Sacrament Meeting; Sacredness and your Phone Can Coexist

Phones going off in church meetings is disruptive but it doesn’t need to be. The answer is not turning the phone off, but in using automation.

Our mobile phones and tablets are indeed a blessing and enable us to do the Lord’s work. However, they can be a nuisance at times; for example, during a Sacrament meeting, it vibrates, rings, or make a short sound. The answer to the problem is to turn the device off, but this is not without consequences.

One concern is we can forget to turn them back one and later miss essential messages or emergency calls from family and friends.

Turning the phone off is not an option for some people. They need to keep their device on because their job requires them to be on call, or they have someone at home who is sick, and they want to keep in contact in case they are needed.

There is another option. Instead of turning the device off, it can be put on “Do Not Disturb. (DND)” This will prevent calls and messages from coming through except for those contacts that have been designated as “Favorites.”

This option has as one inherit issue; the human factor. We tend to forget to set the phone on DND, and most of the time, forget to turn DND off.

The answer is automation. Automation can overcome a poor memory and is easy to create.

Automation is triggered by an event such as time of day, an alarm, arriving or leaving a location, or a change in settings.

Once the trigger is made, actions you have listed activate.

Here is an example:

• When you enter the church, your phone recognizes the address
• The phone then automatically goes into DND mode.
• When you leave the building, the DND mode is automatically turned off.

All of this is done without you having to think about it.

Apple Devices

Your Apple device has automation baked into the system. Generating automation is easy. Here is how to set up the scenario above.

• Go to the Shortcut app.
• Tap on Automation at the bottom of the screen.
• Tap on + in the upper-right corner.
• Tap Create Personal Automation.
• Tap on Arrive.
• Tap on Choose.
• Enter the address of your Ward.
• Under Current Location is the address the system found. If it is the correct address, tap on the address and then tap on Done.
• You can then adjust the Time Range to specific hours, or leave it at Any Time.
• Tap on Next.
• Tap on Add an Action.
• Type Focus in the search field.
• Tap on Set Focus
• At the top is “Turn Do Not Disturb Off.” Tap on “On” then tap on until “Turned Off.” Now you can select how long your phone will be in “Do Not Disturb.”
• Tap on one of the options that best meets your needs. For example, a set time, or when you leave the building.
• Tap on Next, then tap on Done.

That’s it! Next time you enter the church, the above events will trigger.

In the Fall, iOS and iPadOS 16 will be available. This update will expand on using automation.

For example, I am running the beta. On Sunday at 6 am. My phone goes into Sunday Mode. I picture of Christ is the wallpaper for the Lock Screen, and my Home Screen only shows that apps I would use on a normal Sunday. At 11 pm, everything switches back to normal.

Android

Because there are so many Android phones, google “focus mode for name of your phone” to find an article specific to your phone. Here is an article for the Samsung Galaxy.