Focus Modes iOS 26: Complete Guide to Setup and Customization

Focus Modes iOS 26 transform how you manage notifications and distractions on your iPhone. Instead of silencing everything with Do Not Disturb, Focus Modes let you create customized experiences for different parts of your day. You can control which people can reach you, which apps send notifications, and even change your Lock Screen and Home Screen automatically based on your current activity.

What Focus Modes Do

Focus Modes filter your iPhone experience based on what you’re doing. When you enable a Focus Mode, your iPhone adjusts which notifications you see, who can contact you, and how your device looks. You might want work notifications during office hours but not on weekends. You might want family members to reach you at night but not work colleagues.

Each Focus Mode can have its own Lock Screen, Home Screen layout, and notification settings. When you switch between modes, your iPhone automatically adjusts everything to match. Your Work mode might show a minimal Lock Screen with calendar widgets. Your Personal mode might show family photos with messaging widgets.

Focus Modes also sync across all your Apple devices. When you enable a Focus Mode on your iPhone, your iPad and Mac enter the same mode automatically.

Built-In Focus Modes in iOS 26

iOS 26 includes several pre-configured Focus Modes you can use immediately or customize to your needs.

Do Not Disturb blocks all notifications except from people and apps you specifically allow. This mode works well for meetings, focused work sessions, or any time you need complete concentration. You can add exceptions for urgent contacts who should always be able to reach you.

Sleep activates during your bedtime and can include a wind-down period before you actually go to sleep. The Lock Screen simplifies to show just the time, and notifications stay hidden until morning. Sleep Focus integrates with the Health app’s sleep schedule.

Work helps you stay focused during work hours by filtering out personal notifications. You can allow work-related apps like email and Slack while hiding social media and messaging apps. Your Lock Screen can switch to a professional appearance with calendar and task widgets.

Personal does the opposite of Work mode. It hides work notifications during your off hours and allows personal apps and contacts. This helps you disconnect from work and focus on family time or hobbies.

Driving activates automatically when your iPhone detects you’re in a moving vehicle. It silences notifications to minimize distractions while driving. You can set up auto-reply messages to let people know you’re driving and will respond later.

Custom Focus Modes let you create modes for specific activities. You might create a Fitness mode that only allows music and workout apps, a Reading mode that blocks everything except your reading app, or a Gaming mode that prevents interruptions during gameplay.

How to Set Up a Focus Mode

Open the Settings app and tap Focus. You’ll see a list of available Focus Modes. Tap the + button in the top-right corner to create a new Focus Mode.

iOS presents several templates including Do Not Disturb, Personal, Work, and Sleep. You can select one of these or tap Custom to create your own from scratch.

If you choose Custom, enter a name for your Focus Mode and select a color and icon. The icon appears in your status bar and Control Center when the mode is active, so choose something recognizable. Tap Next to continue.

The setup screen shows several customization options. You can configure them now or come back later to adjust settings.

Customizing Notifications

Tap People to choose who can send you notifications during this Focus Mode. You have two options: allow notifications from specific people or silence notifications from specific people.

Most Focus Modes work better with the “Allow Notifications From” option. Select this and tap the + button to add contacts. You can add individual people or entire groups. For a Work mode, you might allow notifications from your boss and team members. For a Personal mode, you might allow only family members.

Below the contacts list, you can choose how calls work. Options include allowing calls from everyone, just your favorites, or only from the people you selected above. Repeated calls bypass Focus Mode automatically, so if someone calls twice within three minutes, the second call comes through. This ensures genuine emergencies can reach you.

Tap Done when you’ve selected your contacts.

Next, tap Apps to choose which applications can send notifications. Like with people, you can allow notifications from specific apps or silence specific apps.

For a Work mode, you might allow Mail, Slack, Calendar, and Teams. For a Sleep mode, you might allow only your alarm clock app. For a Personal mode, you might allow messaging apps and social media but block work email.

Select your apps and tap Done.

Setting Up Lock Screen and Home Screen Changes

One of the most powerful features of focus modes iOS 26 is the ability to link custom Lock Screens and Home Screen pages to each mode.

Tap Choose under Lock Screen. You’ll see all your Lock Screens with indicators showing which ones are already linked to other Focus Modes. Select the Lock Screen you want to use with this Focus Mode. If you haven’t created one yet, tap Customize to design a new Lock Screen specifically for this mode.

Separately, tap Choose under Home Screen. You can select which Home Screen page appears when this Focus Mode activates. If you’ve created a Work-focused Home Screen page with only productivity apps, link it to your Work mode. If you have a Personal Home Screen page with entertainment and social apps, link it to your Personal mode.

These automatic changes make switching between contexts effortless. When your Work mode activates at 9 AM, your iPhone instantly shows your work Lock Screen and Home Screen. When it switches to Personal mode at 6 PM, everything changes to your personal setup.

Scheduling Your Focus Modes

Focus Modes can activate automatically based on time, location, or when you open specific apps.

Tap Add Schedule to set up automatic activation. Choose Time to activate the Focus Mode at specific times on specific days. For a Work mode, you might choose Monday through Friday, 9 AM to 6 PM. For a Weekend mode, you might choose Saturday and Sunday, all day.

Choose Location to activate when you arrive at or leave a location. Your Work mode could activate when you arrive at your office and deactivate when you leave. A Gym mode could activate when you enter your fitness center.

Choose App to activate when you open certain applications. A Reading mode could activate when you open your reading app. A Gaming mode could activate when you launch games.

You can add multiple schedules to the same Focus Mode. Your Work mode might activate by time during the week and by location when you visit a client’s office.

