Focus just straight up not working. I took the time to set up six different Focuses, turned Focus status on and I’m still getting calls and messages from people that are excluded from those particular Focuses. Apparently, they aren’t seeing the Focus status either. Does having time sensitive notifications on supersede exclusions in Focus? Not even sure what to do to get this to work properly and it was highlighted feature for iOS 15.
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Focus Modes Not Working
- Thread starter Itinj24
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I have 4 different focus setups and all work reliably.. Actually very impressed that when I pull into work and my work focus enables using location as the trigger. Sleep, driving and workout focuses are setup using time, motion or app use and all work like they should.. All of them are set to not allow any notifications/calls from anyone and I don't receive any audible/vibrate alerts. I do see notifications indicated on the app badge and in notification center only
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Hard to tell what's going on, as not a lot of details. Seems to be working for me.
Regarding Messages, that does seem to have some conflicting options, and I'm still not sure how that is supposed to work, let alone with a Focus.
Under Notifications for Messages, there is an "Always Allow" setting and the options are "Time Sensitive" and "Direct Message". Not sure what Time Sensitive is re: Messages/SMS. Believe Direct is Apple to Apple device comms, as that option has the blue bubble. Might need to turn those off. Also might need to turn off "Unknown Senders" (I always have that off, to filter out spam along with "Filter Unknown").
Focus Status, I get the feeling that that is also Apple to Apple only, as again blue bubbles, so anyone SMSing will not see status.
Regarding Messages, that does seem to have some conflicting options, and I'm still not sure how that is supposed to work, let alone with a Focus.
Under Notifications for Messages, there is an "Always Allow" setting and the options are "Time Sensitive" and "Direct Message". Not sure what Time Sensitive is re: Messages/SMS. Believe Direct is Apple to Apple device comms, as that option has the blue bubble. Might need to turn those off. Also might need to turn off "Unknown Senders" (I always have that off, to filter out spam along with "Filter Unknown").
Focus Status, I get the feeling that that is also Apple to Apple only, as again blue bubbles, so anyone SMSing will not see status.
I have problems with the Teams app breaking through a focus mode when it should not be able to. I have a mode setup for my lunch hour that turns off notifications from work-related apps. Calls from Teams still come through even though it is not an allowed app.
I thought about that but will taking the phone and messages apps away from the Focus prevent allowed people from getting through?
If my understanding of Focus is correct-ish, as long as people are listed in the People section, they can break through. So, should be able to remove Messages and Phone app from the list of allowable apps.
Basically, like the old Do Not Disturb: allow people in favorites/group-name/no one to break DnD.
Basically, like the old Do Not Disturb: allow people in favorites/group-name/no one to break DnD.
Can’t tell unless someone from my do not allow list tries to text or call lol. I’ll test with my wife. I did get texts while in sleep mode and I never had my phone or message app enabled in that focus.
I just tried testing this with my wife. The Focus status did not come up whether I had messages enabled in the focus or not and whether I had her as an allowed person or not with any combination of the two. No clue what’s going on there. It only worked when I had my Do Not Disturb focus which is everything and everyone set to off.
What’s really counterintuitive, though, is the “Notify Anyway” option when the Focus status comes up in messages. So basically, it gives the other person messaging you the power to break through your focus with the tap of a button. What’s the point of blocking people during a focus then, if they can easily break through it like it’s not even set. Is there an option to disable this extremely illogical feature?
Focus is one of those announced iOS 15 features that I had no excitement for. Well, since it’s there, I thought I’d give it a shot and took the time to meticulously set up seven Focuses. It’s been nothing but a disappointment and waste of my time lol.
What’s really counterintuitive, though, is the “Notify Anyway” option when the Focus status comes up in messages. So basically, it gives the other person messaging you the power to break through your focus with the tap of a button. What’s the point of blocking people during a focus then, if they can easily break through it like it’s not even set. Is there an option to disable this extremely illogical feature?
Focus is one of those announced iOS 15 features that I had no excitement for. Well, since it’s there, I thought I’d give it a shot and took the time to meticulously set up seven Focuses. It’s been nothing but a disappointment and waste of my time lol.
To the OP. How are you turning on each Focus? Automated or manual? You can only have one Focus active at any given time so which one suffers from breakthroughs? Time based notifications have priority over a Focus so they will come through. Are you running automated shortcuts?
The only two of the seven focuses I have automated are sleep (tied to my bedtime) and driving (when connected to CarPlay). Everything else is enabled manually. So when I wake up and I’m home, I manually turn on my personal focus which is supposed to ignore work apps and work contacts which my Sleep does as well. I’ve gotten break throughs in Sleep and Personal from what I saw. No shortcuts running.
When you say time based, do you mean the time sensitive (have those toggled off in all focuses) or timed summary (only have annoying retail apps for that).
It’s all meaningless anyway. My main concern is wanting to ignore work contacts but with that “Notify Anyway” button for the sender, it’s a waste of time. They can break through whenever they want at no control of my own. That’s what I suspect was happening.
So in other words you need a work phone and a personal phone. I’ve had both for over 15 years and wouldn’t have it any other way.
So we’re conceding that Focus doesn’t work as advertised or do what it claims to? Another botched software feature by Apple. What else is new.
Hmm, I didn’t see that in my testing. I’ll give it another shot, thanks for checking. Would be nice to have the focus status there and not be able to break through. That way, it doesn’t look like I’m ignoring the other person but more like I’m not even getting their texts. Like you said, it’s still not a mature feature and everyone experiences bugs differently.
That was a quick test using a new Work focus with my wife not allowed. If a contact is allowed in a Focus it shouldn’t show Notify Anyway as well. But you would think if you turn off Time Sensitive Notifications in a Focus then the Notify Anyway should never be an option. Out of curiosity I will try to test a bit more tomorrow by setting up a Focus on her phone so I can be on the other side and see for myself. She’s away till tomorrow.
Focus needs a tutorial. In app description of options are pretty vague.
Does anyone really even know what constitutes a time sensitive notification? I know app developers have the option to enable that for their apps but what exactly are they? Apple should at least provide some guidance for their stock apps.
A time sensitive notification is basically a app based high priority message. Further tests show that it works as expected. When I turn off time sensitive in a Focus under Apps messages will come through silent and Notify Anyway isn’t an option. In real world usage the only break through notifications I have received have been from the Find My app. Adjustments to my locations resolved that. Not many third party apps are using time sensitive notifications yet, most are first party Apple apps. I agree that a much better explanation of Time Sensitive is needed so trial and error tests aren’t necessary.
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