Your iPad comes with all kinds of system sounds (event sounds) enabled by default; a notable examples include the send-mail noise, which is the same a Mac OS X plays when you send an email. But apps you load on your iPad will also often come with their own sound scheme, which makes using your iPad in a silent place (like a public library), a distraction and annoyance for others. So, how do you turn off all sounds on your iPad, and most importantly, how do you quickly mute your iPad? This tutorial explains how to do it.
Quickly mute your iPad volume sound level with a click
Follow these steps to mute your iPad and silence all sounds:
- Whatever side and orientation in which you hold your iPad, locate the volume controls near one of the corners of the device (next to the button that allows you to lock the orientation and disable rotation on your iPad).
- Here is a screenshot of the iPad's volume control and mute button combo:
- As you may already from our tutorial on changing iPad volume sound level, the volume buttons are actually a single button whose functionality depends on which direction you tilt it: push the side of the button closest to the angle, and the volume increases. To decrease and mute the iPad volume, you will use the side of the volume button furthest from the corner of the device (marked with a minus sign on the screenshot above).
- Instead of pressing the volume down button several times, just press and hold it down: your iPad will start decreasing the sound level in two or three increments, and then completely mute the iPad!
- Once you get accustomed to using this technique, it will become quite intuitive. For it to work, you will need to press firmly on the volume down button, and not release until you see the following icon appear on screen, confirming that all sounds are now muted:
- Notice from the picture above that the on-screen speaker icon is visible, in white, and that the volume level bars are "empty" (not white). Likewise, the sound waves coming out of the speaker are empty (not white either). This is your visual cue and confirmation that your iPad sounds are turned off.
And that's all it takes to quickly mute your iPad volume! (Note that some applications also allow you to quiet all sounds with a click or slide on the screen, and this either turns off just this particular application's sounds, or mutes your iPad altogether.)
Tip: if you are running iOS 4, and are accustomed to using the previous version of iPad's operating system, you may have noticed that you can also mute all iPad sounds by toggling the switch on the side of your iPad, next to the volume controls. Personally, we prefer it to lock the iPad rotation.