Why does iOS force me to choose between interrupted sleep, or no emergency calls?

alexjholland

alexjholland

macrumors 6502a
Whilst iOS's apparent absence of a Nokia-style 'profile' switcher to change your set of notification tones/volume has annoyed me for a while, last night it came to a serious head.

I'm a light sleeper. At night time, I don't fancy getting woken by any of the countless emails to either my personal or work email (I have clients from around the world, so can expect them 24/7), so I put my iPhone 4 on silent.

Last night my little sister thought she was being followed home; tried to call me for help; but I was asleep and couldn't hear her ring. Fortunately she was ok.

Apple: Do I really have to choose between not being able to sleep for constant email notifications; or my sister potentially being raped every night when I go to bed?

Of course the other solution is going through the menus and fiddling around with my email/text notifications every night. Hardly the 'sleek', 'efficient' OS Apple would like to think iOS is.

Where is the quick profile switch option? Ancient Nokias do this no problem! I had a 'night' profile, which turned of all notifications - but kept my phone-call ring.

Apple, this is an absolutely appalling, indefensible omission.

I wish I could shake your new CEO to tell him!
 
IrishVixen said:
Not everyone has a landline anymore. Many people don't think it's worth the expense of having more than one phone bill.
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dunno what it's like over there, but it's not massively expensive to have a landline here, even more so when you have it set for incoming calls only. they're part of the tv/internet packages in the country, so it's no extra cost mostly. everyone i know still has a landline.
 
did you know that even if you don't have phone service in your landline you can still make 911 calls? It's free and don't have to pay any service provider.
 
I don't have a landline at my place; the same goes for an increasing number of people my age that I know. And yes, there is 911 - but that's no excuse for this dreadful, indefensible omission!

And yes, I am probably going to tell Apple..

----------

Right, just messaged them on the feedback form with the title 'Your lack of profile settings nearly got my sister raped' - hopefully that will make them think twice..

In the mean time, looks like I have to go all the way into my settings and turn all my notifications off and on every single time I fancy getting some sleep. Great.
 
Apple probably believes that profiles would be to "complex", and therefor confusing, for people. They value simplicity above all else.

With that said, I would appreciate this feature too.
 
hey just wondering... why didn't she call 911 directly instead of calling you first? That would be faster then she calling you and then you calling 911. Just doesn't make sense.
 
well personally i have no issue sleeping with notifications going off. they're not that bad that they wake me, but if someone calls me, that will. my sms and email tones are short and simple that whilst sleeping, they're not disturbing. I'm a light sleeper as well so dunno why it's such an issue. my iPhone sits on the bedside table, so it's a couple of feet from my head.
 
She called me because I was 20 metres away; am a 13 stone boxer and have a large combat knife. The nearest Police are 10 miles away and not known for their speed or efficiency..

Fortunately she's fine, but it does highlight how silly it is that I cannot easily choose to turn off my message notifications whilst keeping my ringtone available.

I had been concerned about someone needing to get in contact with me before when switching it onto silent, but thought I was being paranoid - apparently not!
 
alexjholland said:
Right, just messaged them on the feedback form with the title 'Your lack of profile settings nearly got my sister raped' - hopefully that will make them think twice...
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I'm no Apple apologist or anything, but Apple isn't in any way at fault if your sister did get raped. I literally laughed when I read this post, I can understand you're a concerned brother, just hilariously misguided. There are couple things wrong here. First off, why is your sister walking around alone in the middle of the night? I don't know what kind of area you live in, but she should always be walking with friends or taking a cab if she can't get a lift. I'm not an overprotective brother, but that's just common sense no matter where you're from. It seems like you live in an exceptionally terrible area, because apparently every time you go to sleep your sister is in mortal danger of being raped.

If this indeed the case and you know your sister is going to be walking home alone and night and you're not going to get her, don't turn off the sound on your phone if you know it's going to disable the ability to respond to her cries for help -especially if you just want to sleep. Sacrificing sleep is one of the responsibilities of a big brother or boyfriend (I speak from experience) that has an independent girl in their life.

Third; tell your sister to call 911 next time, before her brother if she seriously suspects she's being followed. If the potential rapist hears she is calling the police for an escort home, he will back off. That is female anti rape tactic #1 (that's the first thing they taught my late night bartender girlfriend). Also if she must walk home alone, equip her with pepper spray or a knife.

