Focus modes, Notifications, Settings & more
More deep cuts from your iPhone’s famous features
F YOU USE Focus modes, there are some interesting tips and tricks you can try. If you want to quickly change between Focus modes, on the Lock Screen, touch and hold the name of the Focus mode you’re currently using, or if your phone isn’t locked, open the Control Center (swipe in from the top–right corner) and tap and hold your current Focus mode from there. Either way, you’re shown a list of available Focus modes, from which you can choose a new one.
Another quick and easy way of changing between Focus modes is by using Siri. All you have to do is say, “Siri/Hey Siri, turn on [name] Focus” or “turn off [name] Focus”. It’s excellent for turning off the Sleep focus first thing in the morning, for example.
You can customize Focus modes to suit your needs, and also create new ones from scratch. To edit a Focus, go to Settings > Focus and tap the name of the Focus you want to edit. From there, you can choose contacts and apps to get through even though all others are silenced, customize its Lock Screen and set a schedule to turn it on and off. Under Options, you can set up the Focus by having silenced notifications appear on the Lock Screen, hide notification badges, and more.
You can customize your notifications in the Settings app too. Go to Settings > Notifications, and you can choose how they arrive (as a count, a stack or a list), and you can set when scheduled summaries arrive. Scroll down for a list of apps that send notifications. Tap one to customize it on a per–app basis; set whether it arrives immediately or only in scheduled summaries, choose how alerts arrive,
how they’re displayed and grouped on the Lock Screen, and more. If you don’t want an app to send you notifications, turn them off using the Allow Notifications switch atop this screen.
You can manage a notification as it comes in too. Instead of opening Settings, simply swipe an incoming notification left to reveal two links; Options and Clear. The latter is pretty obvious, but if you tap Options you get a menu that lets you mute notifications from that app for an hour or the rest of the day, add it to your summary or turn off the app’s notifications altogether. Tap the Settings option to go straight to that app’s notification settings.
Talking of Settings, if you haven’t explored it in a while — or at all — it’s a good idea to do so. You might be surprised at what you find in there to help get things customized for you. For example, in Settings > Music you can set your songs to crossfade into each other like they do on the radio. Just turn on the Crossfade option, then use the slider to set how long the crossfade should be.
Take a look at Sounds & Haptics while you’re there too. You can change the ringtone and alert sounds, change their respective volumes independently of the iPhone’s overall volume, and choose whether to use haptics too.