focus mode after last iphone update (IOS 18.6.2) on iPhone 13 Pro

After last update, my phone goes on DND at random times during the day. Apparently, it senses that I'm doing something important (!!??) and goes on DND with no way at all to get out of it, other than first deleting my one and only schedule (10PM-7AM) and then restarting the phone. I have also now disabled "share across devices" because, even after restarting my MacBook Air, it is still on DND and I have no idea how to get rid of it. I'll try shutting it off completely, waiting a few minutes and then restarting. I also had to restart my iPad, which was also still on DND.


By the way, today I believe it was triggered by a Zoom meeting I had at 10 AM, which happened on my MacBook Air, but now it's stuck. This is super annoying. I should be able to dictate when and how I want my Focus mode to work, and not have Apple dictate it to me. I do hope you'll release a new update real soon that fixes this! Anything I can try in the meantime? I'm actually afraid to add my schedule back, but I don't want noisy notifications while I'm trying to sleep!


Also, I had to choose one device to tag my question. However, this is happening across all my devices, and there was no "all devices" option.

iPhone 13 Pro, iOS 18

Posted on Aug 27, 2025 8:33 AM

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4 replies

Aug 27, 2025 10:15 AM in response to Noritamar

Even though I don't have Smart Activation enabled on any of my Focuses, I do get alerts when I have a scheduled meeting in my calendar, asking me if I want to enable it for the duration of the meeting. Are you seeing anything like that? Could you be hitting it accidentally?


Can you show a screenshot of the Menu bar on your MBA with the Focus icon showing?

Aug 27, 2025 10:45 AM in response to IdrisSeabright

IdrisSeabright wrote:

Even though I don't have Smart Activation enabled on any of my Focuses, I do get alerts when I have a scheduled meeting in my calendar, asking me if I want to enable it for the duration of the meeting. Are you seeing anything like that? Could you be hitting it accidentally?

Can you show a screenshot of the Menu bar on your MBA with the Focus icon showing?

No, I'm not getting an alert asking me anything, so I know I'm not hitting it accidentally. As for the MBA screenshot, sorry I can't. It actually did go away after a full shutdown and a restart a few minutes later. I have now turned off my schedule and I plan to just click it silent when I go to bed tonight and hope I remember to click it back in the morning. I am not doing anything differently at all. The only difference is the latest update, so that's what I'm thinking the problem is. BTW, I've never even touched Focus on anything other than my iPhone, then shared it with my other Apple devices.


Besides turning off my schedule, I've also made sure I have zero focus filters, verified that share across devices is off, and focus status is showing as off. I don't know what else to do. If it still turns on by itself, then for sure it's got to be the update.


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focus mode after last iphone update (IOS 18.6.2) on iPhone 13 Pro

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