Insights For Success

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Automatically silence your Android phone / tablet at night

technologyEdward Kiledjian

One of the questions I get asked most often is how to silence an android device at night or during busy times. Unlike IOS, Android doesn’t include this functionality in the base OS but fear not, a free app called Silence is the answer.

It is a well designed app with a clean and simple user interface that can toggle settings (sound, wireless, mobile data, etc) automatically based on your calendar. Unlike other similar apps (aka Tasker or locale) this one is incredibly easy to use and even a newbie can configure it in minutes.

You can configure Silence to use your calendar entries and make device changes accordingly. As an example, you can configure it to automatically switch your device into vibrate mode during meetings. You can also configure (non calendar) settings like switching your phone to quiet mode every evening from 1000pm until 0800am.

The most recent version also adds the ability to change data and airplane mode settings for most devices (depends if the device supports third party apps changing these).

The app is free (ad-supported) or you can spend $2 to get the ad free version and support the continued development of the app.  The developer seems responsive when emailed and the app get’s periodic updates (which is a good thing).

A more technical person can definitely accomplish the same results by using Tasker or Locale but these are not free and much more complicated to use. Silence is simple enough for your mom to use and free so give it a try. And if you like it, why not support the developer by purchasing the $2 ad-free version?