This new mode allows you to select some apps on your phone that you think kill most of your time and you can block those for a while so you focus on something productive.What is Focus Mode?Focus Mode is just a more clarified version of Do Not Disturb. It stops notifications from specific apps and also blocks the app so that you cannot use it while the mode is active. So, you can not even accidentally open a distracting app when you busy at some work.
First of all, make sure your phone has a digital wellbeing app. If it still has not got it, you can download it from Play Store. Now, follow these steps to use focus mode on Android:1] Go to Settings and then Digital Wellbeing & parental controls or directly open the app from the app drawer.
How To Use Focus Mode On Android 10
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.
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:
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:
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.
The Digital Wellbeing app on Android is all about managing and tracking notifications, time spent using apps, and app permissions to avoid distractions and interruptions. It offers Dashboard, Bedtime mode, and Focus mode as ways to disconnect during certain parts of the day.
Focus mode differs from Dashboard, where you can set time limits on specific apps, and Bedtime mode, where you can toggle or schedule your phone to silence notifications and set the display to black and white.
To set a schedule for Focus mode, open the Digital Wellbeing app, tap Focus mode, and tap Set a schedule. Here, you can change its start and end times, along with which days of the week you want it to activate automatically.
Focus mode is available on all Android devices that have Digital Wellbeing and parental control settings, which is apparently limited to Android 9 and Android 10. The feature can be activated through the main device settings menu by visiting Digital Wellbeing & parental controls >> Focus mode.
To configure Focus mode for your needs, you will need to choose which apps you consider to be the most distracting. A typical use case might be workers who want to pause notifications from Gmail, Slack, and Twitter as soon as they leave the office and then reactivate them the next morning.
Focus mode would really benefit from the ability to create different modes. You could custom-build a Weekend Mode stipulating the exact times and days it should be active or create multiple modes for various use cases. For example, you might want to create a Gym Mode that blocks all apps apart from Spotify and WhatsApp, or a Cycling Mode that blocks everything other than Google Maps and Strava.
Focus mode may not offer a complete remedy to that problem, but it goes some way toward addressing the issue at an individual level. The rise of minimalist phones has been a notable trend over the past couple of years, but people rely on many of the services inherent to smartphones, which makes switching to stripped-down handsets something of a challenge. Features such as Focus mode could help address the underlying issue without requiring a major commitment.
Focus mode was originally announced at Google I/O in 2019, and most OEMs, including Samsung, have implemented the function with the Android 10 update. If If you are wondering how to use Focus mode on Samsung device effectively, then find out more.
Long-press on the Focus mode toggle, and it will take you to the Digital Wellbeing menu in the Settings app. Scroll down, and you will notice the Focus mode with a couple of built-in modes such as Work time and Me time.
Open the Settings app and navigate to Digital Wellbeing > Focus Mode > select the mode you want to remove. The following menu, tap on the three-dot menu at the upper right corner and select Delete mode.
One of the main highlights of Android 10 has to be the full-fledged implementation of the Dark mode. The Android 10 update allows users to enable Dark Theme. You can choose whether you want to enable Dark theme for your entire phone or specific apps like Gmail, Photos and Calendar. There are two clear benefits with Dark mode. Firstly, Dark theme makes it easier to use the phone at night in low light so that you can reduce eye strain. What's more, activating dark mode can also help you save some battery.
Being an Android user, you need no introduction to the kind of distraction caused by a constant dose of notifications from the installed apps, including those from Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, Instagram, among others. With the Android 10 OS update, Google offers something called focus mode, so that you can reduce the amount of distraction caused by other apps to some extent. Select any app that you find distracting. All incoming notifications for specific apps will be disabled until you turn off the Focus mode.
As we mentioned in our previous story, Android 10 software update is mainly focused on your privacy controls. Android 10 provides users with a whole new Privacy section under Settings. This way, you can find all essential and relevant privacy controls such as Web & App Activity, as well as Ad Settings in one place.
If you're impatient, Google has helpfully built in a trick to force apps to dark mode, even if they don't yet support it. You'll need to first enable the hidden Developer options menu for this (you can Google how). Then head over to Settings > System > Advanced > Developer options, scroll way down, and toggle Override force-dark to be on.
The forcing of dark mode seems to work reasonably well from what we've experienced, although in most apps doesn't give you real black, just dark grey. And it's not all smooth sailing - for example, in a lot of apps the interface does turn dark, but while you're in the app, the status bar shows black icons on a dark grey background. Such issues are probably why forcing the dark theme is a setting hidden in Developer options.
With Android 10 we get a new top-level Settings entry for Privacy because Google keeps being accused it's not focusing on that enough. So now it made it a separate item in Settings, what more could you want? Kidding aside, this menu item incorporates the new Permission Manager, which groups apps by the permissions they are granted.
The feature is software/hardware/manufacture dependent, my suggestion is that you first find a phone like Galaxy Nexus flashed with Android 4.x, then try the android.hardware.Camera.Parameters.getMaxNumFocusAreas() on it, if the return value is greater than zero then you are lucky, and can then use the setFocusAreas() to implement your "touch to focus" feature.
Android introduced the focus areas API in API level 14, however the phone manufacturers may choose not to implement it (i.e. choose to stick to their own solutions). To check if the API is supported you can call getMaxNumFocusAreasa() first, if it returns a positive integer that means the phone does implement the API and you can go on enabling the "touch focus" feature in your camera app. (The API is also one of the enablers of the "face detection" feature, when faces are recognized the camera app uses the API to let the camera do auto focus on the them.)
Designed to simplify and streamline interactions, One UI has brought a unified mobile experience to Galaxy smartphones. Since its launch, Samsung has been refining the UX, while also expanding its capabilities to help users focus on the tasks that matter. Features are further enhanced to make the experience more natural, seamless and efficient. .
With a clean and easy-to-use interface, users will have minimized pop-ups, embedded loading indicators and will only be shown the buttons they need. The new One UI features a streamlined design where notifications take up less space, so users are kept up-to-date while being able to focus on the task at hand. You stay focused while enjoying your favorite content in full screen and never miss any essential information.
The expanded One UI provides a wide range of tools to help you with your digital wellness. Focus Mode lets you pause apps temporarily for times when you need to minimize distractions and get in the zone. By tracking usage, managing screen time or enabling focus mode to help avoid distractions, users can ensure that they are being efficient.
Android 10 users can enable a dark mode to darken everything from notifications to the settings. Unlike previous dark themes built into the stock Android experience, however, it applies to all apps that support it, too.
If you look in your quick settings menu (swipe down from the top), you can also access a dark mode switch there. You may need to click on the pencil icon in the lower-left corner of the quick settings drop-down to find the new setting.
As we spotted late last month, Google is working on a scheduling feature for Focus Mode. Once this feature goes live, you'll be able to choose a start and end time as well as the days of the week during which you want Digital Wellbeing to automatically enable Focus Mode. About a minute before entering Focus Mode, Digital Wellbeing will post a notification asking if you're "ready to focus." You can either wait a minute to let Focus Mode automatically start, or you can tap on the "wait" action to postpone Focus Mode for 10 minutes. Once Focus Mode starts, the notification text updates to tell you when it'll automatically turn off. The Focus Mode Quick Setting tile also shows scheduling information in the subtext. 2ff7e9595c
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