Other How does the mute switch work?

[Night Spring]

I have the mute switch on my iPhone on, but so many apps and videos seem to just ignore the setting, it's practically useless. I end up just completely lowering the volume. Is this happening to anybody else? Am I missing some setting I need to turn on/off?

 

[Andeddu]

I have the mute switch on my iPhone on, but so many apps and videos seem to just ignore the setting, it's practically useless. I end up just completely lowering the volume. Is this happening to anybody else? Am I missing some setting I need to turn on/off?

Silent mode only works for messages received, phone calls and certain apps such as games. Everything else such as YouTube or Netflix along with other video streaming apps bypass the setting. I like it this way as I wouldn’t watch a video with no sound.

 

[madeirabhoy]

I have the mute switch on my iPhone on, but so many apps and videos seem to just ignore the setting, it's practically useless. I end up just completely lowering the volume. Is this happening to anybody else? Am I missing some setting I need to turn on/off?

i agree. i know what the other poster is saying about when you just want to mute things and watch a movie, but imho its more important that you turn everything silent right now.

happens weirdly far more often since iOS 16, pull my airpod out because someone has came into my office, and bizarelly all of a sudden music blares out of my phone when i was listening to a podcast not music. and your first thought is 'hit the switch' which does nothing, so you have hold the volume down as it slowly super slowly reduces the volume.

 

[Night Spring]

happens weirdly far more often since iOS 16, pull my airpod out because someone has came into my office, and bizarelly all of a sudden music blares out of my phone when i was listening to a podcast not music. and your first thought is 'hit the switch' which does nothing, so you have hold the volume down as it slowly super slowly reduces the volume.

Exactly! It's driving me crazy. I'm glad I wasn't imagining it.

 

[mavis]

i agree. i know what the other poster is saying about when you just want to mute things and watch a movie, but imho its more important that you turn everything silent right now.

happens weirdly far more often since iOS 16, pull my airpod out because someone has came into my office, and bizarelly all of a sudden music blares out of my phone when i was listening to a podcast not music. and your first thought is 'hit the switch' which does nothing, so you have hold the volume down as it slowly super slowly reduces the volume.

That's happened to me before. I just pressed pause to instantly silence it.

 

[Night Spring]

That's happened to me before. I just pressed pause to instantly silence it.

Problem is it's not always easy to find the pause button an app, especially if you are flustered and in the middle of trying to do something else.

 

[slplss]

It needs some rework.
- Can’t count how many times I accidentally left it on. It doesn’t turn on any Focus mode, no visible Silent mode icon in top corner, all you get is "Silent mode on" notification upon activating it.
- While there are some situations physical switch can be useful, so was the headphone jack, Home button etc. I can pull down Control Centre on Lock Screen to activate Focus mode as fast as I can locate the little hole in my leather case and use my nail to pull the physical switch.

 

[Night Spring]

- While there are some situations physical switch can be useful, so was the headphone jack, Home button etc. I can pull down Control Centre on Lock Screen to activate Focus mode as fast as I can locate the little hole in my leather case and use my nail to pull the physical switch.

Advantage of the physical switch is you can toggle it without looking at the screen. I never had much problem locating the switch, it's the only thing on the side of the iphone that you flip rather than press.

 

[madeirabhoy]

That's happened to me before. I just pressed pause to instantly silence it.

sometimes when its happened to me, i think originally my fault, i hit the button on the airpod as i pull it out of my ear, the podcast pauses due to coming out of my ear, the press of the button starts the music....

when that happens, the music app isnt at the forefront of my phone screen so there's no pause button to press.

 

[slplss]

Advantage of the physical switch is you can toggle it without looking at the screen. I never had much problem locating the switch, it's the only thing on the side of the iphone that you flip rather than press.

Of course. I’d rather have a dedicated camera button though. Or switch that toggles set Focus mode, or visible Silent Mode icon in top right corner - simple SW solutions.

 

[arw]

I have the mute switch on my iPhone on, but so many apps and videos seem to just ignore the setting, it's practically useless. I end up just completely lowering the volume. Is this happening to anybody else? Am I missing some setting I need to turn on/off?

Apple officially says it is only related to rintones/alerts and not a “mute-all-sounds“ switch.
So at least you know it behaves like intended:

Turn Ring/Silent mode on or off on your iPhone​

In Ring mode, you hear ringtones and alerts. In Silent mode, you don't, but your iPhone can still play sounds, like when you play music or videos.

Select ringtones and vibrations on iPhone

On iPhone, set the default ringtone and assign different ringtones to certain people. You can also use vibrations and turn the ringer off.

support.apple.com

edit:
- Without a jailbreak, the only workaround I found is to create a custom automation that sets the system sound to 0% and gets triggered by the “Focus“ toggle in control center.
- Or, if you have an iPhone 8 or newer, you can even assign the “Back Tap“ to trigger a custom action:
Go to Settings > Accessibility > Touch, and tap Back Tap
Select double or triple tap and select your shortcut that contains the “set system volume to 0%“

 

[Mr.Blacky]

i agree. i know what the other poster is saying about when you just want to mute things and watch a movie, but imho its more important that you turn everything silent right now.

happens weirdly far more often since iOS 16, pull my airpod out because someone has came into my office, and bizarelly all of a sudden music blares out of my phone when i was listening to a podcast not music. and your first thought is 'hit the switch' which does nothing, so you have hold the volume down as it slowly super slowly reduces the volume.

Whenever I pull out an Airpod, whatever is playing at that moment stops immediately. Never had the situation that somethings started playing randomly from the phone's speaker. 🤔

 

[Andeddu]

Whenever I pull out an Airpod, whatever is playing at that moment stops immediately. Never had the situation that somethings started playing randomly from the phone's speaker. 🤔

Same. I use Bluetooth all the time and whenever I switch the speaker off or turn off my car the audio immediately stops. I have never had music or podcasts continue playing on my phone’s speakers.

 

[madeirabhoy]

Whenever I pull out an Airpod, whatever is playing at that moment stops immediately. Never had the situation that somethings started playing randomly from the phone's speaker. 🤔

since ios 16 i have more than a few times. i do think its related to me pressing the button to stop the podcast, and the phone getting confused having decided to stop the podcast and then taking the button press to play music, but sometimes it plays the most random music that i havent played in years so its not like its continuing.

also on thinking about it, when sometimes im in the office and i open something, maybe a game and it blares loud, and i hit the switch, and some games it mutes it and some it doesnt.

 

[Night Spring]

also on thinking about it, when sometimes im in the office and i open something, maybe a game and it blares loud, and i hit the switch, and some games it mutes it and some it doesnt.

Yes, it's the inconsistency that's maddening. It should always work the same way!

 

[Andeddu]

since ios 16 i have more than a few times. i do think its related to me pressing the button to stop the podcast, and the phone getting confused having decided to stop the podcast and then taking the button press to play music, but sometimes it plays the most random music that i havent played in years so its not like its continuing.

also on thinking about it, when sometimes im in the office and i open something, maybe a game and it blares loud, and i hit the switch, and some games it mutes it and some it doesnt.

It must be an issue with iOS 16 which should be resolved shortly. I listen to music and podcasts all the time and my phone connects to numerous Bluetooth devices and I have never had any inconsistencies on iOS 15 and prior versions. I have only just began using iOS 16 since last week and haven’t noticed anything odd so far.