Do Not Disturb issue after iOS 26.2 update

Focus and Do Not Disturb setup has been made much more flexible to meet user demands for additional features, but this has come at the cost of much more complication. To get it working again, do these steps ONCE:

• Tap Settings
• Tap Focus
• 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)
• Tap Do Not Disturb
• Turn off Intelligent Breakthrough & Silencing (unless you want it after reading the description)
• Tap People
• Tap Allow Notifications From
• If anyone is listed who should not call you when DND is on delete them; if you don’t want any calls from anyone, any time, delete all people
• Tap the dropdown next to Allow Calls From and choose Allowed People Only
• Optionally, tap on Apps, then Allow Notifications From and don’t add any apps.
• Turn off Repeat Calls

All of the above is a one-time setup. After that, turn DND on or off with a quick tap on the Control Center DND button. You can optionally set one or more schedules by going to:

Settings/Focus/Do Not Disturb/Set a Schedule.

There are many other features, but these instructions put it back to the way it worked in simpler days. Over the years Apple has had a steady stream of requests for DND enhancements, and they seem to have incorporated all of them.

DND has been a pain since 26.2 for me. I've only got one profile for overnight and since 26.2 I get email notifications and random wake-ups with the screen lit up at all times of the night. I put the phone in airplane mode overnight now which has stopped the emails but the screen still lights up occasionally.

I tried deleting the Focus and setting a new one but it didn't make any difference.

Have you tried turning off and turning back on your whole do not disturb schedule in settings? or redoing your schedule?

Yeah, Apple just released an update the other day for (iOS 26.2.1) for AirTag (2nd generation) along with bug fixes which might help.

Finally! I turned off driving focus and my iPhone 13 mini returned to normal. The funny thing is, I never turned it on. Just type in “Restrictions,” then go to Driving focus and toggle off.

My iPhone 13 mini has DND issues too! Even though I scheduled for 9:30 AM, calls and messages began coming through at 7 AM. After contacting Apple repair, I tried every fix posted on the internet: turning off and on, factory reset, even placed all communication apps into the "silence notifications from" section. Nothing worked. Finally resorted to shutting the phone off at night and having Alexa wake me up with an alarm. I hope the new IOS 26.2.1 update fixes this issue. I don't relish buying a new phone.

chromalyn2 wrote:

This explanation does not match my user interface for iOS 26.2.1 on iPhone 12 mini. Options you describe do not exist. Try again.

Ah, it probably requires Apple Intelligence. But if the option isn’t there it’s irrelevant and has nothing to do with your issue.

I got help from Gemini. Gemini has now rescued me about 11-12 times since ios26 rollout. And it was a 3 hour conversation to cover a number of issues including this. Thanks for being there though. Best wishes.

chromalyn2 wrote:

I got help from Gemini. Gemini has now rescued me about 11-12 times since ios26 rollout. And it was a 3 hour conversation to cover a number of issues including this. Thanks for being there though. Best wishes.

You would be doing a service to the community if you posted the resolution you found.

That would take another hour to go through the content and write up all the little things we went through. I don’t really have time for that today. I do suggest going to Ai with your specific set of issues and going through the steps to trouble shoot. We covered the DND issues but these can be affected by other issues unique to how the user has configured their device. Suffice to say I turned off all the ‘smart’ settings and protected my privacy.

Thanks, Lawrence, but there's no "Turn off Intelligent Breakthrough & Silencing" option that I can see.

Don’t have that option in 13 mini.

Then you don’t have to turn it off, it’s already off.