Originally published at: What’s New with Focus in iOS 16 - TidBITS
Focus in iOS 16 has several changes that make it more flexible and useful. We explore the top changes and explain how they can change your workflow.
With the Apple Watch face, you’re again limited to a single face, but unlike Lock Screens, it’s not a two-way link. Switching to a Focus switches your Apple Watch to that face, but switching the face on your Apple Watch doesn’t change your Focus.
One thing I love is that when the focus ends (e.g., if it’s a scheduled focus), the Apple Watch face switches back to the face it was using before the focus changed it. Great detail.
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One problem I find with Focus is that if you have certain apps set to a certain focus, whenever you navigate away from those apps, but those apps are still considered active, the focus still goes away.
For example, I had set up a Focus for online meetings such that when Zoom, WebEx, or MS Teams are in use, my computer will set itself to Do Not Disturb and only allow limited notifications. The problem is that quite often during Zoom meetings, I have to navigate away to others apps such as Word or PowerPoint to take notes, give presentations, etc. As soon as I do that, Do Not Disturb goes away because neither Word nor PowerPoint are included in apps that should automatically trigger Do Not Disturb.
I pointed out this problem to Apple via feedback, but a different solution hasn’t been created to address this issue.