iPhone/Android: Mute System During Incoming Calls

[Box]

I used to use Salling Clicker on my Nokia, when I received or made a call it would mute the speakers of my PC.
This would be a nice feature to implement into the iPhone and future handset remotes, probably through multi-tasking, so that when a call is made or received by the phone, Sonos mutes or pauses playback.

[bleze]

+ 1

[mysteryliner]

+1. Sounds useful.

[Avee]

It would need to be configured to a zone though. It would be annoying to have the whole house go quiet every time someone's phone rings somewhere.

[Mr. Thomas]

Hi Incredible Sonos:-)

I am very satisfied with my three-zone Sonos system, which i control with my iPhone.

But there is one glitch.... and a large one...

When I am hearing loud music, and someone calls me on my iPhone, the only thing i can do is answer the call!!!!

Then I have to enter the Sonos app to turn down the volume.

I - and other iPhone controller users - need a function, where i can answer call and mute sound at the same time... In my mind - a spearate sonos screen will pop up when the incoming call is recieved letting me "answer call and mute sonos"

-Mr. Thomas

[Avee]

I think the obstacle here is the iphone. On android I could do this with tasker and andronos. I am not sure whether the iphone exposes any "hooks" where a programmer can catch an incoming call, but I am afraid not.

Note that pressing the mute button on any zoneplayer for a few seconds will mute the whole house.

[Mr. Thomas]

You might be right. I am not a iPhone developer. But then another way of solving this anoying matter, would be to let the Controller on the iphone "listen" after incoming calls, and when an incoming call is recieved, then i could just auto-mute the sonos Zones.

I then think of something like a "Mute zone on incoming call"-function

It should be possible. The iPod application from apple does the same.

[dlholt]

Originally Posted by Mr. Thomas

You might be right. I am not a iPhone developer. But then another way of solving this anoying matter, would be to let the Controller on the iphone "listen" after incoming calls, and when an incoming call is recieved, then i could just auto-mute the sonos Zones.

I then think of something like a "Mute zone on incoming call"-function

It should be possible. The iPod application from apple does the same.

Agreed. Also, the same happens with the following apps I use on the iPhone: Shoutcast, NPR, Pandora, various games, etc. I haven't dug into the API but the apps seem to respond to an incoming call event in different ways. There seems to also be a "call ended" event. For example, while listening to Pandora, if a call comes in, the playback pauses. Upon ending the call, the playback resumes. Within games, when a call comes in, gameplay pauses but does not resume upon ending the call--the game comes back up but gameplay remains paused for some games.

Note that I, and likely many other people, would have no problem paying for a version of the Sonos app for iPhone that has this feature.

Thanks for all you do!

[mberhault]

It would be nice to have an option in the iphone/android apps to pause all players when receiving an incoming call.

Obviously, the sonos app would have to be running in order to notice this.
Keeping it optional would also be ideal, I imagine not everyone wants to pause all zones.

[Tumph]

I use my iPhone as a controller, but when it rings I can't get to the Sonos app to shut off the music - or at least, I have to answer the phone over the music, then get the person to hang on while I switch to the app and pause.

I'm sure there are some questions around "do we mute all zones?" because there's no way of knowing which zone you're in - and of course it should be optional because you don't want to kill your party beats just because someone's rung you to ask directions to your house.

But apart from that, shouldn't it be fairly easy?