How to let someone bypass your iPhone Do Not Disturb settings

Every night before I sleep, I set my phone to Do Not Disturb, one of the many steps I have to take to not stare at my phone late into the evening. It makes it so that I can still receive text messages and calls, but I’m not notified.

My phone doesn’t ring, or vibrate, or even light up. It’s genuinely blissful to not have any notifications for a few hours each day, even if they are the hours before I go to bed and after I wake up. But some important calls still need to come through, like when my roommate is out on a first date, or when a family member is in labor.

Thankfully, it’s easy to enjoy the positive parts of Do Not Disturb while still ensuring those important calls come through.

Set up Do Not Disturb

There are two ways to set up Do Not Disturb on your iPhone: turning it on and off one time, or having it turn on and off on a schedule. To turn it on just once, you can swipe up on your iPhone and press the moon button. When you’re ready to turn it off, just click the moon button again.

Slide up to turn Do Not Disturb on and off manually on the iPhone.
Credit: mashable screenshot

To have Do Not Disturb stick to a schedule, you’ll need to go to your settings and scroll down to Do Not Disturb. Here, you’ll have an option to schedule it to turn on and off at whatever time you’d like.

To set up a schedule for your Do Not Disturb, you’ll have to go to your Settings first.
Credit: MASHABLE SCREENSHOT

Make your exceptions

You might want to make exceptions to Do Not Disturb, like I do for my roommate and my immediate family members. To do that, you’ll want to first decide who should and should not make the list. Is it really important for all of your friends to be able to contact you while your Do Not Disturb is on? That’s your call!

Open the contact card

Pick the contact you’d still like to hear from even while Do Not Disturb is on.
Credit: MASHABLE SCREENSHOT

The first step you’ll have to take is to open up the contact card of the people you want to be able to contact you even when your Do Not Disturb is on.

Edit

To ensure you can still hear from the person you’d like to hear from, you’ll need to edit their contact card.
Credit: MASHABLE SCREENSHOT

Click “Edit” on the contact you choose. This will allow you to change anything about the contact, including their name, number, notes, and, yes, even bypassing a Do Not Disturb order.

Emergency bypass

Next, you’ll scroll down and click “ringtone.” You’ll see an option at the very top labeled “Emergency Bypass,” which allows sounds and vibrations from that contact even when Do Not Disturb is on.

It’s important to note here, that it bypasses everything. That means if you don’t have Do Not Disturb on but your ring switch is set to silent, sounds and vibrations will still come through from this person. Once you’re all set, you’ll click “Done.” Voila! Now, you won’t be disturbed — except by the people you want to be disturbed by.