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Do you use the ringer switch?

M

MattXDA

macrumors 6502
Original poster
For me, I always have my phone on silent as I have an Apple Watch, so I have no use for the ringer switch. I’d rather they removed it and replaced it with a customisable button, a headphone jack or a pepper spray ejection module.

Thoughts?
 
1. Not all iPhone users have Apple watch
2. Not all iPhone users put their iPhones solely on silent/vibrate.
The ringer switch on the iPhone imo is a genius and intuitive solution. I often see Android users fumbling with their phones to simply silent their phones (some even end up switching off their phones).
 
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Yes I use it. Quite frequently too. But given that Apple is systematically removing the hardware features that I use most (headphone jack and now possibly TouchID), it will probably be next.
 
Thoughts?

Sure…

I don't believe in paying an additional $300+ dollars for a wrist device that is essentially an LED notification light.

I do use mute. I have an Activator action attached to it that enables Do Not Disturb and DisAlarm. Activator is a jailbreak tweak that allows you to specify actions for taps, swipes and physical buttons. DisAlarm disables all alarms.

I get a truly silent device because of that. Apple on the other hand, would prefer that my alarms go off on me when the mute switch is on.
 
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sometimes accidentally.. not sure how that happens. probably while taking it out of the pants.

so for me, it would be ok if they removed it. or better yet: make it customizable. not sure what i would want to use it for though.
 
pika2000 said:
The ringer switch on the iPhone imo is a genius and intuitive solution. I often see Android users fumbling with their phones to simply silent their phones (some even end up switching off their phones).
Click to expand...
LOL!

Sorry, not laughing at you but I think genius/intuitive is a little much.

I had a 2009 HTC Touch Pro with Windows Mobile 6.1 Pro before I got an iPhone 5. It was my main phone. It had a mute switch. All I had to do was hold down the Power button for a few seconds and the phone would vibrate to tell me mute was on. Do it again and mute switched off.

The mute switch is a switch with two states - on or off. Nothing genius or intuitive about it to me.

Sorry, just my opinion.
 
I use it all the time. Its especially useful when wanting to take a photo and not wanting the shutter sound to go off. Birds will fly off. You can walk upto a seagull with the iPhone up and so long as you look into the screen and not at the birds eyes they will stay there. Flicking the silent switch is a god send. Also when walking through a group of people and you don't want them to turn around and startle others its useful to pull out phone and flick it to silent. Of course also for entering places you don't want your phone to sound. Its one of the best features of the iPhone.
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eyoungren said:
Thoughts?

Sure…

I don't believe in paying an additional $300+ dollars for a wrist device that is essentially an LED notification light.

I do use mute. I have an Activator action attached to it that enables Do Not Disturb and DisAlarm. Activator is a jailbreak tweak that allows you to specify actions for taps, swipes and physical buttons. DisAlarm disables all alarms.

I get a truly silent device because of that. Apple on the other hand, would prefer that my alarms go off on me when the mute switch is on.
Click to expand...

I have accidentally left my silent/mute switch on before so i'm thankful apple allows alarms to go off with it on mute.
 
Zxxv said:
I have accidentally left my silent/mute switch on before so i'm thankful apple allows alarms to go off with it on mute.
Click to expand...
I get that. But there are some people who set alarms for various reasons during business hours. Having one of those alarms go off in a movie theater or performance hall is not what you want.

"Well, disable your alarms then!" will be the next argument. Which is fine, but means you have to unlock the phone, open the clock app and then disable the alarms.

That's inconvenient. Especially when flipping the mute switch is very simple.

At the very least I wish Apple would allow a choice.
 
eyoungren said:
But there are some people who set alarms for various reasons during business hours. Having one of those alarms go off in a movie theater or performance hall is not what you want.
Click to expand...

Switch your iPhone off then. You would disturb people anyway if you get up to answer it ringing.
 
eyoungren said:
LOL!

Sorry, not laughing at you but I think genius/intuitive is a little much.

I had a 2009 HTC Touch Pro with Windows Mobile 6.1 Pro before I got an iPhone 5. It was my main phone. It had a mute switch. All I had to do was hold down the Power button for a few seconds and the phone would vibrate to tell me mute was on. Do it again and mute switched off.

The mute switch is a switch with two states - on or off. Nothing genius or intuitive about it to me.

Sorry, just my opinion.
Click to expand...
Yes, on or off. The ringer switch on the iPhone clearly indicated that, a switch that can be physically moved to clearly indicate on or off. That's intuitive.

