Sleep Focus how it works vs Do not disturb

[verdi1987]

I really like that, but what I don't like is that it automatically assumes that when my sleep schedule has ended that I'm automatically awake, even though I don't have an alarm set, so will often sleep past the end of my sleep schedule and then my Sleep times in Health are all too short. Why can't it also track when I first use my phone in the morning to determine when I actually woke up?

It will if you have an Apple Watch.

 

[Dino F]

Hmm - this Sleep function STILL isn't working as it did prior to Watch OS 8.0 and iOS 15......?

Before, if you had scheduled the 'Do Not Disturb' feature (I have this scheduled between 10pm and 7:00am) and you went to bed and turned on the 'Sleep' option (whereby the watch tracks your sleep), in the morning when you would wake up and turn off the 'Sleep' function (lets say at 6:30am), the scheduled 'Do Not Disturb' would remain ON and auto turn OFF at 7am.

On Watch OS 8.0 and iOS 15 and above, it no longer does this - when you wake in the morning (lets say you wake at 6:30am) and so you turn off 'Sleep', it now ALSO turns off the scheduled 'Do Not Disturb' (which should stay ON until 7am but it now turns OFF when turning OFF 'Sleep')...???

 

[Dino F]

For the last few days I've been awoken by notifications on my Apple Watch. I was puzzled, as I had always set DND to end relatively late in the morning.

Only now have I realized that Sleep is turning off DND when triggered. I had always used these functions simultaneously, with DND starting earlier and ending later than Bedtime. I can go longer do that.

I guess I'll just use Sleep. Apple has made this unnecessarily complicated. It doesn't make sense that Sleep and DND cannot both be active, nor was there an instruction that these functions don't work like they did before.

100% agree with this.

 

[verdi1987]

Hmm - this Sleep function STILL isn't working as it did prior to Watch OS 8.0 and iOS 15......?

Before, if you had scheduled the 'Do Not Disturb' feature (I have this scheduled between 10pm and 7:00am) and you went to bed and turned on the 'Sleep' option (whereby the watch tracks your sleep), in the morning when you would wake up and turn off the 'Sleep' function (lets say at 6:30am), the scheduled 'Do Not Disturb' would remain ON and auto turn OFF at 7am.

On Watch OS 8.0 and iOS 15 and above, it no longer does this - when you wake in the morning (lets say you wake at 6:30am) and so you turn off 'Sleep', it now ALSO turns off the scheduled 'Do Not Disturb' (which should stay ON until 7am but it now turns OFF when turning OFF 'Sleep')...???

I had a similar setup. With iOS 15 multiple Foci cannot be running simultaneously. When a Focus is enabled (either manually or by schedule), the existing Focus turns off.

In your situation, it’s actually turning off DND when you enable Sleep in the evening, not in the morning when you disable Sleep.

After upgrading to iOS 15, for the first few days I was confused why I was getting notifications in the morning when I previously had DND enabled.

I had always set DND to run past my Bedtime schedule. This ensured that if I slept in intentionally I wouldn’t be awoken by notifications. That’s no longer possible. So now I have DND set to take effect when my Sleep schedule ends.

 

[adrianlondon]

Focus can do much more than DND though.

First, if you already set sleep schedule in Health, Sleep Focus will kick in automatically. You don’t even have to set it up, which is nice.
Second, I have set up Focus for when I’m watching video I don’t want anyone/anything disturbs me. So I set one up that when I use video apps like Disney+, HBO or TV+ this “Entertainment Focus” will kick in automatically. This has never been possible before.
Yes, I can turn DND on manually but it’s a drag to have to do it 4 or 5 times a day everyday.
You can even set it up that this Focus will kick in if you wear AirPods in case you always use AirPods to watch movies. To me this is one of the best feature of iOS 15.

I don't like having notifications come it (sounds and banners) when on a FaceTime call, so thought I could set up an automation to turn on a Focus mode each time I used the FaceTime app. Worked great! Until ... someone called me, which didn't trigger the activation despite the FaceTime app having to run to answer the call. Oh well.

 

[lolaaa]

I prefer do not disturb to sleep, because I can set it to last past my bedtime. However, will apple watch still track my sleep if I don’t turn on the sleep focus? I really want to be able to track sleep but wake up without being bombarded by notifications.

 

[matrix07]

I don't like having notifications come it (sounds and banners) when on a FaceTime call, so thought I could set up an automation to turn on a Focus mode each time I used the FaceTime app. Worked great! Until ... someone called me, which didn't trigger the activation despite the FaceTime app having to run to answer the call. Oh well.

Oh.

I have Reading focus and Watching Movies focus and they activate every time I read a book or watching movie.

 

[SteamedHams]

I hate this new Focus system. Last night, while sleeping, I woke up to a notification that I had ”left my Airpods Pro behind” (they were next to my phone). While the Sleep focus was on. And Sleep focus shouldn’t let ANYTHING, including time sensitive ones, through.

 

[matrix07]

I hate this new Focus system. Last night, while sleeping, I woke up to a notification that I had ”left my Airpods Pro behind” (they were next to my phone). While the Sleep focus was on. And Sleep focus shouldn’t let ANYTHING, including time sensitive ones, through.

Check this off

 

[SteamedHams]

Check this off

It is off. This is a bug.

 

[Ansath]

I hate this new Focus system. Last night, while sleeping, I woke up to a notification that I had ”left my Airpods Pro behind” (they were next to my phone). While the Sleep focus was on. And Sleep focus shouldn’t let ANYTHING, including time sensitive ones, through.

Maybe consider turning off that notification for when the device is at home, as is that really needed when at home?

 

[zorinlynx]

I really like that, but what I don't like is that it automatically assumes that when my sleep schedule has ended that I'm automatically awake, even though I don't have an alarm set, so will often sleep past the end of my sleep schedule and then my Sleep times in Health are all too short. Why can't it also track when I first use my phone in the morning to determine when I actually woke up?

I've worked around this by setting my sleep schedule end to 10AM on weekends (when I don't want an alarm). I'm almost always up before 10AM, so end up just turning off sleep manually those times.

 

[Ansath]

I really like that, but what I don't like is that it automatically assumes that when my sleep schedule has ended that I'm automatically awake, even though I don't have an alarm set, so will often sleep past the end of my sleep schedule and then my Sleep times in Health are all too short. Why can't it also track when I first use my phone in the morning to determine when I actually woke up?

It usually extends it until I wake up and stop it, for me.

 

[DeadKlau5]

I have a question. I have activated the sleep mode every night and also wear an Apple Watch when I sleep. Every time my watch only vibrates as an alarm clock and makes no sound. But I am afraid that I might not wake up because of the vibration because it is not that strong. Does anyone know how to activate the sound?

 

[matrix07]

I have a question. I have activated the sleep mode every night and also wear an Apple Watch when I sleep. Every time my watch only vibrates as an alarm clock and makes no sound. But I am afraid that I might not wake up because of the vibration because it is not that strong. Does anyone know how to activate the sound?

Edit your sleep schedule in Health and scroll to the bottom. On Alarm options just choose as loud as you want.

Edit: don't forget to turn off Silent Mode on your watch as well.