Communicate with a Contact in Silent Mode

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Level 1

6 points

Communicate with a Contact in Silent Mode

I put my phone in silent/do not disturb mode while I'm at work and when I sleep. My family frequently sends me texts or calls to say hi during these windows because we're all on different shifting schedules. This is totally fine and I see these non-urgent communications whenever I'm done working / sleeping. However, if there's ever an emergency during a time when I have my phone on silent/do not disturb, I want my family to reach me. It seems the only solution to this is to enable "Emergency Bypass On" for these contacts. However, this would mean I hear all the day-to-day non-emergency communications from these people all the time, which is not helpful. Any suggestions of how to make myself reachable in an emergency when I have my phone on silent/do not disturb mode?

Posted on Feb 8, 2025 08:49 AM

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Answer 1

Feb 8, 2025 10:07 AM in response to MissDuchess

Have a look at the following support document: Allow or silence notifications for a Focus on iPhone – Apple Support (UK)

Specifically, have a look at the information about "allow repeated calls (two or more calls from the same person within 3 minutes)" and "Share your Focus status". You may need to use some combination of a Focus and the ability to set different emergency sounds for Ringtone vs. Text. You could then tell your family members to use the phone for true emergencies but text when a focus is set.

There are only so many options to solve this because there is no way for the iPhone to distinguish when one call is normal and the next is an emergency.

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Answer 2

MissDuchess Author

Level 1

6 points

Feb 8, 2025 12:25 PM in response to FishingAddict

Thank you! I will work on this - this is a decent solution. It would be nice if you could authorize certain callers to override silent/dnd mode with a prompt or something. Alternatively, it would be nice if there was a calling/texting app that would override silent mode that you and family members could all download and use for emergencies. With landlines long gone, I would think just about everyone would like an easy solution here.

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Communicate with a Contact in Silent Mode

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