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When Apple’s New Focus Feature is Too Much

I like iOS 15, but if not properly managed, Focus can be problematic

Lance Ulanoff
Debugger
3 min readNov 23, 2021

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Photo by Bagus Hernawan on Unsplash

As soon as Apple iOS 15 was available, I updated my iPhone (and followed with iPadOS 15 on my iPads). It’s mostly great but I have my reservations about one of the platform’s premier features: Focus.

Sometimes, Focus is just too aggressive. Allow me to share a true short story:

“I called you,” said my friend.

“When?”

“10 minutes ago,” he said, sounding slightly aggrieved.

I pulled the iPhone away from my ear and stared at it.

“That’s not possible,” I argued, “My phone is right next to me and [because I was waiting for his call] I made sure the ring/silent switch was on ‘ring.’”

“Well, I did,” said my friend as if speaking to a small child.

After the call, I checked my recent calls and, sure enough, I had missed his call and, I noticed, a few others.

What else was I missing?

I checked my text messages and noticed that I’d also missed a few from people outside my immediate circle of family and friends.

Everyone who called or texted was getting “Not Available” responses or being sent…

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Debugger is a former publication from Medium about consumer technology and gadgets. Currently inactive and not taking submissions.

Lance Ulanoff
Lance Ulanoff

Written by Lance Ulanoff

Tech expert, journalist, social media commentator, amateur cartoonist and robotics fan.

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