This iPhone Hack Saves You From An Embarrassing Birth Control Alarm Going Off

Every morning, slightly before noon, my entire office listens to Vanessa Carlton's losing-your-virginity anthem “White Houses.” It's not because we're particularly passionate about Carlton's song (though, who didn't love that music video?).

No, it's just the ringtone for my co-worker Candice's birth control alarm. Thankfully, she usually hits the snooze button and downs her pill before the warbling vocals begin.

Almost 10 million women in the US alone are on the pill, and so it stands to reason that this routine happens probably 10 million times a day to women across the country. For maximum efficacy and routine, doctors strongly recommend you take the pill at the same time every day.

Candice laughs off the alarm every day, but it's not always quite so funny. During a spaghetti dinner with your parents or a contract negotiation with your boss, it's decidedly less cute when your phone starts ringing.

Luckily for ladies everywhere, the team at How-To Geek has a solution. On iPhones, even when muted, alarms ring at full volume. In order to remedy the problem and thereby create an alarm that exclusively vibrates, the team recorded a sound file that's essentially just silence. Download the file on your laptop, unzip it and drag it into iTunes.

Now, for the kicker: Plug your iPhone into your laptop and open up Settings to check that your Tones are synced to your phone. From the Alarm section of your Clock app, select Edit and your birth control alarm. Then, tap Sound to access your ringtone options for the alarm. Select Silent, and you're done.

Now, when your phone gently reminds you not to have a child in your one-room, fourth-floor walk-up, it'll stay between just you and Apple.

Citations: How to Set an iOS Alarm That Will Vibrate, But Not Make Sound (How-To Geek)