Holding a button for a few seconds is not exactly intuitive. Something you are used to and know != easy for everybody else. Simply ask any random person on the road with an Android phone how they switch their phone to silent quickly.

Intuitive doesn't mean something fancy. Intuitive can be a very simple thing so users don't even think about it.
 
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Zxxv said:
Switch your iPhone off then. You would disturb people anyway if you get up to answer it ringing.
Click to expand...
No. I will stick to my jailbreak method.

But I don't see why I should have to switch my phone off just to silence an alarm.
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pika2000 said:
Yes, on or off. The ringer switch on the iPhone clearly indicated that, a switch that can be physically moved to clearly indicate on or off. That's intuitive.

Holding a button for a few seconds is not exactly intuitive. Something you are used to and know != easy for everybody else. Simply ask any random person on the road with an Android phone how they switch their phone to silent quickly.

Intuitive doesn't mean something fancy. Intuitive can be a very simple thing so users don't even think about it.
Click to expand...
OK. I'll give you intuitive. But genius? Still think that's stretching it a bit.

As far as what you describe with Android, I will agree with you. My old Touch Pro was never an Android though and I've used the iPhone since 2012 so no real experience there with how Android does it.
 
I use it regularly. It's great for meetings, both beforehand as a quick flip, and especially to turn off the ringer discreetly during a meeting if I didn't remember to do it in advance. Also at home if someone is sleeping.
 
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Phone is on silent 100% of the time. I have DND from 7pm - 6am. If the wife is away for college/work I'll use the switch to make sure if she calls me I get it, otherwise, phone is on silent 100% of the time. Family/Friends/Work all use Telegram. So, I get notifications from any device. I hardly ever use my phone as a telephone.
 
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eyoungren said:
As far as what you describe with Android, I will agree with you. My old Touch Pro was never an Android though and I've used the iPhone since 2012 so no real experience there with how Android does it.
Click to expand...
Not sure if it's due to patents or whatnot, but so far I only know OnePlus that copied the hardware switch idea.
On Android, there are (imo) too many ways:
- Pushing the down volume button until the phone vibrates. This is unintuitive due to the way Android handles volume control for media and ringtone that already confuse users. Many Android users even want the volume control to only control media, not ringtone volume.
- Holding the power button for a few seconds, and then select silent/vibrate option on the menu. Most people just gave up and turn their phones off instead.
- Toggle on the notification bar. This works (and what I use most of the time), but it requires turning your phone's screen on. On the iPhone, you can silent it while it's in your pocket.
 
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I occasionally flip it by accident and don’t realize it. Also I have silent mode set to vibrate and it never does. So when I flip the switch it goes to silent and I miss stuff. Is it not supposed to vibrate?
I prefer androids method of just ramping down the volume to nothing which is vibrate if you have it set up that way.
 
I've always liked the mute switch on iPhone. I have my phone setup so I can't change the ringer volume and it's always at max volume. If I need it to be silent I just flip the switch in my pocket. And I know when I flip it off the ringer volume will be at the loudest.
 
BigMcGuire said:
Phone is on silent 100% of the time. I have DND from 7pm - 6am. If the wife is away for college/work I'll use the switch to make sure if she calls me I get it, otherwise, phone is on silent 100% of the time. Family/Friends/Work all use Telegram. So, I get notifications from any device. I hardly ever use my phone as a telephone.
Click to expand...

The only thing I do not like about do not disturb, is it rings once for the caller, and then it goes to your voicemail. Sometimes I have people thinking that I'm ignoring their phone calls, when I'm using Do Not Disturb. I have had some ask me why I ignored there calls.
 
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Relentless Power said:
The only thing I do not like about do not disturb, is it rings once for the caller, and then it goes to your voicemail. Sometimes I have people thinking that I'm ignoring their phone calls, when I'm using Do Not Disturb. I have had some ask me why I ignored there calls.
Click to expand...

You can set Do Not Disturb to allow phone calls
 
MattXDA said:
You can set Do Not Disturb to allow phone calls
Click to expand...

I understand that. In general, I don't have any preferred contacts that I want to allow when Do Not Disturb is enabled. That's my point, therefore, whoever randomly calls doesn't know I have Do Not Disturb enabled.
 
Every single day. I like my phone loud, but I also have young children and I teach, so I’m constantly switching back and forth.
 
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