The Mutator aims to silence the iPhone, once and for all

By Mike Flacy May 29, 2013

mutator — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Recently launched on Kickstarter a few days ago, the Mutator is a tiny piece of hardware that plugs into the headphone jack of your iPhone and mutes nearly all sound coming from the smartphone. While the iPhone has a mute switch on the left side of the device, it doesn’t silence sound from video, music and games as well as sound within applications like the built-in camera or the voice memos function. A piece of hardware used to silence all these distractions would be ideal for areas such as the library, a place of worship, the workplace during meetings, a courtroom during a trial or the movie theater.

According to the developer, the Mutator will silence Siri, mail alerts, text message alerts, calendar alerts, camera sounds, Web audio, video, music and games. However, the Mutator will not silence manually set alarms within the iPhone’s clock application. In addition, the user will have to engage the mute switch to silence the ringer for incoming phone calls.

As small as the hardware is, you won’t have to worry about losing it since the Mutator can stay plugged in at all times. In order to activate sound on the iPhone, the user simply turns the Mutator 90 degrees until it clicks. Turn it again and the phone is silenced.

At this time, the current prototype of the Mutator has been designed to work with iPhones without a case or using a slim profile case. Available in white and black, the price of a single Mutator for Kickstarter backers is $16. However, there’s an additional charcoal black version built with aluminum for $28. There are also a couple more funding levels for limited edition models.

According to the details on the project page, funding will be spent on production prototypes, tooling, molding, machining, packaging and delivery. The target delivery date for the Mutator is currently October 2013. As with all Kickstarter projects, be aware that manufacturing issues can delay delivery of the product weeks or even months beyond the original date.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Contributing Editor

By day, I'm the content and social media manager for High-Def Digest, Steve's Digicams and The CheckOut on Ben's Bargains…

Mobile

Apple is about to do the unthinkable to its iPads

A person holding the iPad Air 4.

Earlier today, Apple announced that new iPads are coming this May. In my eyes, this seems to be “The Chosen One” generation. We’re likely getting an OLED display, a better keyboard (hopefully), and a chip ready to chomp the AI dinner. This gadget shall finally fill the techno-digital void in my life. At last.

Or maybe I am just trying to blindly convince myself to splurge over a thousand dollars for a machine that is “still not a Mac” and “can never be a fully fleshed out workstation.” But hey, people are spending $3,500 on a headset that gives them a headache and $700 for an AI thingamajig that can’t quite figure out what it really wants to do.

Mobile

The best iPads in 2024: the 5 best ones you should buy

The backs of Apple's iPad Air and iPad Pro, with the tablets place on a table.

Apple's iPad is undoubtedly one of the most popular tablets on the market right now. There are several different models to choose from, but no matter which one you go with, you'll be getting one of the best tablets out there. Still, Apple provides an abundance of choice here, and with so many different versions — and almost annual updates — it can be tricky to know which one is the best to get.

All of Apple's iPads are pretty great, and they're each designed with a slightly different audience in mind, so it's hard to pick a single one as "the best." That's why we've broken this list down by categories; after all, there's an ideal iPad for nearly every situation. Whether you're looking for the best overall iPad, the best iPad on a budget, something in the middle of the pack, or even the best small iPad, we've got you covered.

Mobile

Best refurbished iPhone deals: Get an iPhone 14 for $513

An iPhone 13 in white color option.

The Apple iPhone is one of the best phones on the market, and because of it they don’t often come cheap. There are some great iPhone deals out there, but it’s rare to find significant discounts on newer models without having to commit to a longterm contract with a carrier, and it’s even less frequent you come across one of the best iPhones with a major price drop. This is where shopping refurbished can come in handy. Refurbished iPhones — for the most part — will come backed with a functionality guarantee or extended return window, making refurbished iPhones as safe of a purchase as shopping new. There are a lot of refurbished iPhone models seeing great price drops right now, which is why we’ve done the heavy lifting of rounding up all of the best refurbished iPhone deals. You’ll find them below, as well as some information on which refurbished iPhone might be best for you.
iPhone XR -- from $136

A refurbished model but one that's unlocked and comes with a full one-year warranty, the Apple iPhone XR is still pretty stylish for its age. It has a large 6.1-inch LCD screen with 1,792 x 828 resolution with Liquid Retina technology ensuring it looks super sharp. Powered by the A12 Bionic chip, it's starting to show its age but still has potential. There's also a 12MP back camera that can shoot 4K videos while the front-facing camera is 7MP and ideal for selfie-taking.