Can I do this really complex thing with iPhone notifications?

January 4, 2019 11:28 AM

I'd like my iPhone to ring when a specific list of contacts call me, but only when my Apple Watch is plugged into its charger. I do not want to have to remember to manually switch silent/Do Not Disturb on and off. Is this possible?

I have an iPhone 6 and a Series 1 Apple Watch.

Here's what I want in more detail:
1) During the day, when I'm wearing my Apple Watch, my phone should be completely silent. I should only get haptic notifications on my Apple Watch for all calls, texts, emails, and app notifications.
2) When I take off my Apple Watch to go to bed, my iPhone remains completely silent unless someone from a specific list of contacts calls me. (This list is basically identical to my Favorites.)
3) This setting automatically turns on when I plug in my Apple Watch. The setting automatically turns off when I unplug my Apple Watch.

If there are apps or devices (iHome?) that will help me with this, please let me know! That said, I will absolutely not jailbreak my phone.

posted by capricorn to Technology (5 answers total)

1. Not sure this is possible. If you turn on Do Not Disturb on your phone, that will also activate it on your watch.
2. With Do Not Disturb enabled (which you can put on a schedule so you don't have to manually turn it on, alerts will be disabled except if they're from people in your Favorites.
3. When you attach the charging cable to your watch, the watch stops getting any notifications because you're not signed in on the watch, so "X only happens on my phone when I start charging my watch" is kind of the default behavior.
posted by emelenjr at 11:51 AM on January 4, 2019

Response by poster: With Do Not Disturb enabled (which you can put on a schedule so you don't have to manually turn it on, alerts will be disabled except if they're from people in your Favorites.

The problem with this approach is that I'd also have to remember to manually switch my phone off silent when I enable DND, which I don't want to do.
posted by capricorn at 12:59 PM on January 4, 2019

Ah, not so! On a per-contact basis, you can enable Emergency Bypass. Even if your phone is set to silent, it will ring or play the new message alert sound for those users.
posted by emelenjr at 2:30 PM on January 4, 2019 [1 favorite]

If your phone is/can run IOS 12 you should look into setting up some Siri shortcuts. A special phrase to Siri every time you charge your watch should be able to quickly do what you want and a second phrase for the other prefered alert mode on your phone when you are done and put the watch back on.
posted by zenon at 11:22 PM on January 4, 2019 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Ooh, interesting! So I guess my question is now "can I automatically enable/disable Emergency Bypass based on a schedule or plugging in Apple Watch?" Because yes, the set of contacts I'd use it for will definitely call me in non-emergency situations.
posted by capricorn at 8:17 AM on January 5, 2019