You can stop sharing your Focus status in the Messages app from your iPhone, iPad and Mac. Here's how you turn it off.
Don't Want Anyone Knowing You Have Notifications Silenced? Here's How to Disable Focus Status on iPhone, iPad, Mac
Apple introduced a new feature with iOS 15, iPadOS 15 and macOS Monterey called Focus. Think of it as Do Not Disturb mode, but on steroids. You have complete control over what notifications come through, what apps are shown and so much more. It's exactly what people asked for - complete control - and most users absolutely hate it for that very reason.
Anyway, when Focus is turned on, it automatically shares your 'Focus Status' with everyone you're in contact with through the Messages app. When the other person is about to message you and you have notifications silenced, this is what they will see on their end:
While this is a great way of telling people that you are avoiding notifications as you are doing something important, or maybe just sleeping, but sometimes you don't want to give away this much information away at all. So, if you want to turn off these notifications for good, then here's how you do it on your iPhone, iPad and the Mac.
Let's start with the iOS 15 and iPadOS side of things first:
Step 1. Launch the Settings app.
Step 2. Tap on Privacy.
Step 3. Scroll down and tap on Focus.
Step 4. Turn off the Messages toggle switch from here.
When this is done, your iPhone and iPad won't tell anyone that you have notifications silenced.
Here's how you can turn the feature off on the Mac running macOS Monterey:
Step 1. Launch System Preferences.
Step 2. Click on Notifications & Focus.
Step 3. Click on the Focus tab at the top.
Step 4. Uncheck the Share Focus Status option at the bottom.
You can also uncheck the Share across devices option to make sure that your Mac doesn't broadcast the Focus status from any of your other devices either.
And just like that, everyone in your contact list will never ever know that you have notifications silenced. Now you can ignore everyone in the most covert way possible, exactly the way it should be.
For me, I would prefer it if everyone knows that I have notifications silenced. It gives out a quick message that I do not want to be disturbed. You can always bypass this restriction by simply tapping / clicking on Notify Anyway.
For more helpful guides and tutorials, head over to this section.
