Mute Button not Muting

I think MLadd is the Troll in this thread!

There is no such thing as partially mute. If switch is a mute switch and doesn't actually turn the sound off then people can be forgiven for thinking it's not working.

This should obviously be a user configurable setting because even Apple can't decide which option they prefer. It should also default to orientation lock because 4+ million users already expect it to work like that.

MLadd, if you are going to reprimand someone for using the term "everyone" you can hardly then continue by claiming to know the views of "a majority of users".

Reprimand? You guys have some pretty thin skin.

Whatever. It's your way, or the highway. Everyone else is wrong, but you. Apple has no idea what they are doing, but you know what's best for everyone. Anyone who does not agree with you, is a fan boy and will go along with anything Apple says. You claim to speak for ALL the users, and yet, you only speak for yourself.

Very well. I have said my piece. I answered the question. You don't like the answer. You think I'm the issue. I didn't program the device. Go let Apple know.

ok, i see the reasons why Apple has changed the buttons and rocker.
Now that i see the reasons and i have used it myself, they are wrong for making the change as the unit was better before this change to me (and seemingly many other people).

Sometimes these updated features just are not better.

while watching a movie, i occasionally rotate by accident, so instead of just flipping the switch, i have to now open the task bar each time i wanna change this......... not even close to as convenient as just flipping the switch.......... yes, people can get over it, but it was better before.

Wow!

Perhaps they, like me, read Apple's documentation and thought that they knew what it meant! To quote from Apple's document 'iPad User Guide for iOS 4.2 Software':

*) The button is indicated as 'Silent' (via a small line)
*) The description below says "Mute the sound - Slide the Silent button up to mute the sound; slide it down to unmute the sound."

Well, that sounds pretty much like it will mute the sound, does it not? In fact when sliding the switch up an icon briefly flashes onto the screen showing the speaker sound icon with a line drawn through it - well, that looks like a volume mute indicator to me ...

And just out of interest, how do you know that it's intended to mute system notifications and alert sounds only. It doesn't say that it in the User Guide and I can't find it in a Tech Note. Is there a link to an Apple Tech Note which states this or are you simply stating what it actually does, which may or may not be what Apple planned?

Now, just for a bizarre twist on this whole saga ...

Run Apple's own "12 Days of Christmas" app and as it's playing the startup music, flip the Mute switch.

Voila! It mutes the volume 😉

Is this what they mean by The Exception that Proves the Rule?

What I mean is:

As per my post on page 2, Apple's own manual for iPad iOS 4.2 says that the switch "Mutes the sound" - no riders or caveats are mentioned.

However, a previous poster had implied that in fact the switch in fact does not mute the volume generally, but pointed to two Apple TNs which say that its purpose is to "Silence background sounds using the Silent switch on the side of iPad". We are left to imagine what a "background sound" might mean. For example, if I stream audio through the FIP app the Mute switch has no effect. If I put the app into the background the Mute switch has no effect on it either.

Now you (igmackenzie) say that "Apps and games are muted by the switch +as a rule+. It +tends to be+ just Movies, videos and music that are left un-muted."

My italics. So, are you saying that games are always muted or just sometimes ? If sometimes, then what is the rule? You say that "Apps ... are muted" - well, err, ... the only way to watch a video, play a game or listen to music is to use an app, so that comment adds nothing to the discussion.

If I watch a video using Apple's Video app or play music via the iPod app then the switch indeed mutes the sound. If, however, I watch the same video or listen to the same music file using, say, the Goodreader app, then the mute switch has no effect.

The only consistent behaviour I can find, which you did mention, is that every one of the 6 games I have that plays sound had it muted by the switch. So, the definitive rule appears to be:

Videos and music played via Apple's own iPod and Videos app (but not their YouTube app!) will have the sound muted by the switch
Games will have their sound muted by the switch
Notifications and (unspecified) system sounds will be muted by the switch

Anything else is up for grabs it seems!


In one of Apple's TNs (referred to in a previous post) it says that the switch operates: "... as a silence switch for notifications and system sounds. It does not mute audio or video playback."

Well, Apple clearly don't know what their own Mute/Silent switch does (as playing around with different iPad apps will clearly show) so what hope have we mere mortals?

KiltedGreen wrote:
What I mean is:

As per my post on page 2, Apple's own manual for iPad iOS 4.2 says that the switch "Mutes the sound" - no riders or caveats are mentioned.

However, a previous poster had implied that in fact the switch in fact does not mute the volume generally, but pointed to two Apple TNs which say that its purpose is to "Silence background sounds using the Silent switch on the side of iPad". We are left to imagine what a "background sound" might mean. For example, if I stream audio through the FIP app the Mute switch has no effect. If I put the app into the background the Mute switch has no effect on it either.

Now you (igmackenzie) say that "Apps and games are muted by the switch +as a rule+. It +tends to be+ just Movies, videos and music that are left un-muted."

My italics. So, are you saying that games are always muted or just sometimes ? If sometimes, then what is the rule? You say that "Apps ... are muted" - well, err, ... the only way to watch a video, play a game or listen to music is to use an app, so that comment adds nothing to the discussion.

If I watch a video using Apple's Video app or play music via the iPod app then the switch indeed mutes the sound. If, however, I watch the same video or listen to the same music file using, say, the Goodreader app, then the mute switch has no effect.

