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pj rage

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 15, 2008
335
1
I've noticed that flicking the little 'vibrate mode' or 'silence mode' or whatever that little switch on the side of the phone is will make the ringer vibrate and stuff, but I wish it would just make everything muted. I've found that some stuff can still make noise, like game applications and stuff even when in vibrate mode.

Is there an easy way to put the phone into a mode where it will make no sounds at all, for sure? My old phone had a "vibrate only" mode where it would never make a sound, only allow vibrations, an "alarm only" mode where nothing could make noise or vibrate except the alarm, and a "no sounds" or something mode where nothing could make a sound or vibrate at all. I found them very convenient for different situations. I hate having my phone on vibrate mode and not wanting it to make any noise, but having to be careful what I open because some stuff can still make noise.
 

TEG

macrumors 604
Jan 21, 2002
6,618
165
Langley, Washington
Just manually turn down the volume from the home screen, everything should be silent.

You can also set the "vibrate only" mode to a "silence" mode.

TEG
 

pj rage

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 15, 2008
335
1
You can also set the "vibrate only" mode to a "silence" mode.
Do you mean it can achieve what I want? Total silence at the flip of the switch?

I see there is a Vibrate on/off under the "silent" menu, is that what you mean? You can make it a silent ringer instead of vibrate? But in this mode, random things still can make sounds on the phone. I'll experiment later with turning the ringer all the way down, but I wasn't sure if this would work because I thought some programs can alter the ringer volume on their own I thought, which could then cause sound(s).
 

packetjunkie

macrumors regular
Jul 15, 2008
134
0
Doesnt the little toggle on the left side above the volume accomplish this by forcing it to mute mode?
 

pj rage

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 15, 2008
335
1
Doesnt the little toggle on the left side above the volume accomplish this by forcing it to mute mode?
That's what I'm saying. That thing doesn't mute all no exceptions, there are things like games that can make noise even if that switch is flipped.

The perfect thing for me would be if when that button is showing the red dot, that it literally disables the sound board so that it is not possible to make any sounds. If that button can't do it, then it would be sweet to have a "mute all" softbutton or option in a menu that could do it. It seems that there are a few different ringer volume level settings and I think (but I'm not positive) that some applications can directly control some/all of these volume settings, such that there doesn't seem to be any "safe" way to be certain that the phone will not make sound, under any circumstance, other than to turn it off completely.

I think the little switch on the side works fine for calls and alerts, so if you aren't playing with the phone, it probably won't make noise (unless you're jailbroken and perhaps some program you have running in the background can make noise), but if you are going to be playing with the phone, I haven't found a 100% solution to the phone DEFINITELY not making noise.

Does that make sense?
 

packetjunkie

macrumors regular
Jul 15, 2008
134
0
Strange, when I flip the switch I dont get any sounds (havent tried playing a game, though). I dont get any clicks from typing or pushing the main button to go screen to screen, no alerts, nada.
 

pj rage

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 15, 2008
335
1
I think everyone is still missing the point.

There are at least two volume level controls that the iphone has (that I've found). The one that says "ringer" which is easily changed from the home screen with the volume keys. Then there is the volume I'm calling "ipod" volume which is controllable from the ipod app.

It seems that the "ring/silent" switch ONLY silences any app/sound which uses the "ringer" volume. This includes the incoming call ringer, obviously, alerts, keyboard, lock/unlock sounds and a bunch of other stuff.

As I've played around with it more, it seems that the biggest problem I'm having is that some developers choose to use the "ringer" volume control for their app, and some choose to use the "ipod" volume control. If they used the "ringer" control, such as "More Cowbell", then their program will obey the ring/silence switch and not make any sound when the switch is set to silent. If, however, they've used the "ipod" volume control (such as PhoneSaber or Pandora), their app will make noise, even when the ring/silent switch is set to silent, at whatever volume level the ipod volume was last set to. Even the ipod app itself will play your music audibly through the external speaker when the ring/silent switch is set to silent.

I guess what I am really asking / hoping for is a way to also silence the "ipod" volume control, and any other volume level controls the phone might have that I don't know about, so that when I flip the ring/silent switch to silent, it's a true silent mode. It would also be nice (and would make sense) if sound still came out of the headphone jack when in silent mode. That way you could still listen to your ipod/apps/ringer on your headphones when in silent mode.

I guess the workaround for now is to flip the ring/silent switch to silent, switch to the ipod app, turn the volume down all the way in the ipod app, then you should be good to go, unless there is another volume level I don't know about. Once the ipod volume is all the way down and the ring/silent switch is set to silent, one thing I've found that DOES still make noise is when you are setting the ringer volume via the "Sounds" menu in the Settings app.

