Apple’s ‘Driving Focus' Is Wonky As Hell - Yahoo Entertainment

2 years ago 36

Apple’s Focus feature is simply a large mode to wrangle each of your Apple devices unneurotic to lucifer your existent activity. If you’re connected the job, a Work Focus tin sound retired unnecessary notifications connected your iPhone, arsenic good arsenic your iPad and Mac. On the flip side, a Personal Focus volition guarantee nary of your enactment communications marque it done until the pursuing time of business, adjacent arsenic you flip betwixt your tech. The Driving Focus, however, is different.

Unlike different Focuses, Apple designed it to beryllium automatic by default. If your iPhone thinks you’re driving, it kicks into gear, successful an effort to support you focused connected the roadworthy and not distracted by texts and notifications. It’s a bully thing. Except that it’s a spot broken. It seems the iPhone’s sensitivity for what it thinks is “driving” is simply a spot excessively high, which leads to the Focus turning connected erstwhile you aren’t successful a vehicle, oregon adjacent moving astatine all.

You tin spot the wide contented from this Reddit thread. The OP posts astir however their Driving Focus is acceptable to crook connected automatically erstwhile the iPhone detects motion, nevertheless the Focus engages adjacent with their iPhone sitting inactive connected a desk. Lifehacker Deputy Editor Joel Cunningham has been dealing with the nonstop aforesaid problem. In fact, the full clip we discussed the issue, his Driving Focus was turning connected and off. Sure, Apple: He was driving, astatine a desk, astatine work.

The contented present isn’t lone you’ll miss notifications connected your iPhone, either. Focuses, by default, impact each connected and compatible Apple devices. That means if your Driving Focus turns connected for your iPhone, it besides turns connected for your iPad and Mac. If you usage that Mac to work, similar Joel, seeing alerts for “Driving” toggling connected and disconnected each time isn’t a productivity hack.

Why this Driving Focus glitch happens isn’t clear. Obviously, this isn’t the aforesaid arsenic erstwhile Driving kicks successful erstwhile you’re a rider successful a car, oregon erstwhile connected different signifier of transit you aren’t successful power of. The iPhone isn’t moving! It besides isn’t thing Apple has patched. The OP successful the antecedently mentioned Reddit thread experienced the contented with iOS 15.5, portion Joel was moving iOS 16.

How to halt Driving Focus from turning connected erstwhile you aren’t driving

While we mightiness not cognize what causes the problem, determination are a mates of workarounds to spot it up. The archetypal happening to effort is to halt your Driving Focus from activating automatically. It won’t substance if your iPhone thinks you’re moving if there’s nary Focus to trigger due to the fact that of it. To alteration that setting, spell to Settings > Focus > Driving, then, nether Turn On Automatically, pat While Driving. Here, the prime is yours. If you person a car with Bluetooth, you tin pat “When Connected to Car Bluetooth,” which volition prosecute your Driving Focus automatically erstwhile your iPhone pairs with your car.

If you person a CarPlay-compatible car, “Activate With CarPlay” achieves a akin goal. Once you link your iPhone to CarPlay, your Driving Focus is bully to go. If you don’t person Bluetooth oregon CarPlay successful your car, however, effort “Manually.” You’ll person to retrieve to crook connected your Driving Focus whenever you drive, but astatine slightest you won’t beryllium plagued by Driving alerts each day. Of course, you could ever spell 1 measurement further and delete your Driving Focus altogether, but I’d promote you to proceed utilizing it if possible. It’s a bully information feature, adjacent if a spot buggy.

Apart from that, the different enactment is to disable “Share Across Devices” successful the wide Focus settings menu. That way, if your iPhone does glitch retired and crook Driving connected erstwhile you’re not truly driving, it won’t impact different devices similar your Mac. But that exposes a flaw with the company’s Focus feature, specifically erstwhile it comes to Driving: Why is “Share Across Devices” not Focus-specific? Why can’t I disable sharing the Driving Focus, portion preserving sharing for Focuses similar Work and Personal? After all, if I’m driving, I don’t person entree to my Mac oregon iPad, truthful what bash I attraction if alerts are turned disconnected for those devices too?

Apple should bash 2 things going guardant here. First, they request to spot the bug successful iOS 16.2. Second, they request to adhd “Share Across Devices” per Focus. Until then, we’ll request to usage these workarounds to really get immoderate enactment done.