Set iPhone to ‘Do Not Disturb’

If you don’t want to be disturbed, turn off the sound or put the phone in airplane mode. The disadvantage of the latter is that all communication is blocked. And just turning off the sound is not always enough: the vibration of the phone can also be a nuisance. Therefore, use the ‘Do not disturb’ option. The communication is not stopped, so that you can be reached, but the telephone does not transmit any sound and does not vibrate. And you can build in an exception for emergency calls.

The ‘Do not disturb’ option can be used in several ways. It is possible to indicate a period within which you do not want to be disturbed. For example when you sleep. In addition, the option can be turned on and off manually. When the option is active, you will see a moon icon at the top right of the screen.

To set a period on iPad or iPhone with iOS 12 or higher:

• Tap on Institutions.
• Tap on Do not disturb.
• Turn on ‘Scheduled’ by tapping the slider.
• With iOS 14, tap the time after “From” and type in the desired time for the option to begin. Then tap the time behind ‘On’ to set the time when the function should be turned off. For iOS 13 and below, tap From to and select the period during which you do not want to be disturbed. By default, this is set to the period from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m.

It is also possible to manually turn on Do Not Disturb at random times. For example, if you go to a performance in a theatre.

• Tap on Institutions.
• Tap on Do not disturb.
• Turn on Do Not Disturb by tapping the slider.

Do not forget to turn the option off again if you want to be reachable again.

In urgent cases you do of course want to be reachable: the option ‘Repeated calls’ is available for this. Turn it on and everyone who calls you more than three minutes will be passed on.