Silent Switch = No Sound!!!

[ballen420]

I'm sorry, but I'm hoping some developers read this and start coding their applications to shut the sound off when you have the silent switch on.

I'm not a programmer, but it seems to me like it should be very simple to program, and that some developers are just being lazy.

Unfortunately, I work in a pretty quiet office, and there is nothing worse then an obnoxious sound coming from your phone when it is set to silent.

 

[detz]

This is an iPhone bug...developers shouldn't have to worry about this. The OS should know if the switch is on and not play a sound, I don't even think there is a way for us to tell if the switch is on or off.

 

[jaseone]

I agree, I like how this is handled on Palm devices and the silent switch is virtually controls the sound at the hardware level (although there was one alarms application that got around that so it mustn't have been strictly hardware but at least it was a heck of a lot better than the silent switch on the iPhone)!

 

[mkrishnan]

This is an iPhone bug...developers shouldn't have to worry about this. The OS should know if the switch is on and not play a sound, I don't even think there is a way for us to tell if the switch is on or off.

I think this is just sort of the "hotlist" approach Apple has taken so far -- they're not denying that obvious features should be included, but they're trying to get stuff out faster rather than perfect (for better or worse). Yeah, clearly, this should be system level, with very few exceptions (e.g. the alarm clock bypasses the silent switch, I think, but then it really should, since otherwise you can't put your phone on silent while you sleep and also use it to wake you up). I'm kind of surprised it isn't already.

So I guess any apps that do respect it (e.g. Twinkle does... and its sound effects are notably on the obnoxious end of the spectrum) are doing it via app-level detection of the switch state?

Another thing that would be really nice to see is some uniformity in the HIG regarding who is responsible for app volume independent of ringer volume. I'd like one way or another to be able to make my apps quieter than my ringer (or possibly set up my phone sometimes so that the ringer, calendar, and alarm can make sounds but the apps cannot). Although I guess that's a very low priority thing even to me....

 

[whosyourtator]

The problem is that you have certain apps the need to play sound when the vibrate switch is on. One for instance is Ambience. I use it nightly. I need my phone muted but the sound for Ambience comes through.

I agree that developers should probably put an option in each program and have it muted by default when the vibrate button is on. At least this would prevent those first time surprises when opening a new app.

 

[AndyQ]

The problem is that you have certain apps the need to play sound when the vibrate switch is on. One for instance is Ambience. I use it nightly. I need my phone muted but the sound for Ambience comes through.

I agree that developers should probably put an option in each program and have it muted by default when the vibrate button is on. At least this would prevent those first time surprises when opening a new app.

I would to but so far I haven't found out how to chech the status of the mute switch. This isn't to say that there isn't a way but I haven't found one yet and I'd assume that most deva are in the same situation.

 

[Small White Car]

Let me ask everyone this: What if you want to listen to the iPod and not be interupted by the phone ringing loudly or e-mails coming in? How would you do that? Hint: The current switch does this perfectly. Your solution would have us turning off multiple settings every time we wanted to do this.

The switch is working the way it was designed. It's not SUPPOSED to silence everything.

The point of the switch is to silence the things YOU can't control. For example, e-mail, phone calls, and text messages.

It still allows things that YOU initiate. For example, the iPod, YouTube, and games.

The point is that it stops surprises. It lets you consume entertainment without being interupted. Let's say you're watching a movie in a theater. The silent switch protects you from annoying others when you get a phone call. It does NOT protect you if you take out the iPhone and start playing a game. Frankly, that choice is up to you, you shouldn't need a switch to stop you from doing that.

I think the design of the switch is perfect. What you're asking for (silent games) can be achieved by turning down the volume on the game all the way. This gives you what you want while preserving the useful way that the silence switch works.

You're asking to kill a great feature just so you can avoid turning the volume down. That's too big a trade just to save you 2 seconds.

EDIT: I've been doing some testing and SOME games do lock you from going below the next-to-lowest volume. 'Galcon' and 'Cube Lite' are 2 examples I've found. That IS an issue that the game developer should fix. There's no reason for that. It is, however, a seperate issue from what was originally asked. It has nothing to do with the silence switch.

 

[ballen420]

Not sure there is any NEED for the CAPS to emphasize your POINTS. Probably the only thing more annoying than an obnoxious sound in a quiet office is some who KNOWS everything, and NEEDS to point it out with CAPS.

Your points are valid and understandable. Sorry for my quick rant post this morning and not thinking the whole thing through, but I have to agree with one of the posters above that the default for the application should be silent if the SILENT switch is on!

Again, it was a quick rant and I assumed that it would be something easy to program, and that developers would know how to do it. Apologize for my ignorance.

 

[beate]

I think the design of the switch is perfect. What you're asking for (silent games) can be achieved by turning down the volume on the game all the way.

I agree.
I have games that ask first if you want sound or not, the rest, I just turn down the volume...of course I then forget to turn it back up and miss a bunch of calls in the morning (I play at night before sleep and don't want to disturb others).

What I don't get is why the sound is such a problem. First, you must know which App produces sound and which doesn't. Just don't use the ones with sound at meetings, in church, at the theater... If it's intrusive, then one probably shouldn't be using the phone. Who would test an App the 1st time in such an environment anyway?

Maybe I'm just not getting the extent to which someone needs various sound-producing Apps...???

 

[ballen420]

What I don't get is why the sound is such a problem. First, you must know which App produces sound and which doesn't. Just don't use the ones with sound at meetings, in church, at the theater... If it's intrusive, then one probably shouldn't be using the phone. Who would test an App the 1st time in such an environment anyway?

