Optimize Your Mobile Device for Maximum Productivity with Focus Mode

In today’s digital age, staying focused and productive can be a real challenge. With so many distractions at our fingertips, it’s important to find ways to stay on track and achieve our goals. Apple and Android’s Focus mode offers a solution, by allowing users to set up a dedicated work profile that minimizes distractions, you can optimize your mobile device for productivity.

Focus mode is a more granular version of the traditional “Do Not Disturb”. It gives you more control over which apps and notifications are turned off. This flexibility can be useful if you need to retain some of your phone functions, such as calls or messages, for work related activities but turn off your social media apps at the same time.

Here’s how to optimize your mobile device for maximum productivity with Focus mode:

Optimising your iOS Mobile Device

1. Start by opening the Settings app and selecting “Screen Time.
2. Enable Screen Time and follow the prompts to set up the feature.
3. Find “Focus mode” under the Screen Time options.
4. Turn on Focus mode and select the apps you want to hide during the focus period.
5. Schedule when Focus mode will be active. This can be done either by setting the hours it will be on or using GPS to set it only on by the location.
6. Choose whether to receive important notifications during Focus mode, or to have all notifications hidden.
7. To exit Focus mode, simply tap the toggle in the Control Centre.

Tip: Using location-based scheduling will mean you don’t need to worry about turning focus mode off when you are on annual leave and can be beneficial if you work shifts or irregular hours. However, location-based scheduling won’t work as well if you don’t work from a single location.

Optimising your Android Mobile Device

1. Go to your device’s settings and select “Digital Wellbeing & parental controls.”
2. Enable Digital Wellbeing and follow the prompts to set it up. If you are using a Samsung device you will need to select “Ways to Disconnect” after accessing “Digital Wellbeing”.
3. Go to “Focus mode” under the Digital Wellbeing options.
4. Turn on Focus mode and select the apps you want to pause during your focus period.
5. Schedule when you would like Focus Mode to start and finish by selecting “Schedule” and entering the start and finish times across a 7-day week.
6. When Focus mode is active, the selected apps will be greyed out and you won’t receive notifications from them.
7. To exit Focus mode, simply go back to the Digital Wellbeing settings and turn it off.

Samsung: To set the schedule on a Samsung device the process differs somewhat. See the section below for detailed instructions.

Take a break: Android will allow you to “Take a Break” from Focus Mode for a set period of 5, 15 or 30 minutes. Simply swipe down to view the Focus Mode notification and click “Take a Break”. You can also click on any greyed-out app to access it for 5 minutes.

Scheduling focus mode on a Samsung device:

1. Go to your device’s “Settings” app.
2. Select “Advanced features” and then “Bixby routines”.
3. Tap the “+” icon in the top right corner to create a new routine.
4. Give the routine a name, such as “Focus mode”.
5. In the “When” section, choose “Time” and set the start and end times for when you want the routine to activate.
6. In the “Actions” section, tap “Add action” and select “Focus mode”.
7. Choose “Turn on” for the Focus mode action.
8. In the “Actions” section, you can also add any additional actions you want to occur when the routine activates, such as turning on Wi-Fi or changing the sound profile.
9. Tap “Save” to complete the setup.

By setting up a work profile with Focus mode, you can optimize your mobile device for maximum productivity and minimize distractions. Give it a try and see how it can help you achieve your goals and stay focused.

Read how we helped a London Investment company make their IT more efficient: IT Support for London investment consultancy Hyde Park Investment (heliocentrix.co.uk)