Open Radar

 
If you hold Volume Down on the side of an iPad, you go down a few volume notches, then jump to the display shown in the attached screenshot, with a slashed speaker and the word Mute. However, if you check the control center, the Mute function is in fact not activated. You will still get key click sounds, for example, even though you “muted” the device.

Note: This is not the same issue as “my iOS device can still play sound when muted”. iOS has an idiosyncratic definition of “muting”, and I’m fine with that. But there should be a single, clear muting state represented consistently in the UI. 

The fact that audio can still play while the device is muted — and therefore, must be amenable to volume control — complicates things. However, the following changes would resolve the conflict, improve discoverability, and improve day-to-day usability.

1) As now, the system has a global volume setting and a single, global mute setting.

2) Clicking the physical volume buttons adjusts the volume setting by a notch and shows the volume indicator popup window.

3) The word “Volume”, the speaker icon, and the volume level pips ALWAYS appear in the volume indicator popup. In addition, “Mute” ALSO appears if the mute function is activated. When muted, the volume level pips are drawn in a darker gray color and the speaker icon has a slash over it.

4) Holding Volume Down activates Mute. It no longer affects the volume setting. (At first, you go down a volume increment. But as soon as it becomes evident that the button is being held down, the volume snaps back to its original level and the Mute function activates.)

5) The mute activated in #4 is the real, system-wide Mute. If you check in the control center, you will see the Mute indicator showing that Mute is on.

6) Similarly to #4, holding the Volume Up button turns off Mute but does not change the volume.

7) When Mute is active, you can continue to adjust the volume by clicking the volume buttons as normal. But several things alert you to the muted state: “Mute” appears in the volume indicator popup, the speaker icon has a slash over it, and the volume level pips are dimmed.

8) If the volume level is zero and the user clicks Volume Down, the Mute function activates. If the volume level is maximum and the user clicks Volume Up, the Mute function deactivates.

The benefits of this scheme over the current system are:

1) The system has only one “mute” state, which is shared between the volume indicator panel and the control center.

2) Mute can be directly activated or deactivated by holding down a volume button. There is no need to fumble with the control center. This will be almost as good as a dedicated hardware button.

3) Users only have to discover one of three ways to activate Mute, but if they discover others, they can choose the method they like best.