With the introduction of the iPhone 15 Pro, Apple has replaced the traditional vibration mode switch with a programmable action button capable of performing various tasks. This change has led to the removal of the familiar orange tab indicator that signaled the phone’s silent mode. Instead, Apple has introduced a silent bell icon placed next to the clock on the home screen to indicate when the phone is in silent mode. However, this addition has caused some users to find the screen less clean and minimalist.
How to Determine if the iPhone is Silent
Before the action button, you could easily check if your iPhone was in silent mode by looking at the side of the phone to see if the orange tab was visible. To ensure users can still tell at a glance if their phone is silent, Apple introduced the icon next to the clock on the home screen. This icon displays a silenced bell when the silent mode is active.
How to Remove the Bell Icon:
If you find the bell icon visually distracting and want to remove it, Apple has included a setting in the system preferences that allows you to disable it. Here’s how:
- Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
- Navigate to the “Sounds and Vibrations” section.
- Look for the “Show in Status Bar” setting located under the Silent Mode option.
- Disable this setting to make the bell icon disappear from the main menu.
With this change, the bell icon will no longer be visible on the home screen. To check if your phone is in vibrate mode, you will need to pull down the control center to see if the Silent icon is activated.
Why Can’t I Find the Option on My iPhone 15? It’s important to note that the option to hide the bell icon is only available on the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max. This limitation is due to the fact that these two models are the only ones equipped with the action button. Consequently, it wouldn’t make sense to include this feature on devices with a traditional vibration switch.
Now you know that if you own an iPhone 15 Pro, you have the option to hide the bell icon if it bothers you. For other iPhone models, this feature is not available.