How to Set Up and Customize Do Not Disturb Mode on Your Phone

Published 2026-10-16 · Marion Phone Repair

Do Not Disturb mode silences calls, notifications, and alerts on your phone so they do not interrupt you. It is essential for sleeping without being woken by notification sounds, focusing during work or study, and attending meetings without your phone buzzing. Both Android and iPhone let you create customized DND schedules that automatically activate at set times, allow calls from specific people to break through, let repeated callers ring through in emergencies, and set different rules for different situations.

Set up Do Not Disturb on iPhone

Enable DND manually

Open Control Center and tap the crescent moon icon. DND activates immediately silencing all calls, notifications, and alerts
Long-press the moon icon for options: For 1 Hour, Until This Evening, Until I Leave This Location, or Until End of This Event. These let DND turn itself off automatically

Schedule DND

Open Settings, Focus, Do Not Disturb
Tap Add Schedule. Choose Time-based to set specific start and end times. For example, 10 PM to 7 AM every night
You can also set Location-based triggers or App-based triggers

Allow exceptions

Allowed People: In DND Focus settings, tap People. Add contacts who can reach you during DND — spouse, children, parents. You can allow calls from Everyone, No One, Favorites, or specific groups
Repeated Calls: Enable Allow Repeated Calls. If the same person calls twice within 3 minutes, the second call rings through. Designed for emergencies
Allowed Apps: Tap Apps to allow specific app notifications during DND such as your alarm clock or security camera app

Focus modes

iPhone offers multiple Focus modes beyond DND: Work, Personal, Sleep, Driving, and custom modes. Each has its own allowed contacts, apps, schedule, and home screen
Sleep Focus: Settings, Focus, Sleep. Ties into the Health app sleep schedule. Activates at bedtime and deactivates at wake time
Work Focus: Create a Work Focus allowing work contacts and apps (Slack, email, Teams) while silencing personal notifications during business hours
Share Focus Status: When enabled, people who message you see that you have notifications silenced. They can still choose to notify you if urgent

Set up Do Not Disturb on Android

Enable DND manually

Swipe down from the top to open Quick Settings. Tap the Do Not Disturb tile
On Samsung, tapping the text opens DND settings directly while tapping the icon toggles it

Schedule DND

Go to Settings, Sound, Do Not Disturb
Tap Schedules. Add a schedule with name, days, start time, and end time. For example: Sleeping, Sunday through Saturday, 10:30 PM to 7:00 AM
You can create multiple schedules for different purposes
On Samsung, you can set DND to activate during calendar events automatically

Configure exceptions

Calls: Settings, Sound, Do Not Disturb, Calls. Choose who can call through: Starred Contacts, Contacts Only, Anyone, or None
Repeated callers: Enable Allow Repeated Callers. A second call from the same number within 15 minutes rings through
Messages: Choose who can send texts that break through DND
Alarms: By default alarms always ring during DND. Your morning alarm will still wake you
Apps: On some Android versions you can allow specific apps to send notifications during DND

DND behavior settings

Silence level: Choose whether DND silences everything (total silence), allows only alarms, or allows priority notifications
Visual disturbances: Samsung lets you control whether notifications silently appear on the lock screen during DND or are hidden entirely
Duration: When turning on DND manually, set it to stay on until you turn it off, for a specific time, or until your next alarm

DND for specific situations

Sleeping: Set DND on a nightly schedule with repeated callers allowed so emergencies can break through
Meetings: Schedule DND during meeting times or set manually. Allow only starred contacts
Driving: iPhone has a Driving Focus that activates when it detects vehicle motion. Android has Driving Mode in Digital Wellbeing
Studying: Set DND with no exceptions except alarms. On iPhone choose a simplified Home Screen showing only study-related apps

Common DND problems

Alarm did not ring: Check that alarms are allowed in DND exceptions. If you switched to total silence mode, alarms may be muted
Still receiving notifications: Emergency alerts bypass DND by design. Disable in Settings, Notifications, Wireless Emergency Alerts if needed
DND turns on by itself: Check your DND schedules for forgotten schedules. Also check Focus modes on iPhone and Bedtime mode on Android

DND setup help in Marion

If you need help configuring Do Not Disturb schedules, setting up exceptions for important contacts, or troubleshooting DND issues, Marion Phone Repair can set up your notification preferences and quiet hours so your phone works the way you want.