How to Turn On Location-Based Do Not Disturb on Your iPhone (Updated for iOS 13)

By Leanne Hays Updated 10/21/2019

If you haven't used Apple's Do Not Disturb feature yet, it's a great way to silence notifications from calls, texts, and apps while your iPhone is locked. With iOS 12 and later, DND is now more versatile and useful than ever before with some long-awaited upgrades, including a location-based setting. Learn how to turn on Do Not Disturb for specific places, so your device doesn't start buzzing and beeping just when you need it to be quiet.

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First, you'll need to make sure that you've enabled Location Services, or you won't be able to set Do Not Disturb for your location.

Open the Settings app.
Tap on Privacy.
Toggle on Location Services if it isn't already turned on.
Now you're ready to set Do Not Disturb for a specific location.
Once you've reached the location where you'd like DND activated, open your iPhone's Control Center by swiping down from the upper-right corner of your display if you have an iPhone X or later, or up from the bottom of the screen for earlier iPhones.
Tap and hold the Do Not Disturb icon until a menu appears.
Now tap Until I leave this location.

Now your iPhone will stay in Do Not Disturb mode until you leave the area where you activated the location-based option. You can also turn on Do Not Disturb on your Mac!

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How-To

Privacy & Security

Author Details

Leanne Hays

Leanne Hays is an SEO Content Strategist and Feature Writer at iPhone Life, and has written hundreds of in-depth how-to and troubleshooting articles. She's a former Associate Editor for iPhone Life magazine, and has written for the Iowa Source, as well as web content for education marketing. Leanne has an associate's degree in education, with a focus on curriculum development, as well as a bachelor's degree in science. She has over nine years of experience with SEO, social media management, and web development and writing. Despite years of web work, Leanne is by no means an early adapter; she's only owned a smartphone for five years, which makes her highly sympathetic to the learning curve of new iPhone owners. She enjoys making reader's lives easier and putting her education experience to work by walking them through the most practical ways to use Apple devices, step-by-step.

In off-work hours, Leanne is a mother of two, homesteader, audiobook fanatic, musician, and learning enthusiast.