to remove the do not disturb focus on my iPhone?

Please help me get rid of do not disturb.


[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Posted on Apr 13, 2023 12:33 PM

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Posted on Nov 22, 2023 9:24 PM

I absolutely hate the new Do Not Disturb feature and am incredibly frustrated that I cannot simply disable it. Is there no way of removing it? I want to control my own coms and do not need Apple to control it for me. Thank you!

62 replies

Mar 3, 2024 2:49 PM in response to Lawrence Finch

Instruction to "Tap on any Focus settings that you will never use and remove them (you

can add them back later if you change your mind, and even create new,

custom ones)" is unclear to me. Following the first two steps, I see "Do Not Disturb >", under it, I see "Sleep Setup >" and then "Work Setup >". Two items follow "Share Across Device" which is off (I assume the white button means off) and "Focus Status Off >" Pressing "Off >" brings up the title "Focus Status" and "Share Focus Status" as the unknown white button AND "Do not Disturb" green button. However, I cannot toggle it. I plan to call the Local Apple store and see if phone support is available. If not, I will book an appointment with someone to fix this horrid process.


Mar 11, 2024 12:05 PM in response to nabijung

nabijung wrote:

Thanks for this, but I want to add that the process is very confusing, because after you delete all of the focus groups, the phone will default to do not disturb. Also since do not disturb will not go away I’m afraid of my phone automatically turning it back on again, even though I turned in schedule off.

Unless you have Smart Activations turned on or you have a schedule, Focus will not turn on by itself any more than the old Do Not Disturb did. In previous versions, you couldn't remove Do Not Disturb, either


The only reason I have any modes on my phone is because my iPhone automatically created them for me. They were fun for a while and good for a normal person that can risk missing one or two calls from a friend or a family member while they’re at work but again for someone like me who is a small business owner, who needs to be on the clock 24 seven, this is very destructive to my business.

Once you set up a Focus option correctly, it can be very powerful but there is a steep learning curve then with DND. And you can set them up so that you get all calls.


There should be a more simple way to let my phone operate as a phone and allow all notifications to come through no matter what.


There is a very simple way and it's the default option: Don't turn on Do Not Disturb.

Mar 22, 2024 7:00 AM in response to josée1066

josée1066 wrote:

my iPhone 13 does not have the same screen to slide the Di Nit Disturb permanently off. Another online person also said his iPhone 13 does not have the same screen to turn off the slide as the video showed. HELP!

To turn off Focus, pull down the Control Center. Tap on the circular picture on the Focus button. That will turn it off. If you tap on the word, it will bring up another menu, so just tap.


You should also go to Settings>Focus and, for each focus, turn off any schedules or smart activations. In fact, delete the ones you're never likely to use.

Apr 10, 2024 9:02 AM in response to Souixb

On several posts I see 'you can just turn it off', 'very powerful feature', etc. For a long time, the feature worked well for me. Recently, like others have reported, the phone keeps going into Do Not Disturb at random times and I cannot figure out why. To the best of my understanding I have everything disabled, including scheduling but I am randomly missing calls and texts which is a real issue.


I saw someone mention smart activations. Can you elaborate on this and where I might be able to figure out if this is what's happening? If you're referring to the 'personal, sleep, work' modes in the focus setup, they are disabled already.


Honestly, it's a little odd that there isn't a simple (permanent) enable/disable on the focus setup. I suppose that when working properly they felt it wasn't needed.


Thanks,

Apr 16, 2024 3:15 PM in response to Souixb

I only use the ”Sleep” focus mode and I want to delete the “Do not disturb” focus mode.


My reason is simple; to be able to toggle the sleep mode on, I first have to navigate past the do not disturb mode. By default this is the main focus mode, there is no way of setting a different focus mode to be the default. Because of this, I need to long press the control centre focus button and then toggle the other mode on. Instead of simply tapping the focus mode button if Sleep is my only focus mode.


I think I’d probably use the do not disturb focus mode more if it wasn’t forced to be the main option & unable to be deleted.


I hope Apple engineers are aware of this.

Apr 29, 2024 1:44 PM in response to MiklaDfar

MiklaDfar wrote:

iPhones are terrible now. This is my last one.

You should absolutely buy the phone that best meets your needs. And I've heard Android phones are absolutely perfect. They have absolutely no features that you don't want or don't understand. Nothing ever goes wrong with them. Now that Samsung seems to have solved the exploding battery problem, the hardware lasts forever.

May 5, 2024 7:48 AM in response to Souixb

Hey everyone, I think I’ve been playing around with trying to figure out how to get mine to turn off for a year or two and getting a bit tired of the Apple administrators and they’re like very heavy layering of condescension towards us ha ha…


I did most things I saw stated all over the Internet. Also for my focus have it for like 45 minutes in the middle of the night on a Wednesday but they still didn’t stop DND, but I had no idea, particularly on older Apple phones like I have an SE and I have a seven, at some point when the do not disturb was created you, you attached a wallpaper specific to it and I never realize that and I would change my wallpapers often but one wallpaper in particular, I realized it always went directly to do not disturb. If you go into the wallpaper section there is a space to change which wallpaper you use when you put your phone on do not disturb and I think that’s where some of us never realized and hence couldn’t turn it off. I hope this helps a few of you out there.

May 21, 2024 7:03 PM in response to Lawrence Finch

What a joke… l have done AII THOSE THINGS and OUT OF THE BLUE IT STILL JUST ACTIVATES IT. Doesn’t show symbol on screen, doesn’t show it is activated when you pull down control and when you look at “focus setting it doesn’t show it is activated but it is STILL activated and sending calls direct to voicemail!!! STOP this mess. I HATE FOCUS and want it gone!!!!

Jun 20, 2024 11:01 AM in response to Vicdib

Vicdib wrote:

DND and focus have ruined the iPhone experience for me - for the first time I’m thinking of ditching my iPhone. Apple seems to want to tell who with and when I can communicate

Or, you haven't taken the time to learn how to use the features. It's very hard to learn new things if you are angry about them.


Focus gives you, not Apple, the ability to decide who gets to communicate with you. But, yes, there is a learning curve.

How to remove the do not disturb focus on my iPhone?

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