Get what I mean now?
 

pj rage

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 15, 2008
335
1
Here are a couple blog entries discussing the completely messed up mute switch handling on the iPhone 2.0 software:

http://scripts.mit.edu/~birge/blog/how-to-lose-your-job-with-an-iphone-3g/

http://scripts.mit.edu/~birge/blog/iphone-3g-initial-impressions/
Glad I'm not the only one. For now I'm just flipping the switch, going into phonesaber and lowering the volume all the way without taking out a saber. If you just enter the ipod app and try the volume, it's still on ringer, until you play a song, so that option doesn't work great either.

Kind of a pain, but at least now I understand it better so I don't get blindsided thinking I'm safe. Hopefully they fix it for 2.1.
 

08mxkfx

macrumors regular
Oct 4, 2007
222
0
Yeah i was in school today and had my switch on silent and i opened Tetris and it started making the sounds and everyone was looking at me. I thought that when that is flipped it doesnt make any sounds but apparently not.....
 

sekz

macrumors regular
Jun 8, 2008
105
0
I found a way all u gotta do is go 2 silent mode and turn down your volume all the way then click your sleep button and after that double clock the home button and turn your volume down
 

Rybold

macrumors 6502a
Jun 23, 2008
960
0
California, USA
Yeah i was in school today and had my switch on silent and i opened Tetris and it started making the sounds and everyone was looking at me. I thought that when that is flipped it doesnt make any sounds but apparently not.....

In my opinion .... APPLE NEEDS TO FIX THIS !!! Software fix!

.


And, is there a way to turn the camera clicks to Always Off ? I hate it when I don't have my phone on vibrate and I go to use the camera and it makes a "click" that everyone in the room can hear!
 

icewing

macrumors 6502
Jun 19, 2008
375
0
St Louis
Not sure it's Apple's fault

I understand about the two different volume settings, but that sounds like the developer's fault.

Personally, I'm glad the Alarm works even though the switch has been set to silent - it's saved me a few times when I left the switch off before going to bed! I guess that's why they have the Alarm ignore the silent switch.

Of course, in some future firmware release, I'm sure there would be a lot of happy people if there was an option for the Alarm to pay attention to or ignore the silent switch...
 

mizelly41

macrumors regular
Sep 12, 2007
153
7
Illinois
I understand exactly what the OP is talking about. I have the same problem with games as well.
I found a way all u gotta do is go 2 silent mode and turn down your volume all the way then click your sleep button and after that double clock the home button and turn your volume down
I just tried this and it does work. Thanks.
It still seems like Apple should change it where when the phone is in silent mode that the games should be in silent mode as well.
 

buhusky

macrumors newbie
Jan 6, 2009
5
0
Personally, I'm glad the Alarm works even though the switch has been set to silent - it's saved me a few times when I left the switch off before going to bed! I guess that's why they have the Alarm ignore the silent switch.

I got tired of either forgetting to turn on the mute switch or turn it off so I searched the internet and found a great little iphone adapter that mutes all sounds/notifications either docked or not. It's called Silent Night. I use it in my dock and all I do is dock my phone and all sounds are muted except calls and alarms (for those that still want them). Personally, I still need calls and alarms to work but everything else could be muted. I haven't been woken up at night by email or sms since I bought this thing. It's great. I got the Silent Night at the following website:

http://www.thesilentnight.com

Shipping was super fast too. Best purchased I made for my iphone in a long time.
 

johnsawyercjs

macrumors regular
Feb 27, 2007
117
36
Something that works

Another approach that's always guaranteed to silence the iPhone, is to insert a headphone plug into the iPhone's headphone jack. You can get one from a cheap or non-working pair of headphones--just cut it free from its wires.
 

Lmillo

macrumors newbie
May 24, 2012
1
0
I'm sure you have already figure out how to do this... But if you haven't, there is a simple way. Go into settings
Click "sounds"
Where it says vibrate, slide the bar over to off.
Then on the side of the phone where the volume up down buttons are, turn it as far down as it will go.
Next, turn the silence switch on the side of the phone to silent. (slide it towards the back)
On the top of the phone, Click the button and make the phone go to sleep.
Double-click the home button on the front of the phone, then turn the volume all the way down.
Now you are good to go, and whatsoever, your phone cannot make any noises.
 

Jeremy594

macrumors newbie
Jan 15, 2013
1
0
http://www.ehow.com/how_5966092_do-silence-iphone-3g_.html


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