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Choose whether you want others to know you are busy while using a Focus Mode
The public has had access to iOS 15 for some time. Its abundance of fantastic features has inspired many people to switch to the OS. With notification summaries and focus modes, iOS 15 attempts to balance our lives, which is one of its best features.
While Focus Mode is fantastic, some users may find it challenging to fully grasp because of its complexity. Maybe you’ve been using iOS 15 for a while, but you just had a revelation. Some iMessage notifications are still being receiving even when Do Not Disturb or one of the more recent Focus settings is activate. What is Focus Status in iMessage is to blame in this situation.
What is Focus Mode?
If you are unfamiliar with the idea of Focus Mode, here is a brief explanation for you before we discuss Focus Status. In iOS 15, Focus Mode is a development of DND. Things have always been too extreme with DND. DND allows you to either quiet all of your alerts (with a few exceptions) or allow all of them to go through.
That is altered by Focus Mode. Users may choose exactly what alerts they want to receive at any time of day by combining pre-set Focus Modes with the option to create their own. For instance, when you are in work mode, only job-related messages will be delivered; all other notifications would be put on hold.
Whether you are busy with work, driving, reading, want some personal time, practising mindfulness, gaming, working on your fitness goals, or doing something else unique to you, you can have a Focus Mode for the same. And it even works on all your devices simultaneously if you want it to.
What is Focus Status?
Focus Mode provides additional capabilities, such as Focus Status, in addition to helping you filter your alerts based on the work at hand. What exactly is this fabled Focus Status that you have been searching for so long?
Focus Mode lets people know that you have silenced notifications, unlike DND on iOS 14 which does not.
While you’re in one of the Focus Modes, anyone attempting to send you an iMessage will see a Focus Status on their displays informing them that “[you] have silenced notifications.” They will have the choice to “Notify Anyway” in addition to the Focus Status. The notification will still be receiving if they choose to press that choice, regardless of the Focus Mode.
Note: The Focus Status isn’t display to the person sending you a message right away. When a person sends you a few messages, maybe two or three, Messages will display the Focus Status along with the ‘Notify Now’ message sensing they might have something important to intimate with you. Additionally, it only works if the other user is also on iOS 15.
Even though the Focus Status informs others that you are in a Focus Mode, it doesn’t reveal what it is called. They are therefore unaware of the precise characteristics of the Focus Mode you are now employing.
As soon as they decide to contact you, you’ll receive a notification for the Focus Status. What is Focus Status? Otherwise, the notice will be sent together with the other ones you missed while in Focus Mode.
How to Turn Off Focus Status
Focus Status is on by default for all Focus Modes, predefined or whether you create a custom one. But you can easily turn it off.
Open your iPhone Settings and go to ‘Focus’.
Then, tap the Focus Mode for which you want to turn off Focus Status.
In the settings for that particular Focus Mode, tap ‘Focus Status’.
Then, turn off the toggle for ‘Share Focus Status’.
When employing this technique, you must manually turn off Focus Status for each of your setup modes. If you only want to keep the setting on for specific modes and turn it off for others, this is ideal. For example, in this article, we disabled Focus Status for the “Work” Focus Mode so that it wouldn’t interfere with any other Focus Modes.
However, you may easily deny the app access to Focus if you don’t want Messages to be able to share Focus Status in any way.
Open your iPhone settings and scroll down to find the option for ‘Messages’.
Then, under ‘Allow Messages to Access’, turn off the toggle for ‘Focus’. As Messages won’t have access to Focus, it won’t be able to share your Focus Status even if the setting is on for a Focus Mode.
The only app that can share your Focus Status, for now, is Messages. Perhaps more apps will be able to utilise this capability in the future and share your Focus Status with those who message you via a third-party app.
