Apple puts this under Focus rather than under Phone, which is why it is hard to find. Checked on iOS 18.
- Open Settings > Focus and tap the Focus you want to change. Do Not Disturb and Sleep are the two that catch most people.
- Tap People, then Allow Notifications From, and add the contacts whose calls should come through. Apple also offers groups such as Favorites here.
- On the same screen, turn on Allow Repeated Calls. That lets through two or more calls from the same person within three minutes, which is the setting that saves you when someone is trying to reach you urgently.
- Repeat for every Focus you actually use. The settings are per Focus, not global, so allowing someone in Do Not Disturb does nothing for Sleep.
Calls from your emergency contacts come through regardless of the Focus settings.
One more screen matters. Silence Unknown Callers sends any number that is not in your contacts, your recent outgoing calls or your mail straight to voicemail with no ring at all. If you are trying to let a specific service through, such as an Echo calling your phone, save its number as a contact first or this setting will silence it whatever your Focus says.
None of this affects the ringer itself. If the phone is muted with the side switch or the volume is at zero, an allowed call still arrives quietly.
How RingIt helps
RingIt does not use a phone call, so none of the settings above apply to it. The ring comes in as a critical alert, the notification type Apple reserves for things that must not be missed, and iOS plays those even when a Focus is on or the phone is muted. You grant that permission once, and only people you have invited by email and who accepted can ring that phone. It rings the phone and nothing more: no location, no map.
The context this came out of is finding your phone with Alexa.
