Set your phone so only chosen people and urgent repeat callers ring during appointments, and everyone else gets a booking text, with no AI receptionist.
Who it is for
Owners who answer their own phone but cannot stop mid-service for every call.
Tools
iPhone Focus (or Android Do Not Disturb exceptions)
ChatGPT or Claude to sort your contact list
Your missed-call text
Steps
Export or list the people who call you most and why.
Use the prompt below to sort them into ring-through and can-wait.
Create a Work Focus. Apple says you can allow calls from specific people and allow repeated calls, two or more calls from the same person within 3 minutes.
Add your ring-through list and turn on repeated calls, so a real emergency gets through on the second try.
Schedule the Focus for your working hours.
Pair it with a missed-call booking text so everyone else still gets an answer.
The prompt
Help me decide who can interrupt me during appointments. Use only my list.
People who call me, with why they usually call: [LIST]
Sort them into:
1. RING THROUGH: family, emergencies, staff, and clients whose calls usually cannot wait
2. CAN WAIT: everyone else
Give a one-line reason for each. Then write a 1-sentence voicemail greeting that tells urgent callers to call twice.
Tips
Tell your family and staff the call-twice rule.
Keep the ring-through list short or it stops working.