The estimated reading time for this post is 3 minutes
Last week a performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 9 by the New York Philharmonic was abruptly interrupted by the Marimba, the default ringtone of the iPhone. The phone continued to sound, drowning out the music and infuriating audience members who looked around to discover the culprit. The conductor stopped the concert until the offending iPhone was found and silenced. The owner of the phone, who did not initially realize that his phone was broadcasting its sound throughout Avery Fisher Hall, thought he had silenced his phone by turning on the mute button.
He had only owned the phone for a day, according to The New York Times, and didn’t realize that muting the phone didn’t silence the alarm. In fact, he didn’t even realize that an alarm was set to ring.
Don’t let this happen to you. If you want to avoid public humiliation and scorn, understanding how to silence your phone will help.
Knowing which are the best apps for your phone is useful. Knowing how to silence your phone is essential.
Muting Your Phone
Muting your phone will turn the ringer off but will not turn off alarm sounds.
To mute an iPhone, go to the left side of the phone and flip the switch to the back of the phone so a red bar (or dot for a 3GS) appears.
You can set your iPhone to vibrate when muted by going to Settings => Sounds => Vibrate => On.
➲ Don’t miss: Do Not Disturb – The iPhone Feature You Should Be Using
To mute an Android phone, look for a mute button icon on the right side of the screen when you first turn on your phone.
Slide that button to the left so it looks like this:
Now your Android phone is muted. You can adjust the mute settings and set your phone to vibrate by going to Settings => Sound.
You can also mute your Android phone by holding the power button until a screen appears with phone options: Silent mode, Airplane mode and Power off. Choose Silent mode to mute the phone.
With both methods, you have to look at the Android phone to mute it, making it obvious that you are the offender in the event your phone accidentally rings in an inappropriate situation.
A mute switch would be a valuable improvement to Android phones.
Apps to the rescue! RD Mute, a free app in the Android Market, mutes your phone when you turn it over on its screen. Although you could easily mute your phone accidentally, this app may be helpful if you frequently find yourself forgetting to mute your phone. The app also has a helpful feature that mutes the phone automatically in the car if you are traveling above a set speed. You can find RD Mute in the Android Market here: RD Mute.
Shake2Mute is another app you can use to physically mute your Android phone. This free app, available in the Android Market, allows you to adjust the sensitivity so you don’t accidentally mute your phone with a minor shake. Check out the app here: Shake2MuteCall.
Silencing Your Phone
There are times when you want your phone to be totally silent. If you’re attending your child’s school play, a New York Philharmonic performance or a presidential inauguration, you want to be 100% sure that your phone makes no sound.
Muting turns off the ringer, but not the alarms. The reason for that is so you don’t oversleep when your phone is set to Mute.
On the iPhone, press the top button until you see a “slide to power off” bar. Slide the arrow from left to right and the power will be turned off on your phone. Don’t worry, you won’t lose any apps or information when the power is off. To turn your power back on, hold the power button until you see the Apple logo and the phone will turn on again.
On Android phones, hold the top button down until you see the “phone options” screen. Choose Power off. You can also hold the top button down until the phone turns off. As with the iPhone, you won’t lose any data or apps by turning the power off.
Bottom Line
Don’t rely upon your mute switch to keep your phone silent. Make sure to turn your phone’s power off to keep it as silent as a snowfall on a moonlit night.
Have you ever had your phone ring at a less than opportune time? Have you ever attended an event that was interrupted by a ringing cell phone? Let us know in the Comments section below!
* Snowfall image by Hartwig HKD
Thanks Carolyn – I guess that embarrassing concert experience we heard about was a real “wake up call” – pun intended It is the little things that count sometimes and with all the excitement of a new gadget, it’s easy to see how someone would ignore the difference between “silence” and “mute”.
Gary
Hi Gary, You’re right, it can take a while to learn the ins and outs of a new phone. It’s best to power it off if you need your phone to be silent!
I feel bad for the guy whose phone rang in the concert. It can’t be fun to have the scorn of many on your shoulders.
Loved the tips Carolyn!
Though I have a pretty normal smartphone, but its happened so often with me when the phone ring has actually disturbed me within a movie or an important client meeting, and at the last minute I have just been looking for the power-off switch! I guess at times we do tend to switch off or turn the phone to mute, but your post surely is going to help those with Androids and iphones 🙂
Thanks for sharing and I loved the words…- Make sure to turn your phone’s power off to keep it as silent as a snowfall on a moonlit night.- and the picture is so calm, smooth, serene and wonderful- aptly going with your words.
