In older versions of Android (e.g., 4 or Jelly Bean), it was necessary to install third-party apps to enable a proper Sleep or Do Not Disturb Mode, as devices with these systems hardly had the option to manually silence the phone. Today’s cell phones already include a true “Do Not Disturb” or “Sleep Mode,” whose objective is to allow you to sleep or meditate without disturbance during the night or avoid interruptions in a meeting or important event. You also have the possibility to add exceptions in case of an emergency and deactivate it automatically after a certain time, according to a schedule or manually.
Enabling Do Not Disturb or Sleep Mode
You can find this feature in the Android system settings, specifically in the Notifications menu (the path may vary slightly from one device to another). There, you will find the “Do Not Disturb” submenu. You can activate this feature and modify its settings, as demonstrated in the screenshots above from my Samsung Galaxy A52 with Android 11.
Sleep Mode Functionality
The Sleep mode option allows you to temporarily disable the sound and vibration of calls, messages, and notifications. By default, all of this is deactivated when enabling the Do Not Disturb mode.
The only default exceptions to this sleep mode are alarms and multimedia sounds (presumably referring to cases where you voluntarily play music or video), which you can also disable if you prefer.
There’s always the chance of receiving an emergency call while Do Not Disturb or Sleep mode is active. For this, exceptions are available. As shown above, you can allow your contacts to call you or only your favorite contacts (which must be marked as such in the contact book). There is also the option to activate an exception when any number calls you more than once in less than 15 minutes.
You can also add exceptions to be notified of messages or calls from any other application while the Do Not Disturb mode is active. Unfortunately, you can’t choose notifications for a specific contact; it’s either everyone or no one. In this case, you might need to manually manage who you want to mute and who you don’t. Keep in mind that this is a permanent change that remains even when Sleep mode is enabled.
Automatic Activation
As mentioned, you can set the Do Not Disturb or Sleep mode to turn on and off automatically. The default setting is every night from 10 pm to 7 am the next day, every day. However, in the schedule option, you can choose which day and from what time to enable it, in case you have a meeting or event scheduled where you do not want to be interrupted.
Managing Notifications
Once the Sleep mode is enabled, all notifications will be hidden. They will become visible again when the specified time period for this mode expires. However, if you prefer, you can manually activate them to make them visible. Keep in mind that this might not be recommended if you want to maintain focus during the duration of the Do Not Disturb mode.
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