how to mute FaceTime ringer

I previously had used bedelman's trick to add a "silent" ringtone for FaceTime. Thanks for that, bedelman!

However this past week I updated my laptop to macOS 10.13 High Sierra, and quickly realized I had to re-apply it. Before that though, I simply tried the original suggestion (System Preferences > Notifications > FaceTime > Unselect the "Play sound for notifications" checkbox) and lo and behold, that now works. So no need for Terminal commands, installing Silence.m4r or using Unix VI editor. Just use Apple's own UI to turn off sound in notifications for the FaceTime app. Finally!

Here's the steps I performed to accomplish this...

1. I downloaded the silence.m4r file from http://richardkmiller.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/silence_ringtone.php
2. I renamed the downloaded file to be named Silence.m4r (instead of silence.m4r - to make the name match other ringtone naming)
3. In Finder, I used the "Go To Folder" choice under the "Go" menu to go to /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/ToneLibrary.framework/Versions/A/Resources/Ri ngtones/
4. I copied the Silence.m4r file into that folder
5. I launched the Terminal Application and performed the following commands (blue text)...
   1. sudo su -
   2. You will be prompted for your computer password -- key it in. You are now the "super user" (also known as "root")
   3. cd /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/ToneLibrary.framework/Versions/A/Resources/Ri ngtones/
   4. chmod 644 Silence.m4r
   5. chown root:wheel Silence.m4r
   6. cd /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/ToneKit.framework/Versions/A/Resources/
   7. vim TKRingtones.plist
      1. You are now within the Unix VI editor
      2. Press down arrow until you reach the line containing <string>system:Sonar</string>
      3. Press the i key (for insert)
      4. Add line for <string>system:Silence</string>
      5. Add any tabs or things to make text look tidy
      6. Press ESC key (to escape from Insert mode)
      7. Press : key (colon key)
      8. Type wq to "write" and "quit" followed by RETURN key (if you just want to quit without saving changes type q!)
      9. exit
      10. You are no longer the "super user"
      11. exit
      12. You have exited from the command line interface and the Terminal window can be closed/quit

Launch Facetime and you should now see a "Silence" choice within the ringtones selection within Facetime (within the Classic group)​

Try this workaround. It worked for me

1. Download silence ringtone from http://www.iphonefaq.org/archives/971156 or any other source (.m4r)

2. Go to /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/ToneLibrary.framework/Versions/A/Resources/Rin gtones/ and copy silence.m4r in that location.

3. Delete any ringtone in that folder and rename the silence ringtone (For ex., I deleted Uplift.m4r and renamed Silence.m4r to Uplift.m4r)

4. Go to Face time preferences and choose this Ringtone (Ex., Uplift.m4r)

5. you are done

It is not elegant solution but works

Excellent. I did a symbolic link instead of and actual renaming and it works too.

lrwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 22 Mar 10 13:26 Apex.m4r -> 10 Seconds Silence.m4r

-rw-r--r-- 1 root admin 38062 Mar 10 10:08 10 Seconds Silence.m4r

-rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 161442 Sep 9 18:01 Apex.m4r=orig

Thanks!!!

Bedelman, I tried to follow your instructions and must have screwed something up in the terminal! When I open Facetime Preferences now, there's just an empty blank box, no info or any options - nothing. What did I do?

I put together those earlier instructions for Yosemite (10.10). I'm not sure if they would work if you're running El Capitan though. After I upgraded my Yosemite system, I lost the "Silence" choice on the drop-down menu -- and now the shown choice is merely empty (blank). But I could pull the drop-down and choose something from the list shown.

Same here, bedelman. That "silent" ringtone tweak worked well in Yosemite and has still been working once I upgraded to El Capitan, but as you said, the "Silence" choice isn't showing in the drop-down menu. It's now just... blank. Of course now, I've been scared to adjust that pulldown option, or even tinker with it, for fear of losing the setting.

(I had been thinking that ideally, FaceTime would have a “None” option at the bottom of the list, just like Messages does.)

I did discover this utility, which would make it easy to add (back) in a proper "silent" (or other) ringtone:

https://sites.google.com/site/appleclubfhs/downloads/ringtone-adder-info

Unfortunately for it to work in El Capitan, you have to (temporarily?) disable System Integrity Protection.

On another El Capitan system though, I just tested the "Play sound for notifications" checkbox (in System Preferences > Notifications > FaceTime) and now, contrary to Yosemite, it actually works. So there's that...! Perhaps I don't need the "Silent" ringtone hack after all.

I was also thinking it would be great if FaceTime could have distinct notification settings for incoming FaceTime calls, vs. Handoff/Continuity/iPhone Cellular/WiFi Calling calls. Especially because with multiple devices all linked by the same AppleID, there are now very many opportunities for a single incoming phone call to invoke a cacophony of alerts across multiple devices. It can get a bit crazy.

I’ll be submitting this to Apple Feedback.

Hi there.

System Preferences > Notifications > FaceTime > Unselect the "Play sound for notifications" checkbox.

Cheers,

Adam

Hi guys,

thank you for your contribution, Adam. I had already tried that as well, but it doesn't actually silence the ringer for me on my Mac. Did this work for you, tdudu?

Thanks

Sebastian

I tried unchecking "play sound for notifications" several times and it still rings. Anyone have any other ideas?

Same problem here. It still rings. Anyone know of a solution for this?

I'm guessing the OP didn't actually try the solution he accepted.

The accepted solution does not work. Is there really no way to mute incoming calls short of muting the entire system?

Excellent, just tried this and it works. Smart workaround, thank you for sharing!