Simple Way to Silence Notifications, but Not Calls

[Stuntman06]

I would like to know what is the easiest way to silence notifications (mainly from email and WhatsApp), but not phone calls. My wife's phone has been disturbing me with notifications (primarily from WhatsApp) late at night when I'm trying to sleep. I've showed her how to turn off notifications in WhatsApp, but it is not a simple process to go into the settings and make the change at night and then change it back in the morning. She complains that it is too complicated.

The volume button does this, but it seem to turn off all sounds including the ringer. I would like an easy way to just turn off notifications and then back on again. Even a way to set a schedule when the notifications turn off and on would be nice. The ringer must always be turned on.

I know how to do this with one tap on my phone which is not an iPhone. I don't know an easy way to do it on an iPhone.

 

[eyoungren]

I would like to know what is the easiest way to silence notifications (mainly from email and WhatsApp), but not phone calls. My wife's phone has been disturbing me with notifications (primarily from WhatsApp) late at night when I'm trying to sleep. I've showed her how to turn off notifications in WhatsApp, but it is not a simple process to go into the settings and make the change at night and then change it back in the morning. She complains that it is too complicated.

The volume button does this, but it seem to turn off all sounds including the ringer. I would like an easy way to just turn off notifications and then back on again. Even a way to set a schedule when the notifications turn off and on would be nice. The ringer must always be turned on.

I know how to do this with one tap on my phone which is not an iPhone. I don't know an easy way to do it on an iPhone.

What you want to use is Do Not Disturb. You can schedule DND to switch on and off. It's in Settngs>Notifications>Do Not Disturb.

Your wife should put contacts that she always wants to be able to call through in her favorites, or she can assign that option to a group. There is an app on the App Store that will allow her to create groups on the phone itself. It's call Groups+. Otherwise, you have to use iTunes to create groups.

Any contact your wife assigns to either the favorites or this group will ALWAYS ignore DND and ring through.

Any other callers will be silenced. So will notifications. Alarms however, will not! DND also has the option to allow for a persistent caller that is not in the group or favorites to ring through if they make more than one call in a certain amount of time. It's an option though and you can leave it off if you like.

 

[C DM]

What you want to use is Do Not Disturb. You can schedule DND to switch on and off. It's in Settngs>Notifications>Do Not Disturb.

Your wife should put contacts that she always wants to be able to call through in her favorites, or she can assign that option to a group. There is an app on the App Store that will allow her to create groups on the phone itself. It's call Groups+. Otherwise, you have to use iTunes to create groups.

Any contact your wife assigns to either the favorites or this group will ALWAYS ignore DND and ring through.

Any other callers will be silenced. So will notifications. Alarms however, will not! DND also has the option to allow for a persistent caller that is not in the group or favorites to ring through if they make more than one call in a certain amount of time. It's an option though and you can leave it off if you like.

I believe that aside from favorites or groups there are also options to allow calls from all contacts or even everyone (so that any/all calls would go through) while in Do Not Disturb mode (at least in iOS 7).

 

[eyoungren]

I believe that aside from favorites or groups there are also options to allow calls from all contacts or even everyone (so that any/all calls would go through) while in Do Not Disturb mode (at least in iOS 7).

Yeah, that's probably iOS 7. I have that option in iOS 6, but only because I'm jailbroken and using Ringer X VIP. But, that's not an option with stock iOS 6.

 

[Stuntman06]

I believe that aside from favorites or groups there are also options to allow calls from all contacts or even everyone (so that any/all calls would go through) while in Do Not Disturb mode (at least in iOS 7).

My wife is probably still on iOS 5. She has a 4S and hasn't updated her OS. Right now she's turning down her volume at night so the notifications aren't so loud. I'll see if that works for us.

If the DND option to allow all calls through is only in iOS 7, I'll have to do an update on her phone first. My understanding is that iOS 7 looks a lot different than iOS 5. Also, how well does the 4S run iOS 7? There seems to be a lot of dissatisfaction with iOS 7 compared to other iOS versions.

 

[eyoungren]

My wife is probably still on iOS 5. She has a 4S and hasn't updated her OS. Right now she's turning down her volume at night so the notifications aren't so loud. I'll see if that works for us.

If the DND option to allow all calls through is only in iOS 7, I'll have to do an update on her phone first. My understanding is that iOS 7 looks a lot different than iOS 5. Also, how well does the 4S run iOS 7? There seems to be a lot of dissatisfaction with iOS 7 compared to other iOS versions.

DND was a feature introduced with iOS 6. It was controversial because while it blocks everything I've mentioned, it still allows alarms and will only function when your device is unlocked. DND for iOS 7 it seems is improved in the fact that you can set DND to individual contacts. I don't know if DND works under iOS 7 if the phone is locked or not.

I don't know of any jailbreak tweaks or apps that would give you what you are looking for without iOS 6, nor any apps that have this functionality for iOS 5 in the App store.. You could probably jailbreak your wife's iPhone, but without the DND support from iOS 6 it may be a moot point.

Ringer X VIP gives you DND control to the contact level and Luna, is a DND tweak that allows DND to work while your iPhone is locked. Both I assume would required iOS 6.

