Set Up “Do Not Disturb” Mode on iPhone & iPad with Schedules

Do Not Disturb is one of the best features that came with modern versions of iOS, particularly for iPhone users. If you haven’t heard of it, basically it lets you put your iPhone (or iPad or iPod touch) into Do Not Disturb mode, which effectively mutes the device for all incoming calls, messages, and alerts, giving you peace and quiet while it’s on.

Here’s how to use Do Not Disturb at it’s most basic level, but also and even better, to use the excellent iOS Do Not Disturb feature with time scheduling and contact exceptions.

How to Schedule Do Not Disturb Mode on iPhone or iPad and Use Do Not Disturb for iOS the Right Way with Schedules & Exceptions

There are obviously times you won’t want Do Not Disturb to be in effect, so instead of flipping the switch on and off yourself every night and again in the morning, do yourself a huge favor and set up Do Not Disturb Schedules and configure a few exceptions. This gives you the quiet time you desire, while still allowing you to set exceptions for calls coming from specific people, or even repeated calls from the same number (suggesting urgency).

1. Open “Settings” and flip “Do Not Disturb” to ON
2. Still in Settings, tap “Notifications” and then “Do Not Disturb”
3. Set Scheduling times as desired
4. Set “Allowed Calls From” to an appropriate list (Favorites is good, or make your own exception list)
5. Flip “Repeated Calls” to ON to allow for an emergency double-call to come through
6. Close out of Settings and enjoy your peace and quiet

The scheduling feature works the exact same in all versions of iOS, though the preferences may look slightly different depending on what iOS version you have on the iPhone or iPad.

This is a great way to not be woken up in the middle of the night by random phone calls, annoying 3AM text messages, or notifications from Facebook chiming in at some awful hour. All those calls and alerts still come through, they just won’t disturb you by making noises or vibrations. Even better, iOS will automatically adjust based on your settings on the schedule defined, so you don’t even have to toggle everything ON and OFF.

Though it doesn’t allow for scheduling, Mac users can do something similar with the Mac OS X Notification Center and toggle a switch to keep alerts silenced for a day.

Quickly Enable & Disable Do Not Disturb in iOS

At it’s most basic usage, all you have to do is one of the following to enable Do Not Disturb on an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch in modern versions of iOS, including 8 and iOS 7:

• Swipe up from the bottom of the screen to open the Control Panel, and tap on the moon icon to toggle Do Not Disturb on or off

That instantly enables or disables Do Not Disturb, to do the opposite, just tap on the moon icon again so that it’s either highlighted to indicate it’s on, or not to indicate it’s disabled.

In iOS 6 you’d just do the following:

• Open “Settings” and flip “Do Not Disturb” to ON

The quick on/off toggle is appropriate for some situations like the one-off meeting or mid-day nap, but the best way to use Do Not Disturb is with a schedule and proper exceptions list.