Can a tag turn on do not disturb?
Yes, and it is one of the few automations people are still using a year later. It survives because the tag sits where you already put the phone down, so the trigger costs nothing, and because the action is genuinely one you want repeatedly.
Why this one survives
It is short: one action, no conditions, nothing to go wrong halfway.
It is frequent: most people want quiet at predictable moments, most days.
And it is tied to a place. Sitting down at a desk, going to bed, entering a room: all of them are moments when the phone is already in your hand.
That combination is the shape of every automation that lasts, and this one has it by accident rather than by design.
Placement is the design
Put the tag where the phone lands, not on a wall you would have to reach for.
A desk mat, a bedside surface, the shelf by a door. The gesture becomes putting the phone down, which you were doing anyway.
If tapping requires a detour, the automation costs more than opening the control panel and will be abandoned.
Test it for a week before sticking it down permanently, because the right surface is usually the second one you try.
Turning it off again
This is where people get into trouble. A tag that toggles can end up out of step with reality, since the tag remembers nothing and somebody may have changed the mode by hand.
Two tags, one on and one off, are more predictable, and in practice the off tag goes where you pick the phone up rather than where you put it down.
Or let the mode end on a schedule, so no second tap is needed at all. Most platforms can set a duration rather than an open ended state.
That last option is usually the best: one tap, one action, and no state to keep in step.
Variants worth building
Quiet plus a timer, for a period of work, which ends by itself.
Quiet plus screen brightness down, for a bedside tag, which is two steps that always belong together.
Quiet plus a message to somebody, which is the only version of this that reliably fails, because sending a message frequently requires a confirmation.
And nothing conditional. A step that is right most of the time is what kills the whole routine, since undoing one thing is slower than doing all of it by hand.
Frequently asked questions
Why does this automation last when others do not?
It is one action, wanted often, at a place where the phone is already in your hand. That combination is what survives.
Should one tag toggle it on and off?
A duration is more predictable, since a toggle drifts out of step when somebody changes the mode by hand. Two tags is the other reliable option.
Where should the tag go?
Where the phone lands, so the gesture is putting it down. A tag requiring a detour costs more than the control panel.
Can it also send a message?
Frequently not silently, since sending a message often requires a confirmation. Test it before relying on it.