How to Call Someone with Do Not Disturb (DND) Mode Activated?

Do Not Disturb Mode is a telephony feature that silences calls, alerts, and notifications on your phone. However, your phone still receives incoming calls, text messages, and other notifications but does not vibrate or ring.

Depending on your device settings, you can decide which notifications to block or which ones to allow. For instance, you can allow calls only from specific contacts or enable alerts from certain apps only.

A DND feature is particularly beneficial when you want to minimize distractions, such as during meetings, studying, or sleeping at night.

Many people put their phones on DND mode to avoid distractions when they are doing important work or need rest.
 

• Improve Focus and Productivity: When your phone is on DND, you can focus on any task without interruptions. This increases efficiency, faster task completion, and better work quality.
• Maintain Privacy: Activating the DND mode prevents interruption during your personal time.
• To Reduce Anxiety and Stress: Excessive notifications can be overwhelming. Enabling DND mode can reduce stress by limiting digital interruptions.
• Manage Work-Life Balance: By silencing work-related notifications outside of office hours, you can create boundaries between your professional and personal lives.

You can get past Do Not Disturb when calling someone by using emergency bypass settings on your phone, calling repeatedly, or using third-party apps and different numbers.

When your phone is in DND mode, emergency bypass allows you to get notifications of important calls or messages from certain contacts. However, all other notifications are silenced.

This is an effective way to receive critical alerts while reducing other distractions. However, your receiver must set this setting up in advance to get your calls and texts to go through.

Emergency Bypass On Android

Here’s how to configure an emergency bypass on Android to call someone on DND:

Step 1: Go to your phone’s Settings.
Step 2: Tap on Sound & Vibration.
Step 3: Select Do Not Disturb.
Step 4: Tap on “Calls and Messages” or a similar icon to allow the specific number to reach through.
Step 5: Click on the “Add Contacts” icon.
Step 6: Select your number and tap on “Done”

Emergency Bypass On iPhone

You can configure an emergency bypass from Contacts apps, Health app, and Settings to call someone who is on a DND iPhone​.

Bypass via Contacts:

Step 1: Open the Contacts app.
Step 2: Select the contact you want to allow to bypass DND mode.
Step 3: Tap Edit in the top-right corner.
Step 4: Tap Ringtone or Text Tone (depending on whether you want calls, texts, or both to bypass).
Step 5: Turn on Emergency Bypass.
Step 6: Tap Done to save the changes.

Bypass via Health:

Step 1: Open the Health app on your iPhone.
Step 2: Tap your profile picture in the top-right corner.
Step 3: Click on “Get Started” and enter your information.
Step 4: Tap Add Emergency Contact and select a contact.
Step 5: Tap Done to save the changes.

Bypass via Settings:

Step 1: Goto your Phone Settings > Focus > Do Not Disturb.
Step 2: Under the “Allow Notifications” section, click on “People”
Step 3: Select “Allow Notification From”.
Step 4: Click on the “Add People” icon.
Step 5: Select the contacts you want to allow the calls from.
Step 6: Tap on “Done”

Messaging apps like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Telegram are popular for texting and calling apps over the internet.

These apps can be useful if the receivers make the phone unreachable to avoid unwanted calls on their number but allow notifications from other apps. So, call them on social media apps if your recipient’s primary number is in DND mode.

Many smartphones have a feature that if the same number calls again within a short timeframe, the second call will ring through, even if DND is on. So, calling multiple times (usually under 3-15 minutes) may get past the do not disturb feature when calling someone.

If you have a secondary or a virtual phone number, try calling from that number. This could bypass the DND setting, especially if they have not blocked unknown or private numbers.

When the phone is on DND mode, the crescent moon icon appears on the screen, your calls usually go straight to voicemail, and your texts receive an instant reply stating the number is unavailable.

Most smartphones display a moon-like icon in the status bar when DND mode is active:

• iPhone (iOS): A crescent moon icon appears in the top status bar.
• Android: The icon varies by manufacturer and version, but it is usually a crescent moon or a bell with a line through it in the status bar.

If you suspect someone has put their phone in DND mode, call them. If their calls go straight to voicemail, their phone might be in DND mode.

However, if you call repeatedly within three minutes, the call may go through, as some DND settings allow a second call within three minutes to bypass DND mode.

When you send a text message to someone whose iPhone is in Do Not Disturb mode, you typically receive an automatic reply saying that the person is currently unavailable.

Furthermore, when DND mode is enabled, it shows the “Silenced Notification” sign in the recipient device. If not, the receiver gets the message ordinarily.

DND mode is useful when looking to avoid unnecessary distractions. However, there may be a situation when you need to contact someone instantly.

Some devices allow certain contacts to bypass DND settings. In some cases, calling repeatedly can also help. However, when calling someone who is on DND, it’s important to respect their privacy. So, use the alternative ways during the emergency only. Otherwise, waiting for a more appropriate time to call is the best approach.

No, when Do Not Disturb is enabled, your phone will not ring unless you have allowed exceptions, such as calls from specific contacts or repeated calls.

Yes, calls will generally go to voicemail when Do Not Disturb is enabled.

Yes, on both Android and iPhone, you can set up "Do Not Disturb" mode to silence notifications from a specific contact.

Yes, favorites can ring when your device is in Do Not Disturb mode, but you need to enable the option. To do so, go to Settings >Focus > Do Not Disturb> People > Calls > Select Favourites.