How to allow specific people to bypass your iPhone’s Do Not Disturb feature

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The Do Not Disturb feature mutes notifications and calls, preventing the iPhone’s screen from lighting up when someone tries to get in touch with you. It also turns all iOS sounds off, and only keeps alarms on.

Although you will not get any notifications, the device will keep track of all the calls and messages that you receive. However, you may sometimes want to allow certain people to bypass the Do Not Disturb mode.

Here’s how to set up the feature and make exceptions for certain apps or individuals.

Setting up Do Not Disturb mode and creating exceptions

You can set up the feature in one of two ways:

1. Swipe down on the main screen of your iPhone and tap the Moon button. This will turn on the mode and you will have to manually turn it off by pressing the Moon button again
2. Go to Settings, press Do Not Disturb, and set your desired schedule for activating the feature

Once this is done, you will be able to set exceptions:

3. Open the contact card of the person that you want to set the exception for
4. Press the Edit button located in the upper right corner of the screen
5. Scroll down to Ringtone and press it
6. Activate the Emergency Bypass option
7. Tap Done

With iOS 15, you can also go to the Do Not Disturb section in Settings to whitelist certain people, and even apps.

Only activate the Emergency Bypass you’re sure of it

Keep in mind that the bypass option will enable you to get notifications even if you activate other modes, such as Silent or Vibration.

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