Have a great weekend 🙂
Hi Harleena, Good point, this advice applies to any phone: don’t trust your mute switch to do the job. Powering off your phone is the only way to assure silence.
I’m glad you liked the ending. You can enjoy peace and quiet with your phone, you just have to know how. 🙂
Thanks for stopping by, Harleena!
If I fear being embarrassed by a ringing telephone I make a point to turn it off. It is the easiest and most effective way of preventing that annoying beep.
Hello Jack, So true. Using the mute switch isn’t a sure-fire guarantee of silence. Powering the phone off is a much better solution! 🙂
I must be evolving as a tech-aware being because I actually knew this Carolyn!!!!
I’ve never had my alarm go off unexpectedly – but when I was a kid, I went to see a production of Julius Caesar in Stratford, Ontario and someone in the audience threw a coin on to the stage. This was long before the days of cell phones (I’m aging myself), and all of the actors (who were VERY serious and Shakespearean) stood stone faced on the stage as it clinked to the ground.
‘Julius Caesar’, without losing character, in a loud Shakespearean voice, proclaimed, “someone has thrown a coin on to the stage. (LONG PAUSE). If it happens again, we will end the production immediately.”
Now, I hadn’t thrown the coin, but I sat in my seat TREMBLING and feeling terribly ashamed that this had happened. It’s possible that this experience left me traumatized enough that I ALWAYS turn my iPhone off completely whenever I am at the movies, in one of my children’s school performances, or at a wedding, funeral Bar Mitzvah, etc.
Hi Ruth, Yes, you are tech aware! I had two Wonder of Tech readers ask me recently where the mute switch is on the iPhone. I was going to write about it when this story came up and then I realized I had to clarify what the mute switch would do and what it wouldn’t do when silencing your phone.
How horrible that someone threw a coin onstage during that performance, but how wonderfully the actor dealt with the situation. Live performances are stressful enough without any interference from the audience.
The man whose phone went off was not trying to interrupt the performance purposefully, but the coin-thrower was. Either way, the performers and the audience suffer from the distraction.
Hi Carolyn,
I am one of those strange people who wants a phone that I can call people on, and send and receive texts, I don’t want cameras, MP3s, apps, and weird and wondeful things sticking out of my ear. I suppose I am just an old Luddite really.
I do agree that it is most annoying when someones ring tone goes off at a crucial part of a film or play, and unfortunately, so many people now believe it is their right to have their ring tone bellowing out anywhere, because they can.
Ooh, rant over, sorry about that, I am not always like this, honest. 🙂
Barry
Hi Barry, Welcome to The Wonder of Tech! There are a few of you left, those who use their phones as phones. Quite a few, actually. But no matter which phone you have, it’s a good idea to turn the power off if you need complete and utter silence.
Your opinions, including rants, are welcome here, Barry. Thanks for joining in the conversation!
Hi Carolyn,,
Good post about turning off our phones. I feel for whoever stopped the show, but hopefully he now knows how to turn off his phone. I do power mine down on occasion, but normally turning it off on the side seems to work for me. I appreciate the reminder, though that alarms, etc. will still ring.
Hi Cathy, I feel for him too. If he is ever asked about his most embarrassing incident, this has to be number one on his list. I don’t even think we can say, “Oh, he will laugh about it someday.” I don’t think he ever will.
I don’t use sound notifications, except for text messages, but I try to power off my phone when I need it to be silent.
Oh my goodness, they stopped the symphony for the guy to turn it off. Wow, I wouldn’t have wanted to be that guy.
Luckily my phone is simple and I definitely know how to turn the volume off but I will admit, it took me awhile. I mean just turning down the volume without setting it to stay off doesn’t actually turn it off. See, I had to live and learn too but in my instance, I don’t get many calls on my cell. Thank goodness for that!
Great tips Carolyn and very good to know with the way they update these phones so often. Dang, this is a lot of stuff to know when you get a new cell.
Hi Adrienne, Yes, the worst part was that his seat was in the front row.
Even if you don’t have a smart phone, it’s best to turn the power off when you want your phone to be silent. If your volume button is a physical switch, it could get bumped in your purse to turn on louder.
