Now that we know what can be done... how about this?

[darwen]

My friend had an idea for an app (or I guess prefrence) he wanted on his phone. We all agreed if it could be done for the iPhone, we should try it. Based on today, I dont think it can be. Tell me what you think.

The prefrence lets you set time frames for ring tones. Lets say from 8am-5pm you want your phone on silent but once you are out of work/class you want it back at normal volume. I often forget to switch it and then miss calls. It would be cool to program the phone (or a program to auto change the setting) based on time tables. Can this be done based on what we saw at WWDC? I am expecting a no. What code would be needed to do this?

 

[samh004]

Perhaps you should send an e-mail to SJ and ask him to implement it, if he hasn't already.

 

[darwen]

Perhaps you should send an e-mail to SJ and ask him to implement it, if he hasn't already.

I was serious. This is not a practical response.

 

[MacDonaldsd]

Problem is you want it to be an automated process in the background, which it doesn't look like you will be able to do using web applications.

 

[LastLine]

I was serious. This is not a practical response.

You'd be surprised.

 

[fishkorp]

unless apple left open some serious security holes in Safari there's no way you can do that with a webapp.

 

[Billy Boo Bob]

I'm sure there'll be some sort of "suggestion box" within iTunes or at the web site... While they'll be swamped with all kinds of crazy half baked suggestions that they'll have to wade through, this one is a valid, good suggestion.

But, yeah... I doubt you'll be able to have that kind of control over your phone through Safari. Will need to be a built in setting/app that does something like that.

 

[SheriffParker]

That's a really great idea. Unfortunately I think the others are right. Apple would need to implement this kind of program themselves.

 

[aria505]

We don't have any access to manipulate the iPhones OS. The only thing we know that we can do so far is link phone numbers to call, and like addresses to show up in google maps. (and of course start up an email)

Apple will have to release some APIs that will allow us to interact with other parts of the phone through the browser before anything like that is possible.

 

[eenu]

I was serious. This is not a practical response.

It is completely practical since Apple are the only people that can do this due to access limitations.

 

[Kingsly]

The prefrence lets you set time frames for ring tones. Lets say from 8am-5pm you want your phone on silent but once you are out of work/class you want it back at normal volume. I often forget to switch it and then miss calls.

Just flip the switch on the side of the phone. Boom. Silent.

 

[dangleheart]

Though I also doubt that an html tag may control the ringer, it is not that outrageous to expect that. Like the tel: tag for making phone calls where safari interfaces with the OS, it is conceivable to have a tag like ringer: . And have some javascript that accesses the time on the computer and executes a DOM method. Similar to the way it confirms with you about whether to make the phone call or not, it has to ask for confirmation from you before it runs such javascript programs. There lies the rub. You do not necessarily want some jackass turning off your ringer just by visiting his web page.

Having said all that, only thing we can say now is we should not go that far to call it impossible until we know the full list of iPhone specific tags that are supported.

 

[dangleheart]

This actually leads me to wonder about one thing. How about scheduling an outbound call. That should be possible, isn't it?

 

[bmc1818]

My moto Q does this. It takes the times that are scheduled from iCal and turns the phone to vibrate and then back on when their is nothing scheduled. I hope this is available in a software update.

 

[ipoddin]

This should be entirely possible. As mentioned above, windows smartphones can change the phone to silent when meetings are scheduled in the calendar.

My blackberry can also turn on and off at specific times of the day. That's a feature I'd like to have on the iphone for sure.

 

[scotty1024]

How Motorola does it

Motorola phones have two ringer settings:

A) I'm plugged into power.
B) I'm not plugged into power.

I've always set my Motorola phone to ring when plugged into power. When I get home I plug it into charge and if it get a call it rings and I hear it.

I set the phone to vibrate when it isn't plugged in. When I leave home I take it off charge and put it in my belt holster and when I get calls no one is disturbed.

I've gone into Apple's bug reporter and requested this feature for the iPhone.

 

[mpw]

Moto, Nokia and MS Windows Mobile etc. all can do this, I'm sure Apple will implement this in future upgrades.

 

[scotty1024]

Moto, Nokia and MS Windows Mobile etc. all can do this, I'm sure Apple will implement this in future upgrades.

The Apple developers are not omniscient and welcome feature requests via the bug reporter (it has a setting for "new feature" and "enhancement request").

If you have a feature you think would be great you enter it and let the prioritization scramble begin (or you sometimes get a flat out rejection.)