By RAM Tracking on 21 Sep 2017

With all the hype in the last week or so around the release of the iPhone 8 and iPhone X, a lot of us may have missed the fact that with the new iPhone models comes the new software update of iOS11.

We’ve done some of our own research and found there’s a whole range of new features now available to iPhone users across the continents. However, the one which stood out to us at RAM Tracking is the ‘Do Not Disturb While Driving’ feature. With driver safety playing a critical role in the development of the RAM Tracking system we felt we’d take a further look into it.
 

So, how does this actually work? When you begin driving, your iPhone will now be able to sense that you are on the move and as a result will prevent any notifications coming through to your phone – texts, emails, phone and calls. This new mode basically turns off your iPhone – without actually turning it off.
 

The iPhone screen will remain off for the duration it is set to ‘Do Not Disturb While Driving’ until you have disabled the feature, or told Siri that you are a passenger. The new feature can, like most things, be customised, in order to allow calls and texts from your favourite contacts to notify you if you are driving, however the person trying to get in touch will need to follow up their text with the word ‘urgent’ in order for them to get through to you.
 

Apple has also allowed you to set this feature to reply to your contacts with an automated message to notify them you are driving and can’t speak, or similar to the above - the person can follow up their text with the word ‘urgent’ in order to pass through the notification barrier and contact you.

How to turn on Do Not Disturb While Driving mode

1. Open your settings

2. Click on ‘Do Not Disturb’

3. Click ‘Activate’ underneath the Do Not Disturb While Driving option

4. You can then choose whether you want your iPhone to manually enter the Do Not Disturb mode, so you would need to click it on when you enter your vehicle, or if you want it to automatically detect when you’re driving through its motion sensors.

There is also another option where you can enable the ‘Do Not Disturb’ when connected your car’s Bluetooth, so if you’re lucky enough to have a new(ish) car you can enjoy this cool feature!

5. Next – you need to scroll down and you can then change the auto-reply message that will be sent to the people who text or ring you when you’re driving. We really recommend you only ask people to contact you if it really is an emergency, the latest video of ‘funny cats’ can wait…

6. This auto-reply message - by default - will then only be sent to those contacts that are Favourited in your iPhone. If you wish you can actually edit this so you will get notifications from either your Recent contacts or All contacts (probably not wise!) – or obviously no one at all, if you want to be paying full concentration to your driving – like you should be!

At RAM Tracking we focus heavily on road user safety, many features of our vehicle tracking system are designed to help to contribute to reduce the number of road accidents caused by those drivers who are distracted by their phones. We’ve also found that whilst in this mode Siri is constrained to voice only—again another great feature that’s going to prevent accidents in the future due to driver distraction, making the roads a safer place us all. Good going Apple!
 

For more information on we can help driver safety in your company vehicles please call one of our friendly team on 0330 100 3622 or email us at info@ramtracking.com.