 

[Mrbobb]

You can always assign a "silent" ring tone to notifications, and that won't be specific to particular Apps, it will be silent to ALL notifications.

Find a "silent" m4r on the web, can make one yourself if you have the expertise and the tool, and sync it to your phone and label it as SILENT or whatever.

 

[C DM]

DND was a feature introduced with iOS 6. It was controversial because while it blocks everything I've mentioned, it still allows alarms and will only function when your device is unlocked. DND for iOS 7 it seems is improved in the fact that you can set DND to individual contacts. I don't know if DND works under iOS 7 if the phone is locked or not.

I don't know of any jailbreak tweaks or apps that would give you what you are looking for without iOS 6, nor any apps that have this functionality for iOS 5 in the App store.. You could probably jailbreak your wife's iPhone, but without the DND support from iOS 6 it may be a moot point.

Ringer X VIP gives you DND control to the contact level and Luna, is a DND tweak that allows DND to work while your iPhone is locked. Both I assume would required iOS 6.

Yes, iOS 7 also added the option of having DND apply when the phone is unlocked as well as locked (or just when it's locked).

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You can always assign a "silent" ring tone to notifications, and that won't be specific to particular Apps, it will be silent to ALL notifications.

Find a "silent" m4r on the web, can make one yourself if you have the expertise and the tool, and sync it to your phone and label it as SILENT or whatever.

How does a particular sound get assigned for different notifications from different apps?

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My wife is probably still on iOS 5. She has a 4S and hasn't updated her OS. Right now she's turning down her volume at night so the notifications aren't so loud. I'll see if that works for us.

If the DND option to allow all calls through is only in iOS 7, I'll have to do an update on her phone first. My understanding is that iOS 7 looks a lot different than iOS 5. Also, how well does the 4S run iOS 7? There seems to be a lot of dissatisfaction with iOS 7 compared to other iOS versions.

If you don't want to upgrade (mainly just for DND functionality, although there is quite a bit more that comes with iOS 7), or at least want to see if there is something else that might work before you try upgrading, perhaps something from http://www.macworld.com/article/1163020/turn_off_ios_5_notifications.html might be of some help.

 

[C DM]

I have that option in iOS 6, but only because I'm jailbroken and using Ringer X VIP. But, that's not an option with stock iOS 6.

Correct, not a stock option for DND until iOS 7.

 

[Sital]

Yeah, that's probably iOS 7. I have that option in iOS 6, but only because I'm jailbroken and using Ringer X VIP. But, that's not an option with stock iOS 6.

I have that option in iOS 6, but only because I'm jailbroken and using Ringer X VIP. But, that's not an option with stock iOS 6.

@anoksqlai: Next time, at least try changing a few of the words so you're not plagiarizing.

 

[I7guy]

My wife is probably still on iOS 5. She has a 4S and hasn't updated her OS. Right now she's turning down her volume at night so the notifications aren't so loud. I'll see if that works for us.

If the DND option to allow all calls through is only in iOS 7, I'll have to do an update on her phone first. My understanding is that iOS 7 looks a lot different than iOS 5. Also, how well does the 4S run iOS 7? There seems to be a lot of dissatisfaction with iOS 7 compared to other iOS versions.

My wife's iPhone 4 is running 7.0.4 without an issue.

 

[Stuntman06]

You can always assign a "silent" ring tone to notifications, and that won't be specific to particular Apps, it will be silent to ALL notifications.

Find a "silent" m4r on the web, can make one yourself if you have the expertise and the tool, and sync it to your phone and label it as SILENT or whatever.

I did show my wife how to change the notification on WhatsApp. It's too much trouble for my wife. I have to try to keep things as simple for her as much as possible. The most complicated thing she is willing to do with her iPhone is change the case.

My wife's iPhone 4 is running 7.0.4 without an issue.

Thanks. Right now she's OK with just turning down the volume to a low level and then turning it back to max when she wakes up in the morning. I'll see if that's OK with me over the next little while. I find I'm easily aroused when I'm trying to fall asleep. It takes me a while to fall asleep (half an hour to an hour sometimes) and hearing notifications just wakes me up again.

If that doesn't work, I'll update her phone to iOS 7 to try out the DND feature. If I can set it on a schedule, that would be nice as well.

 

[Tyler23]

I did show my wife how to change the notification on WhatsApp. It's too much trouble for my wife. I have to try to keep things as simple for her as much as possible. The most complicated thing she is willing to do with her iPhone is change the case.



Thanks. Right now she's OK with just turning down the volume to a low level and then turning it back to max when she wakes up in the morning. I'll see if that's OK with me over the next little while. I find I'm easily aroused when I'm trying to fall asleep. It takes me a while to fall asleep (half an hour to an hour sometimes) and hearing notifications just wakes me up again.

If that doesn't work, I'll update her phone to iOS 7 to try out the DND feature. If I can set it on a schedule, that would be nice as well.

You can set DND to a schedule, it's a great feature.

 

[From A Buick 8]

ios 7 runs very well on the 4S, i think your wife will like the os, it is a cleaner and more simple look IMHO