FaceTime, mute, and hold with the iPhone 4
Things are not always what they seem with iPhone changes. For example, when the iPhone 4 and Facetime came out, the Facetime button replaced the mute button during calls. But hold is really still there.
When FaceTime made the scene on the iPhone 4, Apple changed the main phone control buttons. Facetime was added as a command and hold was removed. This may have been just a way to promote the new service, but some people were nonetheless upset that the Hold button was gone, leaving us with just the Mute button at the upper left of the control group. The problem with that was the difference between Mute and Hold. Mute just silences your half of the conversation. Hold silenced both halves.
Despite some confusion by even Steve Jobs at the formal introduction of the new phone, the Hold button is not gone forever. It has just been made an additional feature of the Mute control. If you just tap the Mute button (that’s it in the upper left of the phone call control panel as shown in the graphic at the upper left of this column) on the call control panel, your voice will indeed be muted so that the other party cannot hear you speaking.
However, if you press and hold the Mute button for a short instant, the call will indeed be placed on hold and the voices of both parties will be silences. Whether you have muted or held the call, another tap on the control button will bring the call back to life. In the long run, this dual purpose control may be a bit confusing at first, but it is a better use of control real estate.
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