Smart Activation uses machine learning to predict when you’ll want a Focus Mode based on your habits. If you manually enable your Work mode every Monday morning at 8:30 AM, Smart Activation will start suggesting it at that time. This feature gets better over time as it learns your patterns.

Advanced Focus Mode Options

Tap Options to access additional settings for your Focus Mode.

Show on Lock Screen controls whether silenced notifications appear on your Lock Screen. When disabled, your Lock Screen stays completely clear even if you receive notifications. When enabled, you see notification icons but they don’t wake your screen or make sounds.

Hide Notification Badges removes the red badge numbers from app icons on your Home Screen. This prevents you from seeing how many unread messages or emails you have while the Focus Mode is active.

Dim Lock Screen reduces the brightness of your Lock Screen when this Focus Mode is on. This works well for Sleep mode or evening modes.

If you have an iPhone with Apple Intelligence, you can enable Intelligent Breakthrough & Silencing. This feature uses Apple Intelligence to analyze incoming notifications and allows important ones to break through even if you’ve silenced that app. For example, if you typically respond to certain contacts quickly, a message from them might break through a Focus Mode.

Focus Filters for Apps

Focus Filters let compatible apps change what they display when a Focus Mode is active. Tap Add Filter to see which apps support this feature.

Messages can hide conversations from people not in your allowed list. When your Work mode is on, personal text conversations disappear from the Messages app entirely. When you disable Work mode, they reappear. This prevents you from getting distracted by personal messages during work hours.

Mail can show only specific email accounts. Your Work mode might show only your work email account, hiding personal email completely. Your Personal mode might do the opposite.

Calendar can filter which calendars appear. Your Work mode might show only your work calendar, hiding personal appointments. Your Weekend mode might show only personal calendars.

Safari can switch tab groups or profiles based on Focus Mode. Your Work mode might open work-related tabs, while your Personal mode opens personal browsing tabs.

Third-party apps also support Focus Filters. Apps like Fantastical, Things, and Drafts let you choose which content appears during each Focus Mode.

Turning Focus Modes On and Off

You can activate Focus Modes manually several ways.

Open Control Center by swiping down from the top-right corner of your iPhone. Tap the Focus button and select which mode to enable. Tap the mode again to disable it.

On the Lock Screen, tap the Focus icon if one is active. A menu appears showing all available Focus Modes. Tap one to switch to it or tap the active one to turn it off.

Ask Siri to enable a Focus Mode by saying “Turn on Work Focus” or “Enable Personal mode.” Siri can also disable Focus Modes when you say “Turn off Focus Mode.”

When you manually enable a Focus Mode from Control Center, you can choose how long it stays on. Tap the three dots next to the Focus Mode name and select “For 1 hour,” “Until this evening,” “Until I leave this location,” or “Until I turn off.” This prevents accidentally leaving a Focus Mode on longer than needed.

Using Focus Status

When Share Focus Status is enabled, people who message you see that you have notifications silenced. Below the message input field, they see text like “Notifications Silenced” with your Focus Mode icon.

The message doesn’t reveal which Focus Mode you’re using, just that notifications are silenced. If someone needs to reach you urgently, they can tap “Notify Anyway” to send their message through.

You can control who sees your Focus Status on a per-contact basis. Open a contact card, scroll down, and toggle off Share Focus Status for people you don’t want to see your status.

Creating Effective Focus Modes

Start with one or two Focus Modes and add more as needed. Most people benefit from a Work mode and a Sleep mode. You can add others over time based on your routines.

Be selective about allowed notifications. The fewer apps and people you allow, the more effective your Focus Mode will be. If you allow too many exceptions, you defeat the purpose of having a Focus Mode.

Link different Lock Screens and Home Screen pages to each mode. Visual changes reinforce the context shift and help your brain adapt to different activities.

Use schedules liberally. Automatic activation means you don’t have to remember to enable Focus Modes. Your iPhone handles it for you.

Test your Focus Modes for a few days and adjust as needed. You might discover certain people or apps need to be added or removed from allowed lists.

Review Focus Mode effectiveness in Settings. iOS 26 shows how often each Focus Mode activates and how many notifications it silences. If a mode rarely activates or barely reduces notifications, consider adjusting its settings.

Create modes for regular activities, not one-time events. A recurring “Morning Routine” mode makes sense. A mode for “Thursday’s dentist appointment” probably doesn’t.

Managing Multiple Focus Modes

iOS 26 lets you create as many Focus Modes as you need, but having too many becomes counterproductive. Most people work well with three to five modes covering their major daily contexts.

When multiple modes overlap in their schedules, the most recently activated mode takes priority. If your Work mode is scheduled until 6 PM but you manually enable Personal mode at 5 PM, Personal mode takes over.

Only one Focus Mode can be active at a time. Enabling a new mode automatically disables the current one.

Deleting a Focus Mode removes all its settings. You’ll need to set it up again from scratch if you want it back. Consider just disabling the schedule instead if you might want the mode again later.

Troubleshooting Focus Modes

If a Focus Mode doesn’t activate on schedule, check that schedules are properly configured in Settings > Focus > [Mode Name] > Add Schedule. Verify the times and days are correct.

If important notifications aren’t breaking through, check your allowed people and apps lists. You may need to add contacts or applications.

If too many notifications still appear, review your exceptions. You might have allowed apps or people who send frequent non-urgent notifications.

If Lock Screen or Home Screen don’t change, verify you’ve linked them properly in the Focus Mode settings under Lock Screen and Home Screen sections.

If Focus Modes aren’t syncing across devices, check that Share Across Devices is enabled in Settings > Focus. All devices must be signed in to the same Apple ID and have the setting enabled.

Focus Filters don’t sync across devices automatically. If you use Focus Filters for Mail or Messages on your iPhone, you’ll need to set them up separately on your iPad and Mac.