5 iPhone Features That Help Minimize Distractions at Work

Do you often find yourself scrolling through social media or jumping into group chats to read new messages and memes while you work? There are a variety of features on your iPhone that can help reduce distractions while you work. Check them out to see if they help you!

1. Focus mode works to block notifications and calls

Work is a Focus mode that blocks all unimportant notifications and calls on iPhone while still ensuring access to other work apps and urgent calls.

To set up Focus mode, go to Settings > Focus > Work . Tap People or Apps to start selecting contacts and apps you want to allow notifications for.

Next, in the Customize Display section , you can choose which Lock screen or Home screen to display when Focus Mode is turned on. It's best to hide iPhone Home screen pages that contain distracting apps.

Further down is the Set a schedule section , which lets you specify when you want your iPhone to automatically turn on Focus Mode.

If your work hours are flexible, you should manually turn Focus mode on/off by opening iOS Control Center, pressing and holding the Focus icon , then selecting Work .

2. Scheduled Summary to Get Notifications Later

In addition to Focus Mode, use Scheduled Briefings so you don't get notified every time a friend likes or comments on a story or post. Social media notifications will be sent as a one-time summary during your lunch break or at the end of the day.

To get notifications as Scheduled Briefings, go to Settings > Notifications > Scheduled Briefings . Turn on Scheduled Briefings , specify a time, and enable the apps you want to get scheduled briefs for.

Some additional methods to control the flood of notifications on your iPhone include turning off red notification badges and completely turning off notifications for unnecessary apps.

3. Grayscale Filter Makes iPhone Boring

Social media demands a colorful world where there are countless fashion OOTDs, recipes, memes, stickers, etc. Vibrant displays of everything naturally attract our attention, increasing distractions.

To tone down the fun colors and make your iPhone less distracting, turn your screen black and white. To apply a grayscale filter on your iPhone, go to Settings > Accessibility > Display & Font Size > Color Filters . Turn on Color Filters and select Grayscale .

4. Screen time feature to limit app usage

Do you spend a few minutes during work hours scrolling through social media, checking out what your friends are up to, and watching a funny video or two? If so, use Screen Time to help limit your app usage.

To set up Screen Time, go to Settings > Screen Time >  App Limits > Add Limit .

In addition to limiting apps, Screen Time can be used to block specific distracting websites on Safari, such as news and entertainment magazine sites.

5. Custom iPhone Shortcuts to Balance Work and Breaks

Using Screen Time to avoid scrolling too much can sometimes get in the way when you need to use an app urgently, so create a handy shortcut on your iPhone that lets you perform short actions on social media when you need to increase your usage frequency.

The shortcut starts a 2-minute countdown for your break, locks the screen when finished to get back to work, and then starts a 30-minute countdown for your next short break. This will help keep you focused.

To create this shortcut, go to Shortcuts > Automations > New Automation . Select Apps from the list, tap Select to select the app you want to limit. Then, tap Done , select Opened and Run after confirming , and tap Next > New blank automation .

Tap Add task , then search for and select Wait. Tap the 1 second field, then tap and hold the + icon to increase it to 120 seconds .

Back in the Search box, type and select Screen Lock . Next, go back to the Search box and find and select Start Timer . Tap the Duration field , enter 30 , and tap Done . Then, tap Done in the upper-right corner to save the shortcut.

The iPhone is both a productive and distracting device. Because it is integral to almost every aspect of our lives, it is important to manage how we use our devices, especially at work.

Hope these tips help you!