How to use Digital Wellbeing Focus Mode on Android 10

Publish date: 2023-04-24

Digital Wellbeing offers a great set of tools to curb phone addiction, and Google is rolling out a new feature in Android 10 called Focus mode. You'll be able to select the apps that usually cause a distraction, and enabling Focus mode effectively pauses them for the entire duration the mode is active. That means you won't get any notifications, and won't be able to use those specific apps.

How to enable Focus mode in Android 10

Focus mode isn't available for everyone, so you have to be on the Digital Wellbeing beta to get the feature. Sign up to become a beta tester (opens in new tab), and follow the steps below to enable the feature in Android 10:

  • Open Settings from the app drawer or home screen.
  • Scroll down to the Digital Wellbeing section.
  • Tap Digital Wellbeing & parental controls.
  • Select Focus mode.
  • Choose the apps that you want to pause.
  • Hit Turn on now to enable Focus mode.

    • Focus mode is a nifty feature, but it is tiresome to go three levels into the phone settings to enable the feature every time. Thankfully, you can just set up a tile in the notification shade. Here's how to do that:

  • Pull down on the notification shade twice.
  • Select thepencil icon on the left.
  • Scroll down to find more tiles.
  • Hold and drag the Focus mode tile to the quick settings pane.

    • When Focus mode is active, the apps that you selected will be grayed out. Any unread notifications will be cleared away, and you won't get any new notifications for the duration the mode is active. It's a great way to eliminate distractions, which I can attest to.

    I usually get constant notifications from Twitter or Relay, and while I got into the habit of enabling Do Not Disturb throughout the day to prevent getting distracted, Focus mode offers a more elegant solution. I just select the apps that I find distracting, and I no longer receive notifications from them while I'm working.

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