Apple is out to help folks separate work life and home life. The company is introducing a new feature that will make it easier to ignore work phone calls during off hours.
The feature is called the “Focus” setting and, once activated, it will give users the ability to restrict what people and what apps can reach them and the time and place they can contact them. This can act as a sort of “out of office” message at the end of a workday.
Unlike simply putting your phone on do not disturb, if someone restricted tries to contact you it will prevent you from getting a notification, so an email or call won’t come through at all. The person trying to contact you will be notified that you have Focus enabled, asking them if they still want to send the message.
Focus can also help folks, well, focus, more, since they can use it to turn off certain distractions, like app notifications, while reading, although it still allows for messages from loves ones to come in.
As for when users can expect it on their devices, Apple says it will likely come in the fall with iOS15.
