Do Not Disturb (DND) is a great way of avoiding interruptions on your iPhone. It’s especially handy when you’re in a meeting, driving, need some sleep, or just want to focus on something.
In this guide, we’ll show you everything you need to know about turning DND on (and off), including using the control centre and how to customise your notifications. So, if you’re ready for some peace and quiet, let’s get going.
What is Do Not Disturb on an iPhone?
Do Not Disturb is a built-in feature that lets you mute calls, messages, and app notifications for a certain period. While your phone is in Do Not Disturb mode, calls and notifications are still logged, but they won’t make any noise, vibrate, or show up on your lock screen. You won’t even be notified about missed calls or messages until you turn off the feature.
How to turn on Do Not Disturb on an iPhone
There are a couple of different methods for activating Do Not Disturb on your iPhone. Control Centre is the quickest, Settings give you a little more control. Here’s how to use each one:
Using Control Centre:
If you need to quickly silence your iPhone, the Control Centre is the fastest way to turn on Do Not Disturb:
Unlock your iPhone. On iPhones without a Home button, swipe down from the top-right corner of the screen. On iPhones with a Home button, swipe up from the bottom of the screen.
Look for the moon. Now search for the moon icon—that’s Do Not Disturb. Tap it to turn on DND. It lights up to tell you that DND is activated.
Using Settings
For more customisation, you can enable Do Not Disturb through your iPhone’s Settings app. This is a good option if you want to schedule DND for a specific time or make custom changes to notifications. Here’s how to do it:
Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
Scroll down and tap Focus.
Tap Do Not Disturb under the Focus menu.
Toggle the switch to turn Do Not Disturb on. You’ll see a moon icon appear at the top of your screen, confirming that it’s active.
How to turn off Do Not Disturb on an iPhone
Tired of not being disturbed? You can easily turn DND off using the Control Centre or through Settings.
Using Control Centre:
This is the quickest way of disabling DND and restarting your alerts. Simply follow these steps:
Unlock your iPhone (if locked). On iPhones without a Home button, swipe down from the top-right corner of the screen. On iPhones with a Home button, swipe up from the bottom.
Find the moon icon. You’ll see it in the Control Centre. If DND is active, the moon will be highlighted. Tap it to turn off Do Not Disturb. The icon will no longer be highlighted, and you’ll start receiving notifications again.
Using Settings:
Turning off DND through Settings is helpful if you’ve customised some settings and want to review or adjust them. Here’s how:
Open Settings. Scroll down and tap Focus.
Tap Do Not Disturb. Toggle the switch off. This disables DND, and your iPhone will resume sending notifications.
How to customise Do Not Disturb settings
There are also some handy customisation options, which give you the power to control how notifications are handled when DND is active. This is especially useful if you still want to receive notifications from important contacts or apps:
Allowing calls and messages from specific people
If you want to get calls or messages from certain people while DND is on, here’s how to customise your Settings.
Go to Settings. Then tap Focus, and Do Not Disturb.
Look for Allowed Notifications. Then tap People.
Choose Allow Calls. Then you can select an option like Favourites or All Contacts. Or you can customise things even more by adding specific people to your allowed list.
You can also toggle Repeated Calls on. This lets a second call from the same person get through to you, even when DND is on.
Setting up a schedule for DND
Here’s another handy option. You can schedule DND to automatically turn on and off at certain times, so you don’t have to worry about manually switching it on or off each day. To do this:
Go to Settings > Focus > Do Not Disturb.
Tap Add Schedule.
Set the time you want DND to start and stop. If you want some undisturbed sleep you could schedule it to turn on every night at 10 PM and turn off at 7AM.
Troubleshooting: Do Not Disturb won’t turn off
If you’re having trouble turning off Do Not Disturb, give these a try:
Restart your iPhone. A simple restart can fix lots of glitches – including DND issues.
Check your Focus. If Focus mode is turned on it might be overriding your DND settings. Go to Settings > Focus and check if any of the Focus modes are active. If so, toggle them off.
Update software. Make sure your iPhone is up to date with the latest version of iOS, as updates usually include bug fixes.
Reset all settings. If none of the above work, go to Settings > General > Reset > Reset All Settings. Just be aware that this won’t delete your data, but it will reset preferences like Wi-Fi passwords.
Need more help?
If you’re looking for more advice on getting the best out of your iPhone, check out our handy article on how to set up your new iPhone. We’ve also got some top tips on how to update your iPhone, how to sync your iPhone and iPad, and how to withhold your number on iPhone.
