Here Are Some Workarounds for Apple’s Glitchy Driving Focus

The Apple Focus function is a fantastic way to coordinate all of your Apple devices with your current task. On the one hand, a Work Focus can disable pointless notifications on your iPhone, iPad, Mac, and other devices if you're at work. On the other hand, even as you switch between your tech, a Personal Focus will make sure that none of your work communications get through until the next business day. But the Driving Focus is distinct. Apple created Driving Focus to be automatic by default, unlike other Focuses. Your iPhone goes into action if it detects that you are driving in an effort to keep you focused on the road and avoid being distracted by texts and notifications. It's advantageous, but it's a little damaged. The iPhone's sensitivity for what it interprets as "driving" appears to be a little too strong, which results in the Focus turning on even when you aren't in a car or moving at all.

The problem with Apple's Driving Focus

A Reddit user complained in a post that even when their iPhone is stationary on a desk and their setting for Driving Focus is to turn on automatically when the iPhone senses motion, the Focus still activates. In addition, many people have experienced the same issue. Furthermore, the problem here isn't only that you'll miss iPhone alerts. By default, focus affects all connected and compatible Apple devices. Thus, this implies that if the feature is enabled on your iPhone, it is likewise enabled on your iPad and Mac. Besides, it's hardly a productivity trick to watch "Driving" warnings turn on and off all day if you use that Mac for work. Moreover, it's unclear why the Driving Focus bug exists. Additionally, this is obviously not the same as when driving takes over when you're a passenger in a car or when using a mode of transportation that you aren't in control of. Also, Apple hasn't patched it yet.

How to prevent the feature from activating while not driving

Fortunately, there are a few ways to fix the issue even if we may not know what caused it. Stopping your Driving Focus from automatically activating should be your first line of defense. For that, go to Settings > Focus > Driving and press While Driving under Turn On Automatically. Additionally, you have an option here. If your car has Bluetooth, you can select "When Connected to Car Bluetooth" to have your iPhone pair with your car and instantly turn on Driving Focus. "Activate With CarPlay" accomplishes a similar feat if your vehicle is CarPlay-compatible. Your Driving Focus is ready to use as soon as your iPhone connects to CarPlay. However, if your car doesn't have Bluetooth or CarPlay, try "Manually." Even though you'll need to remember to activate your Driving Focus each time you drive, you won't have to deal with driving alerts all day. In addition, you could potentially take it a step further and completely eliminate your Driving Focus, but it isn't wise to do that. The reason is that even if it's a little glitchy, it's a fantastic safety feature. The second choice, other than that, is to turn off "Share Across Devices" in the Focus settings menu. In this manner, other devices, such as your Mac, won't be impacted if your iPhone malfunctions and accidentally turn on Driving while you're not actually driving. But that reveals a weakness in the company's Focus feature, particularly with regard to Driving - Why doesn't "Share Across Devices" have a focus? Why can't I turn off sharing for the Driving Focus while keeping it enabled for the Work and Personal Focuses? After all, I can't access my Mac or iPad when I'm driving, so why should I worry if those devices' alerts are disabled as well?

Bottom line

Apple needs to take two actions from this point forward. They must first fix the bug in iOS 16.2. Second, they must include "Share Across Devices" per Focus. But, we'll have to employ these workarounds up until then to complete any tasks.