How to temporarily enable Do Not Disturb on iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Mac

Need to make sure calls and alerts don’t interrupt you for a while? Here’s how to temporarily enable Do Not Disturb on your iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Mac.

Temporary DND option in iPhone Control Center

You may be familiar with the Do Not Disturb (DND) feature that lets you silence calls and notifications without turning off your device. You can schedule Do Not Disturb so that it’s always enabled at bedtime. You can also have Do Not Disturb turn on automatically on your Apple Watch during workouts.

But what if you just want to enable the feature for a short time outside of your schedule or workout?

You can enable Do Not Disturb temporarily. On iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch, you can turn it on for just an hour, until evening, morning, or until you leave a location. And on Mac, you can flip a switch to enable it or have it turn on for an hour or until morning/evening.

Enable Do Not Disturb temporarily

On iPhone and iPad

  1. Open the Control Center.
  2. Tap Focus to expand it.
  3. Tap the three dots icon next to Do Not Disturb.
  4. Choose For 1 hour, Until this evening/Until tomorrow morning, or Until I leave this location.
Enable Do Not Disturb Temporarily on iPhone

Note: You may not see “Until this evening” and “Until tomorrow morning” at the same time.

If you want to disable the DND before the hour is up or before you leave the spot, just access it again from the Control Center and tap the purple crescent moon icon. You can also tap Focus and uncheck the option you selected.

If you do not see the “Until I leave this location” option in Control Center’s Do Not Disturb panel, go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services and make sure it’s switched on. Next, scroll down and tap System Services. From here, enable Location-Based Alerts. Now, you’ll see “Until I leave this location” as one of the temporary DND options.

On Apple Watch

  1. Press the side button to open the Control Center. On watchOS 9 or earlier, swipe up from the bottom of the screen.
  2. Tap the moon icon.
  3. Tap Do Not Disturb.
  4. Choose On for 1 hour, On until this evening/On until tomorrow morning, or On until I leave.
Enable Do Not Disturb Temporarily on Apple Watch

On Mac

1) Click the Control Center icon from the top right of the menu bar.

2) Click Focus.

Focus macOS Monterey

3) Below Do Not Disturb, choose For 1 hour or Until this evening/Until tomorrow morning.

Enable Do Not Disturb Temporarily on Mac

Note: You won’t see the option to enable location-based DND like On until I leave or Until I leave this location on your Mac.

Check out next: How to quickly enable Do Not Disturb on Mac with a keyboard shortcut