How Focus Mode Changed in iOS 27

One of the best tools your iPhone offers to help you avoid distractions is Focus, which lets you control which alerts come at what times. It includes default modes like Work, Personal, Sleep and more, as well as the option to create your own. For example, you may want to turn off social media notifications but still receive pings for incoming messages from your family members.

To select a focus mode, swipe from the upper right corner of the screen to open Control Center, then tap the icon To focus panel and select the desired mode from there. To configure your Focus modes, go to Settingsscroll to To focusthen select any option (or create your own) to change what is allowed and what is disabled.

Although Focus has been around for several years, some of the improvements in iOS 27 include changes to this feature. If you haven’t updated yet, this is another good reason to do so.

You can now change how the Focus entry appears in Control Center. With Control Center open, long-press any blank part of the screen until editing mode activates. Drag the lower right corner of the To focus icon to resize it as you wish. Although this was limited to a 2×1 space in iOS 26 and earlier, you can now make it a small 1×1 circle to save space or as large as 2×2 for faster selections.

iOS 27 also brings improvements to Focus Mode tracking that let you create better shortcuts around them. As Derek Seaman explains, shortcut actions can check the specific status of your phone based on which Focus mode is currently active. For example, I created a shortcut, using natural language commands, that tells my phone to play a podcast when it’s in Driving mode. You can now also select Sleep Focus mode for an automation trigger.

Finally, logical “else if” statements are now supported with Hotkeys and Focus mode triggers. So you can have a shortcut automatically trigger a specific action if Sleep Focus is enabled, but if Driving is enabled instead, another action will trigger. Your device is able to track when you switch to each mode and perform the action accordingly. This allows more granular control of automated actions so that they are tied to the Focus mode your phone is in, rather than a single trigger.

There are vast improvements to Siri AI with iOS 27. You can use natural language commands to have Siri create a shortcut that includes the built-in Focus mode state, now improved with iOS 27.

I have a custom focus mode called Christina where I silence notifications from Facebook, Instagram, Phone and Messenger while allowing notifications from Slack and my Ring video doorbell. You can also choose specific people to allow notifications for, like your boss or spouse, so you don’t miss a crucial message.

I also set a shortcut to automatically open my workout app every time I switch to Fitness mode. These aren’t massive changes, but they can make your days run smoother with easier-to-trigger actions. It’s worth getting familiar with Focus mode and using it along with the shortcuts to create your own phone automations. Focus mode is one of Apple’s best productivity tools, and you’re missing out if you don’t use it.