By Ashleigh Page Updated 05/23/2024

What to Know

Focus modes allow you to stay productive and on-task by reducing distractions from your iPhone.
You can quickly turn different Focus modes off and on from the Control Center.
You can personalize your Focus modes and create custom Focuses by going into Settings > Focus.

Designed to help you better maintain a balanced lifestyle, Focus modes on iPhone allow you to silence certain notifications and restrict the appearance of distracting apps for set periods of time. Below, we'll go over what Focus mode is exactly, how to enable it, and how to customize your iPhone Focus Mode settings.

What Is Focus on iPhone?

Back when iOS 15 was released, Do Not Disturb was merged with a new feature called Focus. What is Focus mode on iPhone? With Focus, you can block notifications and apps of your choice at times when you don't want to be distracted. Then, you can catch up on non-essential notifications later. You can set up recurring times to have Focus activated, for example, if you want to silence certain notifications each evening to spend quality time with your family or if you would like to use a different Home Screen layout at work. In iOS 16, Apple has expanded on Focus, and it is now much more customizable. To get the most out of each Focus mode, be sure to sign up for our free Tip of the Day newsletter.

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How to Turn a Focus Mode On & Off

We've already covered where to find Do Not Disturb, which has not changed much since its incorporation into the broader Focus umbrella. Want to know how to turn off Focus on your iPhone? Below, we'll walk through how to manually enable and disable one of the other pre-set Focus modes by accessing your iOS Control Center.

Swipe down from the top right corner of your Home screen to open the iOS Control Center. (Swipe up from the bottom of the screen if you have an older phone with a Home button.)
Tap Focus.

Tap Personal, Sleep, Work, or any other option in your Focus mode list to activate it.
You can also tap the more icon, which looks like three dots, to further refine Focus settings.

From here, tap to select whether you want notifications to be blocked for one hour, until this evening, or until you leave your current location.
You can also tap Settings to personalize your notifications filter for each category.

To add a custom Focus category, tap the New Focus button below.

If you're looking to silence notifications on your iPhone during specific times or at certain locations, Focus Modes allow you to do that. We'll cover more about how to personalize settings and create a custom Focus in the sections below. If your Do Not Disturb keeps turning on randomly, here's the quick fix.

How to Personalize Settings in Focus

Focus Modes are set up by category, meaning you have options to enable a Focus Mode for Sleep, Work, or another custom category. The benefit of this setup is that it allows you to tailor Focus features based on your activity and keep those settings saved for later use. There are quite a few settings to customize, and we'll walk you through the most important ones below.

Open Settings, and tap Focus.
Tap the Share Across Devices toggle if you want to enable your Focus notification filters across all your Apple devices, like iPad and Mac, that share the same Apple ID. The toggle will be green and to the right when turned on.

Tap Focus Status to share your Focus status with contacts. What is Share Focus Status on iPhone? The answer to that question can be found in this article.
Tap a Focus, such as Work, to set specific notification settings for the category. The steps may be slightly different for each Focus, but we'll be using the Work Focus as an example.

Tap People to set which contacts can send you messages during the Focus period. Learn how to silence specific people instead here.
Tap Apps to set which apps can send you notifications during the Focus period.

Tap Options to further customize how notifications behave when this Focus is active.
Tap Edit (or Choose if this is your first time customizing this Focus) underneath the Lock Screen and Home Screen icons to customize the wallpaper for this Focus.

Choose which Home Screen pages will show in this Focus.
Tap Edit Apps.

Select which apps will appear on this Home Screen when this Focus is active, and then tap Done.
Tap Add to add this Home Screen to your Focus.

After you've chosen your wallpaper and customized your Home Screen pages, scroll down and tap Smart Activation if you want to allow your Focus to learn what times or at which locations it should be enabled. (For other Focuses, you may need to tap Add Schedule before you see the Smart Activation option.)
Tap Add Schedule to set your Focus to enable at certain times or at specific locations.

Tap Time if you want the Focus to active during specific periods of the week or time of day.
Tap Location if you want the Focus Mode to activate at a specific address.

Tap Apps if you want your Focus Mode to activate when you open certain apps, such as Books.

Now, you can set up your Work Focus to turn on automatically when you arrive at work, allowing you to stay productive. Every Focus mode can be customized to minimize distractions and keep you on-task. For example, the Driving Focus can be customized with an iMessage auto reply.

How to Create a Custom Focus Category

Perhaps you want to create an iPhone Focus Mode that doesn't fall under the preset Focus categories. In this case, you'll want to create a custom Focus. This can be anything you'd like, from a dog-walking Focus to a homework Focus. In these steps, we'll be setting up an evening Focus to help us get more quality time with family in after work.

From your iOS Control Center, tap New Focus.
Tap one of the category labels below, or tap Custom to add a new Focus.

Type in the name of your custom Focus setting, and choose an icon and color to represent how this Focus will be used. Then, tap Next.
Tap Customize Focus.

On this screen, you can customize how you want this Focus to behave, just like you did with the Work Focus in the previous section.
Now when you open your iOS Control Center, your custom focus will appear with the others in the list.

If you are having any trouble with Focus mode, see our article on Focus mode troubleshooting tips. Plus, find out what to do when your iPhone Lock Screen clock is dim.

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