Have you ever longed for better control over your Do Not Disturb settings on your iOS device? Have you ever missed an important phone call or text message because your phone was on Do Not Disturb and/or Silent? If you answered “yes” to either of the questions above, then iOS 10 has a feature you will love!
It’s called Emergency Bypass, and you will not find it in your Do Not Disturb settings. Instead, it is done on a contact by contact basis. You can choose to set Emergency Bypass for when a contact calls, messages, or both. If this option is set, your phone will alert you even if it is on silent or Do Not Disturb. Yes, it will play sound and vibrate, while all other calls and messages are silenced.
To set up emergency bypass:
- Navigate to the contacts app, or the contacts tab in the Phone app, and locate a contact for whom this feature is needed.
- Tap on the contacts name and tap edit at the top right of the screen.
- Locate the Ringtone and/or Text Tone field, and tap on it as if to change the tone.
- The first option on this screen will be “Emergency Bypass.” Tap the switch to enable this option.
- Tap Done at the top right of the screen.
- Now on this screen, you should notice, the option you chose to enable Emergency Bypass for should now say “Emergency Bypass on.” For example: Ringtone: Emergency Bypass On or Text Tone: Emergency Bypass On.
- Tap done at the top right of this screen.
- Repeat the steps above for any additional contacts you wish to add.
It’s surprising that this feature has not been covered by the media, but we sincerely hope this feature means you never miss another urgent phone call or message due to Do Not Disturb. Enjoy, and please share this post to let others know about this important feature!