Sometimes an advertisement is too annoying, so I want to toggle all sound off until it completes, then toggle it back. The old mute button handled that problem easily. But now, there are only options to silence calls and notifications. The new “mute” button only serves as a “Focus” option, so it’s redundant. Is my only recourse to slide the volume down and up?
iPhone 16 Plus, iOS 26
rjohnson_8ball wrote:
You aren’t on the latest iOS version. They now call the button on the left an “Action” button. It lets you silence incoming calls and notifications so you can watch YouTube videos without interruption. But today my only way to mute the YouTube video or some advertisement is to use the volume +/- buttons.
In any case the mute switch/action switch does not mute media or alarms.
You can press and hold Vol Down.
Or you can pay Youtube for premium which should be ad-free.
See if you can create a short cut to reduce volume and link it to the action button
"How to quickly mute all sound on iPhone: Sometimes an advertisement is too annoying, so I want to toggle all sound off until it completes, then toggle it back. The old mute button handled that problem easily. But now, there are only options to silence calls and notifications. The new 'mute' button only serves as a 'Focus' option, so it’s redundant. Is my only recourse to slide the volume down and up?"
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Muting your iPhone to Avoid Ads:
There are Web browsers in the App Store that can block it all out like a charm --free of charge. But, seeing these ads is something your are agreeing to when using a Web site's Terms & Conditions, such as those of YouTube.
You aren’t on the latest iOS version. They now call the button on the left an “Action” button. It lets you silence incoming calls and notifications so you can watch YouTube videos without interruption. But today my only way to mute the YouTube video or some advertisement is to use the volume +/- buttons.
rjohnson_8ball wrote:
You’re not on a recent version of iOS. The side button lost its mute
The presence of an action button is hardware dependant.
The mute function still exists as it always was, either toggle switch, or action button. You are correct that it does not mute media but it never has since introduction, Both switch types control software not hardware.
rjohnson_8ball wrote:
Sometimes an advertisement is too annoying, so I want to toggle all sound off until it completes, then toggle it back. The old mute button handled that problem easily. But now, there are only options to silence calls and notifications. The new “mute” button only serves as a “Focus” option, so it’s redundant. Is my only recourse to slide the volume down and up?
took me a second to flip the switch down for silent on my phone.
I bought Premium for the YouTube app a while back to eliminate advertisements in that app. But I have plenty of games that rely on ads in order to stay in business. Pushing volume down or up to mute or unmute is not quick enough. It’s strange they provide customized ways to silence notifications and calls but not a simple mute.
You’re not on a recent version of iOS. The side button lost its mute behavior.
How to quickly mute all sound on iPhone
