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I would have presumed you can have custom notification levels for specific phones calls baked into modern phones OSs.

iOS has a bypass list for “Do Not Disturb” mode, but sound is disabled via a hardware switch next to the volume buttons.

As a workaround, I’ll use the “Find my iPhone” chime which is the one way to bypass the hardware switch if I need to get my wife’s attention while the phone is set to silent.

Emergency bypass in iOS should also bypass the hardware silent switch.

That's what he said.

Then it wouldn't be a hardware switch anymore, just a sensor. Meaning software could mess something up and "embarrass" you in public, completely voiding the point of the mute switch.

It seems likely that the side switch is anyway connected to software - on iPad its purpose is configurable and I think it was for a short period on iPhone. I always assumed the point of the switch was for quick and convenient access, not for certainty. Besides, the hardware button also fails embarrassingly when full of lint.

But this is exactly how it works. On my 8, I have emergency bypass turned on for my wife. When the hardware switch is turned to the "silent" position, I still get a ring when she calls and a tone when she texts. Everyone else I hear nothing.

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