Do Not Disturb Broken Until January 8th

Apple has just announced that Do Not Disturb’s auto disabling feature will remain broken until January 8th. The feature was originally reported to be broken yesterday, January 1st. While users can still use Do Not Disturb to silence unwanted notifications, it will not automatically disable if set to do so. Apple has stated via a support page that “Do Not Disturb scheduling feature will resume normal functionality after January 7, 2013.” As of now, Do Not Disturb can only be disabled manually via the Settings app.

How do you turn it off? Simply, open Settings, then Notifications, and then select Do Not Disturb on your phone. You should have a toggle switch that lets you turn the feature on and off.

Do Not Disturb is an iOS 6 feature that disables all notifications and incoming calls when activated, though it can also be set to allow calls from selected contacts. The feature is often used at night to block notifications when a user is sleeping. Heck, I also tend to use Do Not Disturb when in class or at a meeting. Ironically enough, Do Not Disturb was featured yesterday in an Apple television ad.

Let’s hope that Apple permanently fixes this issue in a future update, preventing it from occurring next year. While a minor issue, it takes away from Apple’s “it just works” philosophy. At first we thought it was weird that Apple didn’t mention how, or why, the feature would be fixed on January 7th, but then we realized we were dealing with an Apple support note. They’re usually pretty vague.

Image Credit: hans.gerwitz

Andrew is a geek, Apple enthusiast, blogger and coffee lover from Chicago.