With iOS Concentration modes, it is possible to display a small emoji right next to the clock on your device. Here’s how.
iOS may not be as customizable asAndroid, but the difference is no longer as great as it once was. Today, for example, you can personalize your lock screen, change the icons of your apps and even add a small digital animal to the Dynamic Island. If you’re looking for another little customization tip, here’s one: you can add an emoji to the menu bar right next to the time.
For this, it is necessary to exploit a small flaw in the Focus feature from Apple, like pictured here by content creator techhackguy on TikTok. As you may already know, Concentration lets you create custom “Do Not Disturb” modes that block specific apps and notifications at certain times of the day. For example, you can create a Work Focus mode that blocks incoming notifications from apps or contacts that aren’t useful for your work and removes home screen pages that contain unnecessary apps while you work.
One of the cool features is assigning an emoji to each mode. For example, you can opt for a bed emoji for Sleep Concentration mode, a briefcase for Work mode, a smiley for Personal mode, etc. This emoji appears in the upper left corner of your screen. iPhoneletting you know, visually, that you are in a Focus mode and especially in which you are.
The tip of the day is this: you can set a Focus mode that doesn’t block any notifications or apps. Which does nothing, then, other than add a little emoji next to your phone’s clock. It’s totally unnecessary, but it can allow you to personalize your device.
To set up your emoji, go to Settings > Focus and tap + in the top right corner then choose Customize. Give a name and choose a color (which does not affect the displayed emoji) and finally select your emoji. Unfortunately, you will have to settle for the 47 emoji offered by Apple. Tap on the one you are interested in and on “Next”.
Tap on “Customize Focus” and voila. To make the emoji appear, go to the Control Center, press and hold Focus. Choose your new Focus and you’ll see your emoji next to the clock. Concentration mode does not block any notifications or apps, so you can use your device as normal.
By default, Concentrations are synced with all compatible Apple devices, so you should see this emoji on your iPad and Macs connected. If you don’t want such behavior, you can disable “Share status between devices” on the main Focus settings page. Be careful though, by doing so, your other devices will not automatically launch this Focus mode unless you re-enable sharing. You might also want to disable the Focus Status for this Focus. Otherwise, you will tell your friends that you have blocked notifications, which is not (necessarily) the case here.
