How to Activate Silent Mode on iPhone

Use Silent mode

You need to understand what silent mode is. iPhone's silent mode will mute calls and notifications on the phone, and switch to a vibration effect. Silent mode is a quick and convenient way to turn off (most) sounds on your phone.

Note: alarms set through the iPhone Clock app will bypass silent mode and ring at the scheduled time. Alarms set through other applications may not ring.

Turn off the Silent/Ring switch. This switch (also known as the mute button) is located on the top left of the phone. When you pull this button toward the back (silent mode), the orange strip will appear below the switch, then the phone will switch to vibrate mode.

When the switch is near the screen, the phone's sound is on.

If you switch to silent mode while your iPhone screen is open, the message 'Ringer Silent' will appear on the screen.

Adjust the 'Sounds' setting to stop your phone from vibrating. To make your phone truly silent, you can stop the vibration by going to Settings > Sounds. Find the function Switch 'Vibrate on Silent' and tap to turn it white (off).

This setting does not prevent the screen from lighting up every time there is a notification or an incoming call.

Turn off the keyboard sound. If you still hear the keyboard sound, you can turn it off at "Settings" > "Sounds". Swipe the switch next to the 'Keyboard Clicks' option to switch from green (on) to white (off).

Turn off "Lock Sounds". The iPhone usually makes a sound when the screen is turned off, regardless of whether it is in silent mode or not. To turn off this sound, open "Settings" > "Sounds" and find "Lock Sounds" at the bottom of the menu. Swipe the switch from green (on) to white (off) to turn off the lock sound.

Use Do Not Disturb mode

You need to understand what "do not disturb" mode is. The iPhone's "Do not disturb" mode temporarily turns off all sounds, vibrations, and lights so you can fully concentrate. When in this mode, the iPhone will still receive calls and messages as usual but will not vibrate, ring or light up.

Note: alarms set through the iPhone Clock app will still ring as normal when the phone is in do not disturb mode.

Many people often set their phones to this mode throughout the night so as not to be woken up by unwanted vibrations, bells or lights from the phone.

Swipe up from the bottom of the screen. The iPhone dashboard will appear.

Click on the "crescent moon" button. The crescent moon icon is used to turn on do not disturb mode and is located at the top of the control panel. If this button is white, it means do not disturb mode is on. Tap this button again (grayed out) if you want to turn off do not disturb mode.

You can access do not disturb mode by opening Settings > Do Not Disturb. Swipe the switch next to the word "Manual" to change from white to green.

The control panel also has a similar symbol, except that the crescent moon is inside the sun. This button is used to turn on the NightShift feature (night mode).

Turn this mode on and off according to the set time each day. If do not disturb is a daily use mode, you can program your iPhone to automatically turn this feature on and off at specific times by selecting Settings > Do Not Disturb. Swipe the switch next to the word 'Scheduled' to change it from white to green, then adjust the 'From' and 'To' times manually.

For example, you can turn on do not disturb mode during office hours (9am - 5pm) to avoid distractions while working.

Allow specific numbers to interrupt do not disturb mode. By default, do not disturb mode allows contacts you designate as "Favorites" to take exception and disturb you. You can customize these settings by going to Settings > Do not Disturb > Allow Calls From.

Tap 'Everyone', 'No One', 'Favorites' or 'All Contacts'

Allows repeated calls. By default, do not disturb mode allows incoming calls from people who have called you twice within three minutes. This setting is for emergencies, but you can turn it off.

Select Settings > Do not Disturb.

Look for the switch next to the 'Repeated Calls' heading. Keep the blue switch on to turn this mode on or turn it white to turn it off.

Samuel Daniel

Update 01 November 2023