How To Automatically Silence Your Phone Before Church

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For many generations, the twisting and crinkling of a peppermint being unwrapped was the undeniable leader of sounds that cause the most disruption during church services. Today, the most distracting sound is, by far, the sound of an iPhone's default ringtone.

The next leading sound? The rustling produced by non-offenders of the congregation when making sure their phones are properly silenced.

Through the assistance of this post, you'll never have to remember to silence your phone before church again. This is accomplished through a service called IFTTT (If That Then This).

WHAT IS IFTTT?

When you think of IFTTT, think of "the internet of things". IFTTT is a platform used to make your belongings work effortlessly in today's technical world. Through an ever-growing library of programs, you can create tasks that can be automatically accomplished via certain events.

Here are a few examples of the tasks that can be completed through IFTTT:

• Receive a notification if there's going to be snow in tomorrow's forecast.
• Change the color of your living room lights when your Domino's pizza order is in the oven.
• Have your Christmas tree lights turn on when you return home.
• Automatically silence your phone when you're at church.

HOW TO SILENCE YOUR PHONE USING IFTTT

I know the following works for Android phones and it should work for iPhones, too. There are a lot of ways to get to this solution. You can solve by muting your phone for a specific time each Sunday but I feel it is easier for my phone to silence itself when it knows I'm at church*.

Step 1 - Get the IFTTT app on Google Play or the App Store.

Step 2 - Create your IFTTT profile.

Step 3 - Click on "My Applets" in the lower, right-hand corner then click the "+" sign at that top of your screen. 

Step 4 - Click the blue "+" sign and search for "Location". Click on "Location".

Step 5 - Select "You enter an area".

Step 6 - Type your church's name or address into the "Locate an area" field.

Step 7 - Tap the check mark in the upper left corner. 

Step 8 - Tap the "Create Trigger" button.

Step 9 - Now that you've set the trigger, tap the blue "+" sign to indicate what should happen.

Step 10 - Search for "Android Device" or "iOS" and select "Mute Ringtone".

Step 11 - Determine if you want your phone to vibrate when silenced then tap the "Create action" button.

Step 12 - Click the "Finish" button.

*Your phone is automatically silenced when it begins pulling a signal from the cell tower nearest the area you indicated (aka your church). Your phone will automatically mute when you enter that area and unmute when you leave!

I hope this helps!