The iPhone can prevent texting while driving, to avoid accidents
According to reports, each day, 9 people are killed and more than 1,000 are injured in crashes caused by texting while driving and other forms of distracted driving. Talking on a cell phone and using a navigation system are other common forms of distracted driving that cause car accidents among teens and adults. Texting while driving is on the rise despite efforts and recent changes in laws.
Apple, with the release of its IOS 11 (newest update for iPhone), has created a feature called “Do Not Disturb While Driving”. It can help prevent you and your family members from becoming distracted by incoming calls and texts. It can also help eliminate the temptation to make outgoing texts and calls.
How to Use the iPhone “Do Not Disturb While Driving” Feature:
Make sure to update your phone to the latest iOS system. Follow these quick steps to update: Settings > General > Software Update. Once you have updated your phone, follow the instructions to the “Do Not Disturb While Driving” feature. This is how we were able to see and use the new update. Upon driving and stopping, the phone recognized the car is in motion and showed a description of the Do Not Disturb While Driving feature. When prompted, tap “Turn On” while driving, and the Do Not Disturb While Driving mode will be activated. This new feature will then turn on automatically when your iPhone connects to your vehicle by Bluetooth or when your iPhone senses driving motion. You can also change the method your iPhone reminds you of the feature and to determine whether you would need to turn the feature on manually.
If you do not get “Do Not Disturb While Driving” prompt, you can activate it in Settings. To activate the “Do Not Disturb While Driving” mode manually: Go to Settings > Do Not Disturb > Activate (Just under the heading DO NOT DISTURB WHILE DRIVING). You can customize some of the features in Settings.
Some of the functionalities of this feature:
- Your iPhone stays silent and the screen stays dark. If someone sends you a message, they receive an automatic reply from you letting them know that you’re driving. You can customize your auto-reply message in settings, if you need to.
- For urgent messages, the sender can type the word “urgent” to make sure that you receive a notification so you can pull over to read the important message or prompt Siri to read it to you.
- iPhone will still deliver some notifications like emergency alerts, timers and alarms.
- If you use Maps to navigate, your iPhone still shows lock-screen navigation help and gives turn-by-turn instructions.
- If you’re a passenger and you try to use your iPhone while the feature is active, you must tap “I’m Not Driving”, to turn it off.
- Your iPhone will deliver phone calls using the same conditions as the standard Do Not Disturb mode. For example, you can allow calls only from your Favorites and allow calls to come through if the same person calls you twice in a row. If your iPhone connects to your car via Bluetooth, calls will come through as usual, and you can use your car’s controls to take your call if needed.
*For more information on this and for further clarification on how to use this new feature (what we think can be life-saving), visit apple.com