Silent Mode Icon?

The Silent Mode icon is standard equipment on simpler phones, there should be one one the iPhone when locked & unlocked. While there are a millions additions one could suggest for the iPhone, adding this icon is one of the more obvious ones that Apple overlooked.

As for the Vibration, not everyone puts their phone in his or her pocket. My wife carriers her's in her purse. She puts it in Silent mode when we go to church or if the baby is sleeping. A Silent Mode icon acts as a reminder that the phone is in Silent Mode and, just like the red dot indicators, it would be a helpful tool.

Why anyone would protest against this seems amazing and out of touch.

Sounds good to me; I forget too, once in a while, but if I'm using the phone and see that little icon...
If I'm already looking at the silent switch, I'm not going to forget it's in silent mode. 😉

Message was edited by: aeronmb

I would like to see this too (in fact I cannot believe it wasn't a standard feature, it is on every other phone I've ever used).

I'm constantly missing calls/messages because the phone is in silent but I didn't realise, even though I'd been using the phone! The miniscule red dot on the side of the phone is not much use, as you never look at the side of the phone during use!

Pardon me for saying, but really? An icon? The orange dot on the silent switch isn't enough? You would have turned the switch to silent right? So how would you have forgotten? Besides, if there was an icon and if you would have forgotten and you were missing calls, you wouldn't know you were missing calls unless by chance you happen to unlock your phone for some other reason and happened to see the little alert that said missed call. So an icon on the phone wouldn't really help, would it? By the time you saw the icon, you would have seen the missed call alert. Just my perspective.

Message was edited by: iPhoNettie

Imagine these two scenarios, 1 where a silent mode icon exists, and one where it does not.

_1) No silent mode icon, just the red dot on the switch_

10pm - Go to bed and set my phone to silent
6am - wake up and go to work, forget to turn phone off silent
9am - check my email on the iphone (don't look at side of phone, who looks at the side of their phone? but i sure look at the front all the time, i have to in order to use it)
10am - miss a call since phone is on silent
11am - miss another call
2pm - miss another call
3pm - check email again, see missed calls message, oh no, i left my phone on silent by accident and missed 3 important calls!

_2) Silent mode icon at top of iPhone screen (status bar, visible when phone is both locked and unlocked)_

10pm - Go to bed and set my phone to silent
6am - wake up and go to work, forget to turn phone off silent
9am - check my email on the iphone, see silent mode icon, oh no, forgot to turn off silent mode, better turn it off now just in case i get any calls.
10am - don't miss a call since phone is not on silent
11am - don't miss another call
2pm - don't miss another call
3pm - check email again, no missed calls, good thing I saw that icon reminding me that my iPhone was in silent mode!

Point taken, BUT, how many people forget that they put their phone on silent? It could go either way is all I'm saying. There are too many variables. I for one have no house phone (it was a waste of money for us) so my cell phone being the only way to reach me, I keep it on all night (plugged in of course) and I wouldn't dream of putting it on silent when I go to bed. BUT on the other hand you have some people who don't depend on their cells that much and do put them on silent when they go to bed. But who knows what the ratios are? We may never know. I just think MAYBE some of the things that are being suggested as additions to the phone could be perceived as a little nit-picky. It's not a terribly far stretch for someone to turn their phone a fraction to see if the silent switch is on or off. And yeah, I do, just out of habit.

Pardon me for saying, but you're an idiot. With indicators for absolutely every other setting on the phone, it makes no sense to leave this one out. I've forgotten to turn the ringer back on countless times.

In a situation where my phone's been on silent for several hours, my first inclination is to unlock the screen and look it, not turn the phone sideways to see if there's a little orange dot. Following your logic, I guess there shouldn't be an indicator as to whether the phone is in airplane mode. Or for that matter, whether you have mail, text messages, app updates, etc. I suppose you would just have to remember to constantly open all of these apps to see if you got anything. After all, you DO know that you have an email address, and a texting plan, and apps to update. So why should you have to be reminded to check them? Crazy, right?!

Anyway, it's just a stupid thing to leave out.

Message was edited by: 4limbs

No need to make an *** of yourself and make things personal and resort to childish name calling. So we differ in opinion. Who the **** cares?!
My post was my two cents, didn't like it, you didn't have to read it let alone respond to it. My POINT since you obviously were too daft to get it was that there are more important things that should be added as features to the phone.

For someone who only has one measley little feedback point you shouldn't make your debut into these forums being a jerk.

You shouldn't forget that your iPhone is in silent, especially given that your phone uses the vibrate feature (unless you turned it off) if someone calls you, texts you, or you plug in the iPhone to a charger or computer when you are in silent mode. Where else would your phone be other than your pocket?

P.S. If you have the vibrate feature off when in silent mode just turn it back on. Just in case you forget again to put your ringer back on.

I actually have disabled the vibrate feature in silent mode. There are times when even the sound of the vibration (however short and weak it may be) would be undesirable and disruptive. In situations where I need the phone to be quiet i just turn the volume all the way down and have it vibrate, the sound of the ringer on the lowest volume is comparable to the vibration sound when in a pocket.

The problem here is that in order to be able to decide between a "true" silent (no vibrate) and a semi-silent (with vibrate) you have to navigate through a few menus, much easier to use the volume buttons on the side of the phone.

Thus using vibrate feature to remind me that i am in silent mode is not a good option for me (maybe good for other people, but not for me).

Essentially this thread is just for fun since apple won't be listening to it anyway, i'm not quite sure why people are so against the idea of an icon, i can't see what damage it would do.

There is obviously a desire for this icon since if you break jail your phone you can get this feature, it seems that features that show up on these broken phones are highly desireable and eventually make it to legit phones anyway (app store, copy paste, etc...).

also, a setting to hide the silent icon if people don't like it would help to appease both camps.

Very good point. It's funny how some people like 4limbs shoot off at the mouth calling people names rather than come up with ideas or alternatives such as yours to achieve what they need rather than wait who knows how long for a new feature that may never come.

I have the vibrate feature on always and I've never missed a call unless I was away from my phone.

Really? With only vibrate you never miss a call?

There must be something wrong with my vibrate feature, i find it so weak that i miss it all the time, i can only feel it if it is on a belt clip case, if it is in my pocket i don't even feel it most of the time, especially if i am standing and it isn't being pressed against my leg like it is when i am sitting.

I guess I miss calls less often since it vibrates for so long, but emails/texts with the super short 1 vibrate... i miss it all the time!

Do you find your vibrate to be strong? I don't find it strong at all compared to my old cheap LG basic model phone or my old BB. I am guessing that mine must be deffective or something since it is very weak and I miss it all the time.

Thank you for bringing up this point so i can have it verified with an apple store!

Cheers!

I don't believe I said I am against the idea, I just merely added my opinion on that there are other features I think I would rather Apple be working on for the iPhone than a silent mode indicator. That's all. It makes no difference to me whether it's added or not.

Hi, Helmet2279. I wouldn't say my vibrate feature on my phone is super strong, but it is enuff to alert me if I have the phone clipped on me or if I have it sitting on a table. I do have to say the vibrate feature is stronger on my 3gs than it was on the original iPhone and maybe even my 3g. It could stand to be a little stronger.
Now when I said I had the vibrate feature on all the time, I meant that I have it on whether the phone is on silent mode or not. That way when I do have to put the phone on silent mode, the vibrate feature is already turned on so I don't have to worry about remembering to put it on when I have to turn the ringer off. It works well enough for me.