The only consistent behaviour I can find, which you did mention, is that every one of the 6 games I have that plays sound had it muted by the switch. So, the definitive rule appears to be:

Videos and music played via Apple's own iPod and Videos app (but not their YouTube app!) will have the sound muted by the switch
Games will have their sound muted by the switch
Notifications and (unspecified) system sounds will be muted by the switch

Anything else is up for grabs it seems!


In one of Apple's TNs (referred to in a previous post) it says that the switch operates: "... as a silence switch for notifications and system sounds. It does not mute audio or video playback."

Well, Apple clearly don't know what their own Mute/Silent switch does (as playing around with different iPad apps will clearly show) so what hope have we mere mortals?

Wow. All that to analyze a crummy little switch.

If it's such a "crummy little switch" then why did Apple ever even fit it anyway? And having machined the case, inserted the hardware and software to lock screen rotation, why did they even bother to go through the effort of altering its function, updating the manual and then coding what happens when double pressing the Home button to replace the now altered functionality when they could have just left it exactly as it was? Perhaps Apple don't share your opinion of the switch.

I don't own 10 pieces of Apple kit and what I do have I usually keep until no longer fit for purpose (often for at least 5 or 6 years) and so I like to get the best out of what I've handed over my money for, which means rather than thinking "Oh - what a funny little switch" and ignoring it, I'd actually like to know what it does. Let's face it, an iPad has a Home button, a "Mute" switch, a sleep/wake switch and a volume rocker; only 4 hardware controls and we don't actually know what the purpose of 1/4 of them are! You may be happy with that, but I'm not.

KiltedGreen wrote:
What I mean is:
....... <extraneous content snipped> ............

1. Had they meant it to be a Mute Switch, they'd have called it that. It isn't, and they didnt.
2. My own assumption is that, in choosing the operating design for this switch, they decided that those playing games wouldn't be as involved in their incoming video content as those watching movies, shows, etc.
3. That being the case, it makes sense to lump game sound in with system sounds when it comes to deciding how the Silent switch will affect which kinds of audio. Not the only way to design it, obviously, but certainly a way and one that, IMHO, makes more sense than the reverse.

No, I haven't been told what it does. Posters have kindly pointed out links to Apple's TNs (which are demonstrably wrong) and proffered their own explanations which are only partially correct. It's not our fault we don't know its function because Apple themselves aren't telling us! I'm aware that you can't help but this is a discussion board where we try to work these things out together and in this case, we haven't really 😟

In your opinion I may be over analyzing, in my view it's "Apple have just changed this screen rotation lock switch I've been using just fine for 5 months (which worked 100% of the time) into ... what exactly?" A very simple question which sadly doesn't seem to have a simple answer.

I have sent Apple feedback requesting that they issue an update to the manual to clarify exactly what the switch is for. Shouldn't be too hard for them now should it?

Michael Morgan1 wrote:
1. Had they meant it to be a Mute Switch, they'd have called it that.

I wouldn't put too much stock into what Apple calls it. In the User Guide, it's called a "Silent switch."

If I watch a video using Apple's Video app or play music via the iPod app then the switch indeed mutes the sound. If, however, I watch the same video or listen to the same music file using, say, the Goodreader app, then the mute switch has no effect.

Well, that is exactly what should not happen.
If that is how it works for you, then there is a fault with your iPad.

Ok so the way that i have come around to understanding this is:
1. the mute switch on the top is only for system alerts/notifications. Is this clearly spelled out in documentation? From some of the posts here it would seem not.
2. Muting does not work with the switch when using the iPod and other sound "required" functionality.
3. Some people on this discussion board would rather be condescending and sarcastic than to help others understand why things are the way they are.

Mlgsac wrote:
Ok so the way that i have come around to understanding this is:
1. the mute switch on the top is only for system alerts/notifications. Is this clearly spelled out in documentation? From some of the posts here it would seem not.

The " .. mute switch on the top .." is called the Silent switch in iOS 4.2. There is some evidence that it will be renamed to the Mute switch in 4.3 and may work in different ways. For now, it mutes +system sounds+, which includes alerts and notifications and most game sounds. It is not well described in documentation, which is not uncommon for Apple. Like most others in their industry, they have for years been dumbing down their user-directed documentation.

2. Muting does not work with the switch when using the iPod and other sound "required" functionality.

Basically, music fracks and audio tracks from videos, games, whatever.

3. Some people on this discussion board would rather be condescending and sarcastic than to help others understand why things are the way they are.

Not at all. But, then again, all too often the poster is a) clearly not interested in understanding anything at all, b) has made no effort to read through available docs or, for that matter, even the rest if the posts in the thread he's chiming in on, c) posts with the 724th successive breathless "It ain't here, what's up with that?" post despite the fact that the question has been asked and answered already in three clearly-marked threads on the same page, d) gets upset and blasts the responder for providing an answer that he didn't want to hear, was unprepared to accept, or which didn't offer him all of the automatic respect and adulation which he felt he certainly deserved. And so it goes.

Let me explain a bit about things the way they are on these forums. In the broadest terms you have three basic classes:

A. Those who may or may not spend considerable time in the forum asking and discussing their own questions but spend very little to no time answering those of others. This is the overwhelming majority, and includes every possible combination of traits.

B. Those who spend large amount of time here answering questions, a very small minority in most forums, and exhibiting more similarities than differences in approach, etc.

C. Those who spend most of their time present criticizing residents of Group B above, but will almost never be critical of Group A. This group is minuscule in most forums but do, unfortunately, attract more than their fair share of response time.

And that's all I'm wasting on you tonight. Thanks for contributing, in your way, and welcome to Apple Discussions!