iPhone: Best way to mute Media Audio When Answering a Call?

By Teresa, 7 January, 2021

Forum
iOS and iPadOS

Hi, all. I'm familiar with iOS on my iPod, but haven't used an iPhone much. I just got an SE with latest operating system. I set the phone screen to full-screen. I've used magic-tap to answer and hang up. I assumed media audio would mute when there's an incoming call. Unfortunately, with the in-call screen, it's awkward to mute the media quickly. Can someone tell me an efficient way to do this? i use hearing aids, and it's extremely distracting to hear media and phone-call audio at the same time.

TIA :-)

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Comments

By al-Salil on Monday, January 25, 2021 - 17:27

Maybe I'm missing something here.
If I'm listening to an audio book, podcast or music etc the audio is muted automatically when I receive a call.
I then only have to use magic tap to answer the call and hang up and my audio then resumes.

This is also the case if I'm wearing headphones.

PS: I'm not a hearing aid user though, so maybe this problem of yours is related to hearing aids.
Hopefully someone using hearing aids will chime in.

By Teresa on Monday, January 25, 2021 - 17:27

Thank you. I suspect it's some kind of glitch with the hearing aids. I may tweak some settings and see if it makes a difference. Maybe it's a handoff or speakerphone issue? Anyhow, more experimentation is in order. Thanks again.

By Travis Roth on Monday, January 25, 2021 - 17:27

Hi Teresa, I also use hearing aids, and have not experienced this with them or headphones. iOS has been good about muting any audio playing when the phone rings. Are you certain it is not just the ringtone, that will still play until you answer the phone, unless you change some things.
The other thing I'd suggest to check is under Settings > Accessibility > Audio Routing, and make sure Calls and Media are both set to automatic. This is the default but something could have gotten changed.

By Teresa on Monday, January 25, 2021 - 17:27

That was a good call, Travis. Everything was on automatic. Most audio apps are ducked, but ooTunes is a little unpredictable. It seems to be ducked for about 30 seconds, and then comes back. I might tweak the "continue streaming when unplugging headset" setting in OoTunes and see if that changes things. Thanks!

By Siobhan on Monday, January 25, 2021 - 17:27

Magic tap gets me in so much trouble. It plays audio, answers the phone, and you look like a complete idiot when you hang up and someone sees you. I'd rather you use the power button to answer and end. Or something else. What I mean is the tap isn't reliable at all. You press it maybe your song plays, maybe the book you got starts. Bad idea on their part. Hope you get your issue fixed though.

By al-Salil on Monday, January 25, 2021 - 17:27

I personally do not have any issues with magic tap.
An alternative is to configure back tap though or simply double tap answer button.
I agree that hanging up with the power button would be nice.

By Teresa on Monday, January 25, 2021 - 17:27

I had an Android phone until recently, and that's the only thing I really liked about it. I thought that was a great accessibility feature.

By Jo Billard on Monday, January 25, 2021 - 17:27

That used to work when I got my phone in 2018. Now I'm glad it doesn't, because I like to lock my phone on a phone call to save battery.