September 30, 2026

Turn on a Focus and allow the people who can still interrupt

Settings > Focus. A Focus silences notifications except the people and apps you name.

• Productivity
• Easy · 3 min
• iPhone on iOS 18 and iOS 26
• Fix: set up a Focus on iPhone
• Cheat sheet

How to do it

1. 01

   Open Settings > Focus.

2. 02

   Choose Do Not Disturb, Work, or add your own.

3. 03

   Under People, allow the contacts who should still reach you. Under Apps, allow the few that matter.

4. 04

   Turn the Focus on in Control Center to test it, or add a schedule on the Focus screen.

Time Sensitive notifications can still break through. That is how reminders and some alarms behave. If too much is getting through, look at that permission on the noisy app, under Settings > Notifications.