Setup for emergency calls while phone is on silent

[han0522]

Hello all,

I have an iPhone 3GS with the latest firmware installed.

I'm trying to figure out if there's a way to do the following:

I use my phone as an alarm clock. Everynight I place my phone in 'silent' mode with the switch on the left side of the phone. This works very well to keep from waking up everytime a new email comes in, etc, or the random call. This is also important because I occasionally work at night and sleep during the day, so keeping unimportant friend and family calls from waking me up is nice.

However, I'm trying to figure out if there's a way to have the phone, even if it is in 'silent' mode, ring with the normal ring tone if a call comes from a specific number, say a google voice number that I set up. That way if some emergency comes up, someone can get a hold of me if they really need to.

I figure since the alarm clock apps will send sound through the 'external' speaker loud enough to wake me up even while in silent mode, there ought to be a software solution to the above. I've done some google and forum searching and have not found anything.

Anyone know of a solution?

Thanks,
Chris

 

[damian]

I'd love to be able to do this as well. I just requested Apple add this feature at http://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html If you want this feature too, I suggest you do the same.

Here's what I wrote to Apple (feel free to plagiarize):

I'd love it if there were a way for me to receive emergency calls or messages when the phone is on silent. For example, I'd love to be able to receive a call or message from my wife in case of emergency, and I'd like to be able to do this while my phone is on silent at night, so I can sleep undisturbed by my phone. I've found two workarounds that work okay, but are not ideal:

1. I put a cut-off end of a pair of headphones into the headphone jack and leave the phone *not* on silent so that I can hear the phone ring if someone calls but not receive any notifications. Problem is, I want to receive only emergency calls, and only from my wife, but this solution allows all calls to make the phone ring.

2. I can give my wife my Apple ID and password. She can log into my account using Find my iPhone and send me a message there, which will make the phone sound even if it is on silent. However, there are a number of reasons why this solution is not ideal: (1) With my Apple ID and password, my wife could track my whereabouts, unbeknownst to me. I wouldn't normally worry about this, but my wife and I are separated, and this makes me uncomfortable. (2) She can message me this way, but she cannot call me (that said, I like that she can message me in case of emergency; if you add the feature I am requesting, I hope you'll make it possible to send messages as well as make calls). (3) This is an extremely slow process—logging into Find my iPhone—which is not ideal in an emergency.

The best solution I can think of is to create an app (or build the feature into (an)other app(s), such as Phone and Messages) whereby one iPhone user can call and message another iPhone user in case of emergency, even if the receiving user has the phone on silent.