Over the last decade, phones have primarily been used for making and receiving calls and sending messages. However, that purpose has now evolved with the widespread use of smartphones.
As technology continues to advance at a rapid pace, it can be difficult to distinguish useful notifications from unnecessary distractions. You might want to take some time away from your smartphone in order to avoid information overload. One way to do this is by using the Silent Mode or DND feature on your iPhone. Although both serve the same purpose, there are times when you may wish to choose one over the other.
Silent Mode on iPhone
The basic feature that you must be familiar with is silent mode. It mutes our silences the notifications, putting your phone on silent. Notifications can come from a phone call, a message, chat apps, email, social apps, and so on. Notifications of any kind are silenced. The device screen, on the other hand, will light up whenever you receive a notification. The notification banners will also appear, but the tone will be muffled.
In most cases, your iPhone will vibrate while in silent mode, but you can turn it off by going to Settings > Sound & Haptics. Turn off the Vibrate on the Silent toggle.
Do Not Disturb Mode on iPhone
DND mode is a specialized form of silent mode. It not only can silence notifications, but it also has special features that set it apart from before. In addition to muting notifications and not vibrating, when you receive an alert when DND mode is on, the screen stays dark and nothing appears.
When you enable DND, you will no longer be able to see or hear incoming alerts. However, if you check your notification panel or lock screen, you will see that all notifications received during the DND period are happily waiting for you to act on them. Essentially, if you enable DND mode, you will not be interrupted from your current task.
When it comes to do not disturb mode features, you can configure DND to allow calls from specific contacts. It can be used to silence everyone except those on your Favorites list. You can even program DND to activate and deactivate automatically at predefined intervals. Surprisingly, you get a Repeated call setting, which allows you to hear a second call from the same person within three minutes. If your phone is set to do not disturb mode, it comes in handy in an emergency. All of these options can be found under Settings > Do Not Disturb.
The Difference Between Do Not Disturb Mode and Silent Mode
If you’re still confused about what happens to your phone’s most important functions – messages, calls, notifications, and data – here are your answers.
Messages, calls, and notifications from other apps will be received normally in both silent and do not disturb mode. However, you will not be notified if you are in silent or DND mode. When in DND mode, you can make exceptions. Both modes allow you to use your phone as usual. You can still use all of the apps and data contained within them. In both modes, you can even listen to music. To put it simply, do not disturb mode is a supercharged version of silent mode.