I know you're a bit upset, but telling people Apple is going to get your sister raped is literally the stupidest thing I've seen today. There are many things that you should be doing differently to protect your sister, and cell phone notifications are not very high on the list.
 
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Instead of setting your phone to silent, turn off notifications and push email before you sleep. Hardly complex or time consuming. If the consequences of not doing so are your "sister being raped" it shouldn't be a big deal.
 
Actually the area we live in is pretty safe; this was pretty rare. I'm not sure who it was - it may have been quite innocuous. But you never know!

I'd like to get her some pepper spray, but it's illegal in the UK! And self-defence classes are of limited use for a 16 year old..
 
alexjholland said:
Actually the area we live in is pretty safe; this was pretty rare. I'm not sure who it was - it may have been quite innocuous. But you never know!

I'd like to get her some pepper spray, but it's illegal in the UK! And self-defence classes are of limited use for a 16 year old..
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Haha! I totally understand you wanting to keep your sister safe. I know this is going to sound terrible, but... get some pepper spray anyways. Nothing stops a dude in his tracks like pepper spray, short of getting shot. It's not very hard to come by -and is the best anti rape deterrent (better than firearms, according to experts).

A whistle is another great anti-rape deterrent. Sounds and looks silly, but if it works, it works!
 
Settings>Notifications>Off.

Turn your phone onto Ring with volume at full.

Problem solved.

Also, if you're such a light sleeper, then why wouldnt you hear your phone vibrating next to you? Or why wouldn't the brightness of the screen wake you up?
 
Hmm. Apparently they're classed the same as firearms in the UK! Don't fancy getting either of my sister's in front of a court tbh!

There are, apparently, some UK legal alternatives I may look into for them though..
 
I understand the OP's point. I ended up turning off the sound on push notifications because of getting messages pushed at all hours of the night, for the stupidest of things. Many of the apps don't offer quiet times.

I have an ip4 and a droid x. I use a program on the dx called Locale that works just as the OP is requesting. It is an add on program; not part of android. It would be nice if apple offered something similar.

This is like a manual vs a programmable thermostat. If you remember to adjust the thermostat manually every day (dialing up/dialing down) you don't need the programmable thermostat. I prefer the convenience of an automated scheduler, with the ability to override as needed.
 
Good lord, why are there always the crazy few Apple fans in here ALWAYS trying to blame the thread starter for overreacting to a very basic (missing) feature?

Apple needs to have profiles. It needs it. It's on the top of damn near every "wish list" I've seen for the iPhone and it's something my phone in 2005 could do.

Stop the excuses, stop the "Oh well how long does it take you to unlock your phone, enter your pin, click your settings app, turn off notifcations, and then enable full ring?"

Really? We should have to do that multiple times a day if we're going into work, meetings, church, wherever one may want something other than full-ring/vibrate etc?

Come on now, it's silly. Apple is way behind on this and it's just as bad as them not having MMS or copy/paste for as long as they did. Actually, probably even worse.

<rant>
 
Bawstun said:
Good lord, why are there always the crazy few Apple fans in here ALWAYS trying to blame the thread starter for overreacting to a very basic (missing) feature?

Apple needs to have profiles. It needs it. It's on the top of damn near every "wish list" I've seen for the iPhone and it's something my phone in 2005 could do.

Stop the excuses, stop the "Oh well how long does it take you to unlock your phone, enter your pin, click your settings app, turn off notifcations, and then enable full ring?"

Really? We should have to do that multiple times a day if we're going into work, meetings, church, wherever one may want something other than full-ring/vibrate etc?

Come on now, it's silly. Apple is way behind on this and it's just as bad as them not having MMS or copy/paste for as long as they did. Actually, probably even worse.

<rant>
Click to expand...

Why would you need anything more than sounds on or mute. The OP has gone a bit OTT in my opinion.
 
cpucrash0 said:
did you know that even if you don't have phone service in your landline you can still make 911 calls? It's free and don't have to pay any service provider.
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Not everywhere unless it has changed recently. I was going to set it up a phone here for the kids to use if needed, except Sprint/Embarq/Century Link didn't let it work that way. I was quite shocked as it was that way in CA.

This reminds me I should check again since it has been about a year or so.
 
Your OP is exactly why some people have kept a landline. That's a very good solution. If you don't like it [shrug].

That said, I'd like profiles but its not a big deal to me and I certainly wouldn't bitch about it.
 
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