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I am not sure if this is possible in WP8, but I am trying to tweak the audio playback settings and would like to know if anyone else has been able to accomplish this.

What I am looking to do is have the phone enter a "silent mode," where absolutely no sounds will emit from its speakers, yet retain a volume setting so that if I plug in headphones or an audio cable, it will still output sound across the wire.

Currently, even with my phone on vibrate, I have to hold down the Lumia 920's side rocker switch to bring system volume all the way down to zero if I want the phone to be truly silent. When I want to listen and plug in a cable, I then have to bring the volume back up.

If I forget to bring the volume back down when I am done listening, and then launch a games or another app with sound, the app will play sound out of the phones speakers when in vibrate mode with no headphones plugged in.

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6

iOS devices have a separate volume setting for headphones and the built-in speakers. This is being determined from whether you have a 3.5mm AUX cable plugged in or not.

Windows Phone 8 does not have anything of the sort, as far as I can tell. I have looked for it as part of my quest for a mute mode.

You will potentially have better luck with wireless accessories, though. A connected Bluetooth headset could offer separate volume controls through their hardware. But I have not tested this. You can probably test this in a store.

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2
  • External volume controls can only turn down the volume. So of the volume is at 0/30 no sounds will come out. – Conrad Frix Dec 13 '12 at 17:14
  • Thanks for giving me the unfortunate news. I feared this was the case after not being able to figure it out. I am also not sure about the wireless accessories thing but that is another matter. – Gundabad Dec 14 '12 at 23:49
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On the 920, when you press the volume rocker, you get on the top bar -- the volume setting (like 20 / 30) and a setting that says ring + vibrate ... touch the ring + vibrate portion and it will switch to vibrate only and no affect the volume ...

Doing the same -- hit the volume rocker, and then the vibrate area, and it will switch to ring + vibrate ... simple, but it was not explained -- I did the volume thing too when I first got the phone ...

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  • That was not obvious at all. I actually tried this when writing my reply, but I must not have touch the area properly because it did not change anything and I assumed the functionality was not there. – Aeyoun Dec 13 '12 at 17:51
  • The solution does not, however, fulfill the “absolutely no sound from the speaker” wish. – Aeyoun Dec 13 '12 at 17:53
  • Yes, when on vibrate only and a setting such as 20/30 volume, I still get noise for the camera shutter, removing the device from the charging pad, and most annoyingly, music from games if I start one up. I was looking for a true "silent mode" without having to dial down on the 30-point volume dial to enable it, and have to dial back up when I plug in headphones. – Gundabad Dec 14 '12 at 23:46
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Windows Phone 8.1 does have a double bar:

  • One for ringing and notifications
  • One for apps

This is a big step-up from previous versions, i can't belive what process went to define the original behaviour.

The problem is, notifications include stuff like whatsapp, in iOS this is handled differently, ringing and sms have one sound level, and apps (whatsapp, line, games) have another, thus giving you some sort of priority. If someone calls me it will be most probably be important or urgent, but a whatsapp message will not, that is a real use case in most of the world where calls and sms do cost a lot of money and whastapp messages do not, if someon is spending hard cash to call me i want to be able to listen to it!

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