Can I receive text notifications from selected contacts in Do Not Disturb?

[badlydrawnboy]

I want to keep my phone in Do Not Disturb (DND) mode most of the time to support my sanity and productivity. I know that it's possible to allow calls from certain contacts while in DND mode. But I don't see a setting to allow text message notifications from selected contacts, which would be great. Is there a way to do this?

 

[NoGood@Usernames]

Yep! You can do this by going to Contacts, selecting the contact you would like notifications for, hitting edit, scrolling down to “Text Tone” and enabling the Emergency Bypass setting. This will allow that contact to break through DND, and the bypass can be set independently per contact for both text and call sounds. So you can choose who can get through DND and how (just calls, just messages, or both).

 

[badlydrawnboy]

Woohooo! Thanks so much! Excited to learn that this is possible.

 

[NoGood@Usernames]

No problem, glad I could help! ?

 

[badlydrawnboy]

No problem, glad I could help! ?

One question. I know you can create a group in contacts and then assign that group in DND preferences to be able to break through with a phone call. How do settings on individual contacts (that I set by editing as you describe above) interact with the group settings?

For example, say I have DND set up to allow calls from Favorites. If I have also edited an individual contact that is not in my Favorites group to allow calls during DND, I'm assuming that I'll get calls from both Favorites and any individual contacts I've edited?

 

[NoGood@Usernames]

...

For example, say I have DND set up to allow calls from Favorites. If I have also edited an individual contact that is not in my Favorites group to allow calls during DND, I'm assuming that I'll get calls from both Favorites and any individual contacts I've edited?

While I haven’t tested it myself, it should work just as you describe. If you have favorites set to break through DND, those individuals will still break through for calls (but not messages) just as they always have, along with anyone else outside that group that you enable the emergency bypass for under “Ringtone” in their contact.

 

[noSpeed]

Yep! You can do this by going to Contacts, selecting the contact you would like notifications for, hitting edit, scrolling down to “Text Tone” and enabling the Emergency Bypass setting. This will allow that contact to break through DND, and the bypass can be set independently per contact for both text and call sounds. So you can choose who can get through DND and how (just calls, just messages, or both).

That feature is certainly well hidden. Thanks for sharing.

 

[NoGood@Usernames]

That feature is certainly well hidden. Thanks for sharing.

Yeah, they definitely didn't make it easy to find! I stumbled into it by accident one day when I was editing a contact and was surprised. I had no idea it was possible.

 

[HenryAZ]

Yeah, they definitely didn't make it easy to find! I stumbled into it by accident one day when I was editing a contact and was surprised. I had no idea it was possible.

Only on the phone, also. The option does not appear in macOS Contacts.

 

[Sensamic]

Does it work for whatsapp messages also or just normal sms?

 

[NoGood@Usernames]

Does it work for whatsapp messages also or just normal sms?

Just for SMS/iMessage. There’s no way for 3rd party apps to bypass DND as far as I’m aware.