I’m a fan of iOS focus modes, and I use them every day for different activities.

Recently, some people around me noticed this setup on my phone and started asking questions about it. Instead of explaining it offline only, I thought it would be better to write a post about it, too, so that it can be shared with others.

I’m curious to know if you use focus modes, too, and if so, what you do differently from me.

Focus modes that I use

My current setup includes different focus modes for the following activities. I will explain each of them below.

• Personal
• Work
• Do Not Disturb
• Fitness
• Sleep
• Travel

Personal and Work Focus

The most used focus modes are Personal and Work, both of which are time-activated. These modes help me focus on work during work hours and keep work out of sight during times when I shouldn’t think about it.

Personal Focus

• From Monday to Friday 18:30 – 08:00
• From Sat till Sun 00:00 – 23:59

Work Focus

• From Monday to Friday 08:00 – 18:30

The power of focus modes lies in the fact that you can assign custom home screens and focus filters to each of them. I do both when I activate these modes.

By activating specific screens on my iPhone and Apple Watch while in Personal Focus mode, I’m able to get work apps and work notifications out of my immediate sight when not working. The other way around, I’m able to do the same while working. During workdays and work hours, I see no personal apps, email, or personal browser tabs while using my phone. During ‘personal’ hours, it’s the other way around.

Next to these two profiles, I have two different phone numbers registered with my phone: one business number and one private number. By consistently sharing the right number with the right people, I’m able to filter incoming calls from phone numbers that are not in my contacts.

I’m quite happy with this setup (focus mode, different home screens, focus filters, and separate phone numbers) as it enables me to do everything with just one phone without constantly being distracted by apps, notifications, or calls during times when I don’t want to be distracted or reminded by them.

Do Not Disturb

This is a manual-activated focus mode that does what it says it does. It blocks out disturbances and doesn’t allow calls to come through except from the people in my favorite contacts list or from anyone who calls twice within 3 minutes (e.g., an urgent call).

Fitness

Fitness mode is activated when I start an activity on my Apple Watch or when I launch the Nike Run Club app on my phone or watch. When activated, all notifications are blocked, including calls, as I can’t pick them up when exercising anyway.

Sleep

In the Health app, sleep focus mode is activated based on my sleep schedule. The schedule is different on weekdays and weekends. All notifications and calls are blocked, except for calls from people in my favorite contacts list. Sleep mode also activates a different home screen, one that has dark wallpaper on a very small group of apps. The intent of this home screen is to make using the phone during off-hours not attractive at all.

Travel

Travel mode is location-activated, and I added new locations to this focus mode while traveling. This is usually a train station or airport that I expect to visit more often. The primary purpose of travel mode is to activate different home screens on my iPhone and a different watch face. The screens and watch face bring the essential widgets and apps upfront while traveling. These include the latest flight details from Flighty.app and details from my calendar so that I don’t forget about the other things that I need to do while traveling.

Following many others, this is my list of default apps in 2023. The categorization comes from the Hemispheric Views Podcast and should be equal to all others submitting their default apps.

• 📨 Mail Client: Outlook
• 📮 Mail Server: Office365
• 📝 Notes: Agenda and Tot
• ✅ To-Do: Things
• 📷 iPhone Photo Shooting: Camera
• 🟦 Photo Management: Adobe Lightroom Classic for editing and Photos for organization
• 📆 Calendar: Fantastical Calendar
• 📁 Cloud File Storage: iCloud Drive
• 📖 RSS: Reeder with FreshRSS
• 🙍🏻 ♂️ Contacts: Apple Contacts on iOS and CardHop on MacOS
• 🌐 Browser: Safari
• 💬 Chat: Messages and WhatsApp
• 🔖 Bookmarks: Linkding
• 📑 Read It Later: none
• 📜 Word Processing: Word
• 📈 Spreadsheets: Excel
• 📊 Presentations: PowerPoint
• 🛒 Shopping Lists: Things
• 🍴 Meal Planning: Paper and pen
• 💰 Budgeting and Personal Finance: Banktivity
• 📰 News: NRC, NOS and Tweakers.net
• 🎵 Music: Apple Music
• 🎤 Podcasts: Pocket Casts
• 🔐 Password Management: 1Password

Some additional categories:

• 🔖 Journal: Day One
• 🚀 Launcher: Alfred
• 🗺️ Maps: Google Maps
• 🔐 VPN: ProtonVPN
• 🌦️ Weather: Carrot Weather

Updates:

2023/12/25: 290 people submitted their default apps. All submissions are listed here.
2023/11/27: Updated the list with the emojis per category provided by Gabz.