How do I mute the call sound on my Android?

There are many valid reasons why someone may want to mute the call sound on their Android phone. Muting call sounds allows you to avoid unnecessary disruptions in situations where a ringing phone would be inappropriate, like during a meeting, at the movies, or while sleeping. It can also help reduce stress and distraction from constant notifications. Additionally, those with hearing impairments may wish to rely solely on vibration alerts rather than audible ringtones. This guide will outline the various methods available on Android phones to mute or silence incoming call sounds and notifications.

Locate Sound Settings

To access the sound settings on your Android phone, first open the Settings app. The Settings app is typically represented by a gear icon, and is located on your home screen, app drawer, or notification shade. Once you have opened the Settings app:

Navigate to the “Sound & vibration” or “Sound” section, depending on your Android version and device manufacturer. This section contains controls for ringtones, media volume, call volume, system sounds and more. On Samsung devices, the Sound settings may be under “Sounds and vibration” or “Sound mode.” For Pixel phones, look for the “Sound” section.

The settings may also be labeled “Audio” on some Android skins like OnePlus OxygenOS. Use the search bar within Settings if you’re having trouble locating the sound controls.

Sources:

[1] https://support.google.com/android/answer/9082609?hl=en

[2] https://www.jobulator.com/Documents/Jobulator%20Important%20Sound%20Settings%20Android.pdf

Mute Media Volume

One way to mute the call sound on an Android phone is to lower or mute the media/music volume. This controls the volume for music, videos, games and other media playback on your device.

To adjust the media volume:

Press the volume buttons on the side of your phone. This will bring up a volume slider.
Drag the slider all the way to the left or tap the icon to the left of the slider to mute the media volume.

With the media volume muted, any music, videos, or other media will be silenced. However, this does not affect the ringtone or notification volumes which are controlled separately. Muting media volume alone may not silence incoming call sounds.

To fully mute call sounds, you will likely need to mute the ringtone volume as well. This can be done through the sound settings. For more details, see the section “Mute Ringtone and Notifications.”

Source: Change volume, sound, & vibrate settings – Android Help

Mute Ringtone and Notifications

You can lower or mute the ringtone and notification volumes on your Android device to silence incoming calls and alerts.

To adjust these volume levels, open the Settings app and tap on Sound. Look for the sliders labeled Ringtone volume and Notifications volume. Drag the sliders all the way to the left to mute, or drag to the right to increase the volume.

Alternatively, you can press the physical volume buttons on your Android device to adjust the ringtone and notification volumes. When you receive an incoming call or alert, the volume control will adjust those levels specifically.

Muting these volumes completely will silence your ringtones and all app notifications. You will still see notifications appear silently on your screen. Just be aware you won’t hear incoming calls while these volumes are muted.

To resume normal ringtone and notification sounds, simply drag the sliders back up or press the volume buttons. This control gives you quick access to mute or unmute as needed.

Enable Do Not Disturb

One of the easiest ways to mute call sounds on an Android phone is to enable Do Not Disturb mode. This setting allows you to block sounds and vibrations for calls, notifications, and alarms based on a schedule or manually as needed.

To turn on Do Not Disturb:

Open the Settings app on your Android phone.
Tap “Sound & vibration” or “Sounds and vibration.”
Tap “Do Not Disturb.”

Toggle on “Turn on now” to manually activate Do Not Disturb.

With Do Not Disturb enabled, your phone will stay silent until you manually turn the setting back off. You can customize Do Not Disturb to automatically turn on during certain times or events, like at night when you sleep (https://support.google.com/android/answer/9069335?hl=en).

Under “Do Not Disturb preferences,” you can fine-tune what notifications and callers can bypass Do Not Disturb to ring your phone. Important calls and messages defined in your contacts, repeated calls, or contacts specified as favorites can be set as exceptions.

Silence with Power Button

One easy way to mute the call sound on your Android phone is by using the power or side button. When you receive an incoming call, you can press the power button once to silence the ringtone [1]. This will stop the sound without declining the call. The call will still be active and show on your screen, but you won’t hear it ringing out loud anymore.

This is useful if you need to quickly mute a call for a short period of time, for example if you’re in a meeting. Just remember to go back and either answer the call or decline it after silencing it. The power button essentially just toggles the mute on and off temporarily.

Some Android models also allow you to press and hold the power button for a couple seconds to reject the call entirely. So if you want to send it to voicemail, try holding the power button down when a call comes in [2]. Just be careful not to reject calls accidentally.

Overall, the power button is the fastest and simplest way to mute the ringtone for an incoming call on your Android phone. Give it a try the next time you need some quick silence!

Block Calls and Notifications

You can block calls and notifications from specific numbers directly on your Android device. Here are the steps:

1. Open the Phone or Contacts app and select the contact you want to block.

2. Tap the menu icon or tap and hold on the contact.

3. Select Block number or Block contact.

This will prevent calls and texts from that number from coming through. You will not receive notifications for blocked calls or messages.

Some Android versions like Samsung also have a separate Blocked numbers section in Settings where you can view and manage blocked contacts.

Alternatively, you can download a call blocking app from the Play Store to get more advanced blocking features like automatically rejecting unknown callers. Popular options include Hiya, Truecaller, and RoboKiller.

To quickly block calls without going into Settings, you can also enable Do Not Disturb mode or enable Airplane mode to silence calls and notifications from everyone.

Overall, blocking specific contacts is an easy way to stop calls and texts from people you don’t want to hear from. Try the built-in Android tools first before resorting to a third-party blocking app.

Use Airplane Mode

Turning on Airplane Mode is an easy way to mute all sounds and notifications on your Android phone. When enabled, Airplane Mode disables all wireless connections including calling, texting, mobile data, WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS. This prevents any incoming calls or notifications from making noise.

To enable Airplane Mode on Android, open the Quick Settings panel and tap the Airplane icon. You can also find the setting under Connections in Settings. Once activated, you will see the Airplane Mode icon in your status bar confirming it is on.

With Airplane Mode enabled, your phone will remain silent to calls and notifications. This is useful for times when you do not want to be disturbed, like sleeping, movies, or important meetings. Just remember to turn Airplane Mode off again when you want to resume normal phone operations.

Adjust In-Call Volume

Once on a call, you can use the volume buttons on your Android device to adjust the call volume. The volume buttons are typically located on the side or top of your device. Press the buttons up or down during a call to increase or decrease the volume.¹

When you adjust the volume during a call, it will change the in-call volume specifically without affecting your ringtone or media volumes. This lets you customize the volume just for that call. The changed in-call volume will remain at that level only for the duration of the call. When the call ends, the volume will revert to the previous ringtone volume.

You can press the volume buttons multiple times during a call to fine tune the volume level. This provides a quick and easy way to turn up or turn down the call volume on the fly as needed.

Conclusion

There are several ways to mute or silence incoming calls and notifications on Android devices. The main methods include:

Turning down the media volume and ringing/notification volume in Sound Settings

Enabling Do Not Disturb mode to block sounds and vibrations
Using the power or volume buttons to quickly silence an incoming call
Blocking specific contacts so their calls don’t ring through

Putting your phone in Airplane mode to disconnect from networks and disable all connectivity
Adjusting the in-call volume during a phone conversation

By utilizing one or more of these techniques, Android users can effectively mute their devices as needed for disrupted meetings, noisy environments, or unwanted interruptions.