Random focus modes

[southerndoc]

I have a focus mode set for work where it mutes a few peoples' text messages while I'm any work location. Driving focus mode is also activated when the phone is paired with my car's Bluetooth.

Yesterday when I arrived home from work, I noticed my phone was is do not disturb mode. I rarely put it in this mode manually. The last time was a few months ago.

I've noticed that my phone will go into random focus modes. One time it was in the fitness focus mode. Unfortunately, I haven't exercised in the last few months due to an injury.

Curious if anyone else is experiencing this with iOS 18.1/18.2 with AI enabled.

 

[pgolik]

I have noticed that focus modes, particularly the ones that should be triggered by location have become unreliable since 18.1. But I don’t have AI enabled (I’m in the EU). A restart usually gets them working, for a few days at least.

 

[aihpcfl]

I noticed the phone going into Sleep mode at odd times when I was still using an XS. I didn't pay close attention, but it seemed to switch out of Sleep Focus soon after. I can't say this started occurring with iOS 18 or not; it may have occurred before that. I've now been using a 16 Pro since about a week ago and haven't noticed anything odd with Focus modes.

 

[AtheistP3ace]

Yes I have also experienced random focus modes. Mostly do not disturb and sleep. It’s made me miss calls and messages a few times.

 

[NoBoMac]

Wild guess: Smart Activation on on the Focuses?

Or: have other devices and those are triggering due to "Share Across Devices" is on? Had that problem but in reverse when Focus was introduced, Focuses would randomly turn off on devices. Turned off "Share" and created device specific Focuses as, for me, no need to have all my gizmos in same Focus mode (read: phone is the most important and always with me/on, so don't need MBP to be same Focus when it's on the desk at home and I'm not at home; ditto iPad).

 

[pgolik]

Wild guess: Smart Activation on on the Focuses?

Don't know about OP, in my case Smart Activation is off, and the only thing that changed in my devices and configurations was the new iOS version. And starting with 18.2 I'm also seeing bugs with automations and shortcuts, that worked reliably in 18.1, but that's likely another story.

 

[southerndoc]

What is smart activation? I do not see that option.

I have one focus set to come on when at work (location based) and then driving focus to come on when phone connects to car's Bluetooth.

 

[pgolik]

What is smart activation? I do not see that option.

It should be in the settings of the focus mode (it's an option when you add a schedule). It's supposed to learn from your activity and automatically decide when to turn the focus mode on. Like all such "smart" features, I found it useless (perhaps my daily schedule isn't regular enough), so I keep it off. It's separate from the hard-coded location based activation, as you can see in the screenshot:

 

[southerndoc]

The only smart activation I see is from one that I created and not a default focus mode. The default focus modes all have set a schedule as an option (except the driving focus). Same concept, but was confused by not seeing the smart activation option before.

Today I got home from dropping something off at my daughter's school. Was in a rental car so no Bluetooth connectivity to trigger the driving mode. I just noticed my computer was in work mode, which is set to automatically enable when I get to work (my daughter's school is about 5 miles away from where I work). The only thing that could've triggered it is I added someone to the work focus people list to silence their texts while I'm at work. Perhaps that triggered it.

I think there needs to be a more prominent display of when a focus mode is active.