If you are anything like me you enjoy settling down into bed with the overwhelming feeling that you are forgetting something crucial, followed by a healthy dollop of anxiety. So when we set our phones to “Do Not Disturb”, it is only natural that we spend the next thirty minutes wondering if that will stop our alarm from going off.
To alleviate the concerns of everyone at one time or another, it really depends on whether you are an Apple person or more of an Android enthusiast.
If you use Apple, DND will not affect your alarms. On the Google side of this article, DND will in fact silence all alarms you set. This doesn’t mean that you have to risk 3 AM phone calls to make sure you get up on time.
In this article, we are going to discuss how DND affects alarms and how to avoid getting woken up and a bit more!
How to Enable/Disable Do Not Disturb
For those wondering how the process even begins to work, we will go over a brief tutorial on how to access this feature. Regardless of which type of phone you have, we will cover both Android and iPhone. Make sure to read further below to know exactly what Do Not Disturb disables on both phones.
For iPhone Devices:
- For older iPhone users, swipe from bottom to top to access the convenient settings menu. For newer iPhone users, you may have to swipe top to bottom instead. Regardless, you will know when you are there when you see an airplane icon, radar icon, wifi icon, and Bluetooth icon in the upper left.
- Just below the Bluetooth icon will be a crescent moon square, tap it to turn on Do Not Disturb.
- For those looking for more customization in their Do Not Disturb feature, hold down on the Do Not Disturb icon for further options.
- You should now have Do Not Disturb either enabled or disabled depending on your preference.
For Android Devices:
- To start, you will want to drag your finger from top-to-bottom. You may have to do this twice to bring up the full menu.
- A list of circular icons will fill up your screen, tap the Circle with a dash in the middle/Do Not Disturb icon.
- You have now Enabled/Disabled your Do Not Disturb. For more advanced settings for Android users, scroll further down.
How does Do Not Disturb work on iPhone/Android?
Despite the option being prominently featured on both Google and Apple phones, it operates a bit differently depending on which you use. To offer more insight to consumers regardless of their mobile preferences, we will be discussing everything you can do with this feature and how to fully utilize it.
Do Not Disturb for iPhone
Apple has designed its Do Not Disturb a bit more broadly, though with smart exceptions. While DND may be a fair cause for concern from those who have to get up before all of god’s creation; iPhone users have very little to worry about as far as alarms go.
Apple has made it so that you can hear alarms with the ringer all the way off, as well as Do Not Disturb flipped on.
What the Do Not Disturb on Apple products will do is stop incoming calls, emails, TikTok, Facebook messenger, and whatever else will keep you distracted from a restful night. Do Not Disturb does not prevent these calls, texts, or notifications. Instead, they will be saved until Do Not Disturb is flipped back on and you will be greeted by a symphony of beeps, boops, and text notifications.
It is important to note that while the screen won’t light up for incoming notifications, incoming alerts will still appear on your lock screen.
There are two approaches to turning on Do Not Disturb mode for iPhones. The first is the step-by-step guide we discussed earlier in the article. The second is the ability to set dates and times for Do Not Disturb so that it routinely turns on without any direct confirmation on your part.
For those on a rigid schedule, this is a nice way of operating a bit more efficiently going forward. If this sounds up your alley, let’s go over how to do it briefly.
- Go to your settings and select Do Not Disturb.
- Toggle on the Scheduled option to enable the scheduling submenu.
- Below, there is a From and To option, set the beginning time and the end time you want (9:00 P.M – 5 A.M for example).
- Tap Back to save the changes made, you can now select the times you want Do Not Disturb turned on.
Beyond that, you have a few additional options that you can take advantage of. You can turn on one of the two Silence options which are “Always” and “While iPhone is locked”. Always removes any chance of an audio alert and While iPhone is locked stops audio when the phone is locked, but when in use you still get notifications.
You also can utilize the Phone tab which allows you to select the few, elite contacts that can bother you at any time. This is nice for those who need to sleep while their loved one is away or at work.
It can still allow your family to get in contact should an emergency arise, but limits your phone to just those people. Finally, you have the “Do Not Disturb While Driving” feature that I won’t insult you by explaining further. This feature will require a car with Bluetooth capabilities, however.
You can also use the Emergency Bypass feature to allow certain contacts to reach you via the Contacts menu, though we are getting a bit off-topic.
Do Not Disturb for Android
When Android says that you will not be disturbed, they mean it. This feature on Google phones effectively removes any chance of you being rocked to consciousness by one of the many nauseating default ringtones we subject ourselves to.
While the feature doesn’t allow alarms to go off by default, you can customize Do Not Disturb to allow exceptions.
This means that not only can you allow your alarm to work in Do Not Disturb, but virtually anything you want. This is a welcome relief to the control freaks who hate the lack of customization, or to people who enjoy not being an hour late to work.
For those interested in refining there Do Not Disturb choices, let’s go over how to set them up.
Android comes with three broad options to choose from, Total Silence, Alarms only, and Priority Only.
- Drag your finger from top-to-bottom on your unlocked phone’s home screen.
- Press down on the Do Not Disturb icon and wait for a menu to appear.
- This is the Do Not Disturb menu, from here you can change several different features and options.
Now that you know where to go, let’s discuss exactly what all three of these settings do. Some Android users will not have “Alarms Only” as an option. If this is the case, you can easily substitute it with Priority Only.
The first and most straightforward option is going to be Total Silence. As the name strongly implies, this will kill any chance of an auditory interruption in your evening. This will stop alarms, vibration features, music, games, or motion pictures from uttering a peep. The only exception is that you can still hear other people in open phone calls, though this requires you to make or take a call first.
For those that have it, Alarms only is a great option to stop the buzzing and beeping of texts and notifications while still allowing your phone to wake you up come morning. While it will silence texts, calls, and voicemails it will still produce audio from audio, video, and games.
Priority only or Priority Notifications only is a fairly broad setting that allows you to refine what is allowed and acceptable and what isn’t. This allows you to select both calls and messages from no one, everyone, contacts, and favorites. This feature will allow alarms, manually selected exceptions, and the sound from media to play while in Do Not Disturb.
In the DND menu, you will see a Schedule tab that allows you to automate when you want DND to be turned on. This allows you to set the priority level, the days, hours, and minutes you want it to be active and you can even set DND by a calendar. So despite both phones seeming wildly different, overall they operate roughly the same throughout with the Do Not Disturb feature.
Wrapping Up
To definitively answer the question – you can reliably set both Android and iPhone devices to Do Not Disturb while still allowing alarms and more.
While the process may be a bit confusing at first, it allows users to customize these features to fit different lifestyles. So regardless of whether you need to allow three specific contacts to reach you or you are just tired of having your friends call you at 2 A.M; you can adjust the settings to accommodate most scenarios.