As they say, silence is golden. 😉
What an embarrassing situation. Thing like that has never happened to me, but really could happen any day. Because I usually mute my iPhone. I hope Apple comes with a shortcut to ‘really’ mute the device. Like a combination of pressing mute and home button together or something like that. Mucking around with the settings to be able to mute isn’t good enuff solution, IMO.
Hi Carolyn,
I read the news about the concert in a Norwegian newspaper 🙂
I understand how it feels to be interrupted by a ring tone, and the worst thing is to hear the default ringtone. Phones are ringing everywhere, and in almost every meeting I attend, a phone is rining during the meeting. I’d love to just stand up and say that the meeting is off, I’ve had enough, when someone forgot to silence their phone 🙂
One of the first thing I learned was how to silence my phone. On the other hand, my phone is always silent. I don’t like to get interrupted doing what I’m doing, so I keep it silent, and I check my phone a few times during the day and call back whoever called me… I get a lot more done this way. My friends things I’m weird, but that’s ok 🙂
Hi Jens, Yes, it’s important to know how to silence a phone. I really feel for the guy whose phone went off when he believed he had silenced it.
Yes, it is tempting to just end a meeting when a phone rings, but it may be a situation, such as with the New York Philharmonic, that the person doesn’t understand that mute and silence are two different settings.
I can understand why you keep your phone silent. It’s similar to that word processing program you use. You want to focus on one thing at a time. A silent phone helps you do just that. 🙂
I would still prefer turning off the phone. It’s the most fail safe option if you want to avoid embarrassment. Unless you consider removing your phone’s battery which is very inconvenient. It’s sad to know that the performance was interrupted with just a simple ring tone.
Hi Farrell, Welcome to The Wonder of Tech! I agree, removing the battery is another way of silencing your phone, though that isn’t an option with an iPhone. You’re right, removing the battery is inconvenient, though, so it’s best just to turn the power off on your phone.
Hi Carolyn,
Isn’t that those moments when we wish the earth opens up and we fall in. The poor chap unintentionally created trouble in the place where there is supposed to be absolute calm.
I think this happens to all of us. One time, during start of the flight, my co-passanger’s phone that was left on by him in his bag, in the overhead bin, kept ringing , much to his embarrassment.
The best rule when we are in such locations is to completely turn it off. However the apps are also great solution when we forgot to switch it off.
Thanks for the info once again 🙂
Hi Ashvini, You’re right, that is a situation where we would just wish there was an escape hatch in life.
I like the story of your colleague who left his phone in his bag and it started ringing when you were about to take off. It’s especially bad because passengers are instructed to power off their phones or put them into Airplane Mode during take-off. I bet he won’t make that mistake ever again!
A simple, and important post. Thanks for the tip, Carolyn.
Thanks for this, I had no idea how to turn off my new iPhone! Will powering off save battery too? This will be great for when I’m attending a play. We were at The Comedy of Errors the other night at the National and I realized I had no idea how to turn it all the way off! Fortunately everyone who would have called me was at the play with me!
OK, I learned something new about android phones again, that I had absolutely NO idea about. 🙂 I have seen the icon though… funny how we sometimes do not realize the obvious right in front of us. I am really good at muting my phone, but I suck at un-muting them afterwards, as I always forget about it. Haha
God, that was embarrassing. I hope I don’t end up doing the same thing in my meetings with my clients. Only sure fire way is to turn off the phone only downside is you might miss important calls and messages.
Hi Steve, Welcome to The Wonder of Tech! Yes, you’re right, that must have been terribly embarrassing for that guy. If you’re in a meeting and expecting an important call you can always set your phone to vibrate so it doesn’t alert the entire room but you know that you are receiving a phone call. With the latest iPhone operating system, you can assign custom vibration patterns so even though your phone is set to vibrate you know who is calling.
I can’ t believe someone would actually forget to silence it! But it happens all the time. I normally fret over silencing my phone all the time because I usually have it on vibration and only have it on ringing mode when I am back home.
Recently, a report in the local newspaper talked about how mobile phones were ringing in places of worship – church, mosques, temples and how that interfered with the proceedings. We really need to tread more carefully when it comes to such delicate matters.
Thanks for the tutorial! 🙂 I have a little button on my phone which puts it on the silent mode!
Did I mention the time when I was sitting in Mass (the priest was preparing the Eucharist) and my iPhone alarm went off – the nuclear meltdown warning siren? I had it on mute.
Oh – that sucked. True story! Feel free to laugh outloud. [grin]