Accidents? I surely wasn't trying to see if my office was interested in dancing the morning away to a 'Crazy' disco ball. Heck, why would a disco ball even have sounds? Oh yeah, because it's 'Crazy'!

If you put your TV on mute, do you expect sounds? I don't understand why you need to mute if you can just turn the volume down.

 

[Ntombi]

I liked the way the Treo handled it: there were separate settings for system sounds and ringer volume, so that if I turned down the volume in a game or whatever, it wouldn't turn down the volume of the ringer.

I wish something like that could be implemented on the iPhone.

 

[jaseone]

I liked the way the Treo handled it: there were separate settings for system sounds and ringer volume, so that if I turned down the volume in a game or whatever, it wouldn't turn down the volume of the ringer.

I wish something like that could be implemented on the iPhone.

I am pretty sure it is possible as I'm sure I have seen references to an application volume separate to the ringer volume on the iPhone, I just don't think it is consistently implemented within different applications so it would seem this is not something seamlessly handled by the API like you would expect.

 

[Jeremy1026]

I'm sorry, but I'm hoping some developers read this and start coding their applications to shut the sound off when you have the silent switch on.

I'm not a programmer, but it seems to me like it should be very simple to program, and that some developers are just being lazy.

Unfortunately, I work in a pretty quiet office, and there is nothing worse then an obnoxious sound coming from your phone when it is set to silent.

Developers don't have access to this level of the OS. We (in the official SDK) don't have access to the state of the silence switch.

 

[ballen420]

Developers don't have access to this level of the OS. We (in the official SDK) don't have access to the state of the silence switch.

I wasn't aware of that. How come if I have the silent switch on an app like Solitaire City, it knows not to play the music/sound effects?

 

[Jeremy1026]

I wasn't aware of that. How come if I have the silent switch on an app like Solitaire City, it knows not to play the music/sound effects?

Not sure, but as far as I've seen, developers don't have access to it. I might be scanning the documentation a bit more later...

 

[Small White Car]

I agree.
I have games that ask first if you want sound or not, the rest, I just turn down the volume...of course I then forget to turn it back up and miss a bunch of calls in the morning

? ? ?

The games I tried out have a seperate volume control. When I'm in the game I turn down the sound of the game using the volume button on the side of the phone. When I exit the game, my ring-volume is unaffected. (Just like how ring-volume and speaker-phone volume and headphone volume are seperate things. This is a 4th volume the phone keeps track of.)

Do you have games that turn down the ring volume while you're changing the volume in the game? I guess that's possible but, once again, that's probably something they didn't mean to do and should fix in future updates.

Again, it was a quick rant and I assumed that it would be something easy to program, and that developers would know how to do it. Apologize for my ignorance.

Dunno why you're appologizing for a perfecly reasonable post. You seem pretty ticked at me though, so I guess I'll drop it. But it does seem odd to me that you'd appologize for something no one criticized.

 

[Ntombi]

? ? ?

The games I tried out have a seperate volume control. When I'm in the game I turn down the sound of the game using the volume button on the side of the phone. When I exit the game, my ring-volume is unaffected. (Just like how ring-volume and speaker-phone volume and headphone volume are seperate things. This is a 4th volume the phone keeps track of.)

Do you have games that turn down the ring volume while you're changing the volume in the game? I guess that's possible but, once again, that's probably something they didn't mean to do and should fix in future updates.

Half the games/apps that I use turn down the ringer when I'm trying to only control the game sounds. It sucks, and that's what I wish would change.

 

[Small White Car]

Half the games/apps that I use turn down the ringer when I'm trying to only control the game sounds. It sucks, and that's what I wish would change.

Geez, really? Well, since there are others that don't I'm gonna assume this is the fault of the developers. If some of them can do it then it should be possible for all of them.

You know, that would be the kind of thing they could probably fix faster if the NDA on the SDK was lifted. But since it's not, this kind of stuff takes longer for them to figure out.

 

[nomar383]

Half the games/apps that I use turn down the ringer when I'm trying to only control the game sounds. It sucks, and that's what I wish would change.

This is true, I've noticed it with a few apps.

 

[ballen420]

Dunno why you're appologizing for a perfecly reasonable post. You seem pretty ticked at me though, so I guess I'll drop it. But it does seem odd to me that you'd appologize for something no one criticized.

Apparently I took the tone of your post wrong, and thought you were criticizing it with your use of capitilization. Guess I'm in that apologetic mood, so I'm sorry for that.

 

[Small White Car]

Apparently I took the tone of your post wrong, and thought you were criticizing it with your use of capitilization. Guess I'm in that apologetic mood, so I'm sorry for that.

lol - I'm sorry too! It's contagious!

I may be an annoying NITWIT, but I rarely MEAN to offend. So that certainly wasn't were I was going with my earlier post. But OBNOXIOUS? Guilty as charged.

 

[26139]

hmmm...

The point of the switch is to silence the things YOU can't control. For example, e-mail, phone calls, and text messages.

It still allows things that YOU initiate. For example, the iPod, YouTube, and games.


EDIT: I've been doing some testing and SOME games do lock you from going below the next-to-lowest volume. 'Galcon' and 'Cube Lite' are 2 examples I've found. That IS an issue that the game developer should fix. There's no reason for that. It is, however, a seperate issue from what was originally asked. It has nothing to do with the silence switch.

Love your first point and completely agree with your edit. Nice way of looking at it.