---
title: "Apple Announces ‘Do Not Disturb While Driving’ for iOS During WWDC 2017"
description: "One small victory in the war against distracted driving."
date: "2017-06-05"
modified: "2017-06-06"
authors:
  - name: "Kyle Cheromcha"
    job_title: "Editor-in-Chief"
    link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/kyle-cheromcha"
url: "https://www.thedrive.com/tech/11152/apple-announces-do-not-disturb-while-driving-for-ios-during-wwdc-2017"
categories:
  - "Car Tech"
  - "News"
tags:
  - "Apple"
  - "distracted driving"
  - "iPhone"
  - "wwdc"
---

# Apple Announces ‘Do Not Disturb While Driving’ for iOS During WWDC 2017

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/images-by-url-td/content/2017/06/do-not-disturb.jpg>)
*\<em\>www.thedrive.com</em>*

Apple launched a big ol' salvo at [distracted driving](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/7021/the-unimaginable-grief-of-distracted-driving-deaths>) during their annual Worldwide Developers Conference today, revealing an upcoming "Do Not Disturb While Driving" feature for iOS aimed at keeping people's hands on the wheel and eyes off their Messages.

With the nation under siege by a legion of people who still think it's okay to text while driving, Apple has decided to get proactive with their new feature. "Do Not Disturb While Driving" will automatically come on if you connect your iPhone via Bluetooth to your vehicle. And if your car is mercifully infotainment-free, your phone will use Wi-Fi to triangulate your speed and position to determine when you're in motion. (No word on what happens if you're out in the boonies and there are no Wi-Fi signals to triangulate from.)

Either way, "Do Not Disturb While Driving" will black out your phone's screen, silence notifications, and enable an auto-response to anyone who texts you while you're driving. The auto-response will also give the sender an option to reply with the word "urgent" to push their original text through to you in case of an emergency.

If you want to override the feature, you'll have to tap through an extra notification reminding you that your attention should probably be elsewhere, but it's still possible if you're intent on being a menace to society. [But seriously, don't.](<https://www.thedrive.com/article/9615/distracted-driving-is-a-symptom-of-our-dangerous-addiction-to-garbage>)

https://twitter.com/_/status/871794096976822272

## Author
Overseeing an expert staff of writers and editors from his lair in Los Angeles, Kyle shapes The Drive’s singular approach to covering the automotive industry and car culture. He’s been with the site as a writer since 2017, taking over as editor in 2019. On a daily basis, Kyle is responsible for directing The Drive's editorial news and car review content strategies, setting special coverage priorities, managing complex reporting projects, and ensuring what you read on the page meets our high internal standards for quality and trustworthiness. He is also the executive producer of The Drive's YouTube channel, which was relaunched in February 2024 to great acclaim and has accumulated over 14M new views in its first year back on the scene. He hosts a biweekly series on the channel where he breaks down fascinating and complicated stories from the automotive world.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/kylecheromcha.bsky.social>)  
[Instagram](<https://www.instagram.com/kylecheromcha>)  
[LinkedIn](<https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyle-cheromcha-1550248a/>)