Learn how to stop getting phone, FaceTime, and other calls during Do Not Disturb or Focus mode on your iPhone or iPad.
Based on how you have configured it, you shouldn’t receive calls or their alerts when your iPhone is in Do Not Disturb (DND) or other Focus mode.
As the name suggests, Focus mode is built to help you “focus” on something. For instance, when Sleep Focus is on, it hides the notifications from the Lock Screen and dims the display. Similarly, with Work Focus, you can configure it to stop calls and notifications from most people and apps.
However, if you’re getting call notifications even in DND, Sleep Focus, or other Focus modes, here are the nine solutions to fix this.
1. Remove allowed people from DND or Focus settings
Every Focus mode lets you add people and apps as exceptions. This ensures that even when you’re “focusing,” these whitelisted people and apps can send alerts.
The main reason you’re getting calls during DND or Focus is because you have added some exceptions. These can be important people like your parents, spouse, kids, boss, and so forth. For instance, even during DND or Sleep Focus, I like to get calls from my immediate family members. Therefore, I have added their contacts to the Allowed People list. You can decide accordingly.
1) Open iPhone Settings and tap Focus.
2) Tap Do Not Disturb, Sleep, or one of the other Focus modes during which you get the calls.
3) Select People under the Allowed Notifications section.
4) Tap the minus button (-) to remove added people.
Repeat the above steps for each Focus mode individually.
2. Disable all calls, including repeated calls during Focus
In addition to having specifically allowed contacts, you can also permit calls from a wider set of people during DND or a Focus mode. For instance, you can allow calls from people you have added to Favorites in the Contacts app, or you can allow all contacts to reach you even when a Focus mode is active.
Additionally, you can allow repeated calls, which ensures that if the same person calls you for the second time within three minutes, then that call bypasses the DND or Focus restrictions, and you hear that call’s ringtone.
The above settings are in place to ensure important people can reach you anytime or during emergencies. However, if you would like to prevent this, follow along.
1) Open the Settings app on your iPhone, tap Focus, and select a Focus mode.
2) Tap the People tile under Allowed Notifications.
3) Tap Allow Calls From and choose Allowed People Only. And since your allowlist is empty (method 1 above), you should not get calls from anybody.
4) Next, turn off Allow Repeated Calls. This will ensure that a second call from the same person within three minutes will not break through your Focus mode and disturb you.
After you tweak the above settings, you should no longer receive calls during DND or the specific Focus mode. If you still do, follow the remaining tips below.
3. Stop Apple Intelligence from letting calls through
If you have an iPhone 15 Pro, 15 Pro Max, or iPhone 16, you can activate Apple Intelligence on it. One of the features that comes with Apple Intelligence is Intelligent Breakthrough & Silencing in Focus, which lets important calls and notifications reach you while blocking the rest.
Now, which calls and notifications are important is decided solely by your iPhone, and there can be instances where it allows spam or unhelpful calls. So, head to iPhone Settings > Focus > select a Focus and turn off Intelligent Breakthrough & Silencing.
4. Ensure Focus mode is actually enabled
If you’re still getting calls, double-check to make sure Focus is enabled or not.
You can switch on Focus mode manually from:
- iPhone Control Center > tap Focus > tap a Focus mode to turn it on.
- Invoke Siri and ask it to “enable [name] Focus.”
In addition to that, you can also go to iPhone Settings > Focus > tap a Focus name and hit Add Schedule.
When a Focus mode is active, you will see its icon on the Lock Screen, top left of your iPhone status bar, and the icon will be colored in Control Center.
5. Remove call apps from Focus
You can add specific contacts to the list of allowed people in Focus. Similarly, you can add apps to this list.
If you have added FaceTime or third-party call apps like WhatsApp, Skype, Zoom, Telegram, Facebook Messenger, etc., to the list of allowed apps, they will pierce through DND or other Focus mode when someone calls you via those apps.
Follow these steps to stop FaceTime, WhatsApp, Zoom, and other calls during DND or Focus mode.
1) Open iPhone Settings, tap Focus, and select a Focus mode.
2) Tap Apps under the Allowed Notifications section.
3) Tap the minus button (-) to remove all apps from here.
Once you do this, you will no longer get VoIP calls when your iPhone is in Do Not Disturb, Sleep, Work, or other Focus modes.
Tip: From the main Focus screen, tap Focus Status and enable Share Focus Status. This will tell people in certain apps like iMessage that you have silenced your notifications.
6. Don’t turn off Focus on your other Apple devices
If you go to Focus settings and turn on Share Across Devices, then turning Focus on or off on one of your Apple devices also reflects on your other devices.
For instance, with Share Across Devices enabled, if I turn off Focus on my Mac, it’s turned off on my iPhone as well. So, let us say Sleep Focus is active on my iPhone, but for some work, I open my MacBook and turn off the Focus mode there. This will affect my iPhone, and Sleep Focus will be turned off on it. After that, if someone calls me, I will get disturbed.
To address this, you can keep the above fact in mind and not turn off Focus on your other devices. Alternatively, you can also turn off Share Across Devices, which will keep Focus mode’s on or off status limited only to that device.
- iPhone or iPad: Go to Settings > Focus and toggle off Share Across Devices.
- Mac: Open System Settings > Focus and turn off Share across devices. If you are on an older version of macOS, go to System Preferences > Notifications & Focus > Focus and uncheck Share across devices.
7. Restart your iPhone
If you haven’t turned off your iPhone in a long time, do it now, which should fix minor glitches that may be causing issues with Focus modes. After you switch off your iPhone, wait for a minute before switching it back on.
8. Update your iPhone
If you followed the above solutions and still get calls during Focus mode, it may be because of bugs in the operating system. Go to iPhone Settings > General > Software Update to get the latest version of iOS.
9. Reset all settings
By now, your problem should be solved, and calls shouldn’t disturb you when a Focus mode is active. However, if it still does, go ahead and reset all iPhone settings. This will force all changed settings to go back to the default and fix the problems. After the reset is complete, don’t forget to go to iPhone Settings > Focus and make the desired customizations there.
This is how you can prevent calls during DND or Focus modes.
Just make sure you remember to turn off DND or Focus mode when your work is done. If you don’t, you might miss calls, messages, and app notifications.
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