In a new Workspace Updates blog post, Google revealed that iOS users can now specify which Gmail and Chat notifications can break through Apple’s built-in “Focus Mode” and push them during periods of time. where they turned it on to limit their screen time.
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Focus Mode saves you from having to sacrifice downtime for deep productivity or your personal tech disconnect slots like family time by stopping all notifications from flooding your lock screen and status bar. Until now, however, Gmail and Chat were also blocked in their entirety. Now you’ll have more granular control to avoid missing vital interactions and connection opportunities from your contacts.
Both Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains will see a phased rollout for this update. This means that starting yesterday, April 15, 2022, you are looking at a two-week period in which this could appear for you. This goes for all Workspace customers, as well as those with legacy G Suite Basic and Business licenses.
Oh, and yes, if you have a personal Google account, you’ll get this update on iOS too! It’s great to see more personal account updates slipping in with Workspace updates, and I hope that trend continues. Let me know in the comments if you use Focus Mode on iOS and whether or not you want to add additional controls to manage interactions with the relationships that matter to you.