Sometimes the ring/silent switch on your iPhone starts malfunctioning. When this device’s mute button no longer works, you may think that it’s set to “quiet mode” but then hear a sudden ringing in spite of everything else is turned off – what could be causing such an issue?
The easiest way for me was just to take my Phillips head screwdriver and gently push down until there were enough gaps between each plastic piece so I could grab them with both hands while pushing up from below in order to remove all six tiny screws holding together two halves reveal underlustre gold Apple logo plate.
Take your iPhone under warranty or Apple Care to the nearest store for service. You can check if you’re covered by looking online right now!
You don’t want to be without your phone for any length of time, but if you need help fixing it quickly and easily then there are tricks that workaround this difficult procedure. These steps will show how easy they actually were!
1. Turn on Airplane Mode. Calls will go straight to voicemail, but at least you can still use Wi-Fi in Airplane Mode. Receipt of texts will be delayed until Airplane Mode is turned off. Navigate to Settings -> Airplane Mode -> ON.
2. Turn down the ringer volume. Although not ideal, if your iPhone is in a bag it might be quiet enough. Taking the volume down to one notch (the minimum) will quiet down the sound considerably.
3. Use the built-in virtual Mute button to silence the device. With iOS 7 installed, check these instructions on how to enable the Mute button using AssistiveTouch.
4. Temporarily silence your incoming calls by setting a silent ringtone on your iPhone as the default. You can easily add a silent ringtone to your iPhone with iTunes. Navigate to Settings -> Sounds -> Ringtone.
5. Silence incoming text messages and other alerts. Navigate to Settings -> Sounds -> Text Tone -> None. Other alerts such as New Voicemail, New Mail, and Calendar Alerts can be individually toggled on and off from the menu at Settings -> Sounds.
6. If your iPhone is jailbroken, you can install the tweak TapVolumeToMute.
7. Last but not least, another jailbreak option is to install the utility Auto Silent. Although it costs $3 you can completely circumvent and control the broken hardware ring/silent switch with this app.
Although none of these fixes are as convenient or easy as a functional ring/silent switch, they might be preferable to an embarrassing unexpected ring.
