

Mutator silences your iPhone, no exceptions - invisiblefunnel
http://www.gizmag.com/mutator-silences-iphone/27809/

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pinko
This is such a glaring weakness of the iPhone's current mute function. I can't
believe we need a hacky hardware dongle to provide it.

But given that we're at that place, this is about as good a solution as I've
seen for those times when you can't turn your phone off but absolutely do not
want it to make noise.

~~~
shurcooL
A hardware solution to a software problem. So sad.

That said, I personally have no issues with the mute mode. I works as intended
for me.

Also, this entire product lime can be made obsolete by a simple software
update from Apple.

~~~
pinko
> Also, this entire product line can be made obsolete by a simple software
> update from Apple.

True, but it sounds like the project team might actually consider that a
success, since they designed this to work around a problem they wish they
didn't have.

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devindotcom
Do you really want this little dude sticking out of your phone 24/7? I get the
feeling people will take it in and out rather than do the twist thing. And in
that case, wouldn't carrying around the snipped-off end of any random 1/8"
audio cable do the same thing?

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mdesq
"In the Off position it does absolutely nothing, allowing you to use your iOS
device as usual, but twist it into the On position and it mutes all sounds
coming from the device apart from alarms you have set manually."

Those sound like exceptions to me.

~~~
mprovost
With those exceptions it wouldn't have prevented something like this famous
example:

[http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/13/nyregion/ringing-
finally-s...](http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/13/nyregion/ringing-finally-
stopped-but-concertgoers-alarm-persists.html?_r=0)

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mwc
Wait, there's a problem with the mute function? Excepting alarms (from
Clock.app), my iPhone is silent when it's switched to mute.

I'm guessing people have a bunch of third party apps installed that don't
respect the mute button?

~~~
danhixon
Videos, Games, Siri can/do make noise when "ring/silent" switch is engaged. I
usually don't have a problem but sometimes Siri launches when I don't expect
her to - quit an app... wait... pling-pling-pling!

~~~
thedrbrian
Yes that's how silence works on iOS. Mute mutes thing you have no control over
calls,texts etc. why the hell would I fire up a video and not want the sound?

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mrmekon
My 3GS has a broken Ring/Silent switch that is permanently on 'ring'. I've
been trying for a year to find a reliable way to make it shut up -- I'm a
'silent always' kind of guy, and that switch failure made me hate my phone.
This looks like a pretty great solution!

~~~
6d0debc071
Can you set ringtones on the iphone? If so can't you just record nothing and
set that as the text acknowledgement tone?

~~~
mrmekon
You can set most, but not all, of the sounds to 'None'. There still seem to be
a bunch of sounds that you can't control. And manually configuring the whole
phone to be silent is quite time consuming, especially since you have to may
have to do it for individual apps, which may or may not even support it.

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jsherry
Buyer beware if you have a case on your phone - it states in the FAQ on his
Kickstarter page that this will only work with low-profile cases (which is
hard to gauge qualitatively).

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gte910h
Just want to point out for everyone who wants that switch to be a mute button
instead of a "less noise switch": I LOVE the way it works now. There are many
of us out there.

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AdrianRossouw
including the camera sound? thinking here of the privacy issues (ie: why all
digital cameras still make the noise)

i was actually wondering that about the HTC one's video + picture
functionality too.

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moron4hire
This one is cheaper and has more features <https://dx.com/p/3-5mm-splitter-
plug-2716>

~~~
austingulati
It's a bit unwieldy to carry around attached to your phone even though it can
achieve the same task (as well as others)

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youngerdryas
My phone mutes texts, I don't get it.

~~~
danhixon
It's about accidental user interactions - like when Siri launches when you
don't expect - or if you forgot that you had a game running that makes sounds
when you were last using your phone and you unlock it in class and the angry
birds music starts playing and your teacher looks at you... and you know.

