A phone in silent mode has no webinar sound

Somebody writes in the chat that they cannot hear you. Everybody else can, the recording is fine, and the person is on a phone. Before you start testing your microphone, ask them one question, because the answer is almost always the same.

What to say in the chat

"If you are on a phone and hear nothing, take it off silent mode and tap the screen once."

That single line resolves most of these reports, and it costs you nothing to send it at the start of every event. On an iPhone it is the small switch on the left edge, or the bell in "Control Center". On Android it is the volume key, pressed until the phone leaves silent or vibrate.

Ask them to tap the screen afterwards as well. A browser will not start sound until the person has touched the page at least once, which is a rule of the browser rather than something we chose.

Why a recorded video plays but the webinar does not

This one belongs to the iPhone, and it surprises people because the same phone happily plays a film a minute later.

A webinar is not a video file. Your voice arrives live, and an iPhone carries live browser sound on the same path it uses for ringtones and alerts rather than the path it uses for recorded media. Silent mode is precisely the instruction to keep that first path quiet, so the room falls silent while a video keeps its sound. Apple treats this as correct behaviour rather than a fault, so it is not something a future update will change.

Nothing is broken on our side either. We run inside the browser and follow the phone's own rules, which is also why we cannot override the setting on the person's behalf.

Android splits its sound differently and is the gentler of the two, which the section below covers.

On an iPhone

The ring and silent switch is the one that matters, and it is easy to leave on silent for weeks without noticing, because everything else on the phone still makes sound.

• Flip the switch on the left edge so the orange stripe is hidden, or open "Control Center" and turn the bell on.
• Turn the volume up with the side buttons while the webinar is open, so you are moving the right volume rather than the ringer.
• Tap once anywhere on the room.

A "Focus" such as "Sleep" silences notifications rather than the webinar, so it is worth checking the switch first. If the sound is still missing after all that, use Safari rather than another browser, because Apple limits what the others may do.

On an Android phone

Android is the gentler of the two. Silent and vibrate normally quiet the ringer and notifications while media keeps playing, so a phone on vibrate usually still carries the webinar. Two things do stop it:

• The media volume is separate from the ring volume. Press a volume key while the webinar is open, then check the slider that moves. If the phone shows several sliders, the one to raise is media.
• "Do Not Disturb" set to total silence switches off media as well, unlike the ordinary setting. Turn it off, or allow media inside it.

The message the room shows on a phone

Anyone joining from a phone sees a dark screen with a short instruction before the webinar appears. It asks them to check the volume and tap the screen, and the tap is the part people skip, because it looks like decoration rather than a step. It is not. Until that first touch the browser will not let any sound out at all.

If an attendee tells you they saw the message and still hear nothing, they almost certainly read it and pressed nothing.

Frequently asked questions

Can we switch this off from our side?

No, and that is deliberate on the phone's part rather than a gap in the room. A web page is not allowed to overrule the silent switch, so the person holding the phone is the only one who can change it.

Why does a video on the same phone have sound?

Because a recorded video and a live webinar take different paths through the phone. Recorded media is exempt from the silent switch, live audio is not, and that difference belongs to the phone rather than to us.

The attendee says the volume is at maximum

Then they are most likely moving the ringer volume. Volume keys change whichever sound the phone thinks you are using at that moment, so the webinar has to be open and playing when they press them.

Does this affect people on computers?

No. A laptop has no silent switch, so a computer that stays quiet is a different problem, and sound settings in your operating system is the place to start.

Should I warn attendees in advance?

It is worth one line in the invitation, along with the request to join from a browser rather than an app. The attendee guide is written for them and can be sent as it is.