How to Automatically Turn Off Your Work Number After Hours on iPhone & Android

When your personal mobile number doubles as your work number, "Do Not Disturb" is useless. Turn it on at 6 PM on a Friday and you end up missing calls from your partner, your kids' school, or the takeaway driver. Leave it off and a single client text at 9 PM on a Sunday ruins your evening.

Putting a SecondSim UK 07 eSIM (£5.99/mo) alongside your main SIM fixes the hardware problem: you get a second UK mobile number and two separate WhatsApp apps on one handset. Even better, both iOS and Android have built-in automation tools that will switch your work line off at 5:30 PM on weekdays and turn it back on at 8:30 AM Monday morning without you lifting a finger.

iPhone Setup: Schedule Your Work eSIM Using Apple Shortcuts

Most iPhone users know they can manually switch off a second eSIM under Settings → Mobile Service by tapping their work line and toggling off Turn On This Line. The problem with doing it manually is that you will eventually forget to turn it back on Monday morning.

Instead, use Apple's pre-installed Shortcuts app, which has a direct toggle for dual-SIM mobile plans:

1. Open the Shortcuts app on your iPhone and tap the Automation tab at the bottom.
2. Tap + in the top right corner and choose Time of Day.
3. Set the time to 17:30, tap Weekly, and leave only Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri highlighted. Select Run Immediately at the bottom so iOS doesn't wait for you to tap a prompt.
4. Tap Next, choose New Blank Automation, and search for Toggle Mobile Plan (on phones set to US English, this action is called Turn Cellular Plan).
5. Tap the blue fields so the action reads: Turn [Off] [Work / SecondSim], then tap Done.
6. Repeat the exact same steps for 08:30 (Monday to Friday only, leaving Saturday and Sunday unselected) and set the action to: Turn [On] [Work / SecondSim].

What callers hear when your work eSIM is off: Anyone ringing your work number after 5:30 PM or over the weekend goes straight to your Vodafone UK voicemail, while your personal SIM carries on receiving calls, texts, and 5G data normally. Any SMS sent to your work number overnight is queued by the network and lands at 8:30 AM.

Android & Samsung Setup: Modes and Routines

Samsung Galaxy (One UI) and Google Pixel phones let you automate dual-SIM behaviour and silence WhatsApp Business on a recurring schedule:

1. Open Settings → Modes and Routines (or Rules on Google Pixel).
2. Add a routine named Clocked Off and set the trigger to Time Period: 17:30 to 08:30 next day (Mon–Fri) plus all day Saturday and Sunday.
3. Under Then (Actions), open Connections / SIM Manager to toggle off SIM 2 (your SecondSim eSIM), or keep the SIM active and route SIM 2 calls to voicemail while allowing SIM 1 calls through.
4. Add a second action under Notifications to mute notifications from the WhatsApp Business app during those hours, leaving your personal WhatsApp untouched.

Set an Out-of-Hours Auto-Reply in WhatsApp Business

One reason sole traders and account managers feel pressure to reply at 8 PM is worrying that a new lead will move on to a competitor if they get silence. Setting an automatic out-of-hours reply in the official WhatsApp Business app takes thirty seconds and buys you breathing room until morning:

• In WhatsApp Business, open Settings → Business Tools → Business Profile and set your actual working hours (e.g. Monday to Friday, 8:30 AM – 5:30 PM).
• Go back to Business Tools → Away Message, toggle on Send away message, and set the schedule to Outside of business hours.
• Keep the message human and specific: "Hi – thanks for getting in touch. Our office hours are Mon–Fri, 8:30am to 5:30pm. I've got your message and will come back to you first thing in the morning."