Movie fans are not too happy with Apple right now. News released on Friday states that the tech giant plans to release a beta version of iOS 10.3 on January 10th with a new “theater mode” that would dim your iPhone display and mute audio, making it ideal to use in movie theaters. Additionally, theater mode is set to disable the phone’s ability to receive and send messages, while the phone’s remaining functions would still all work.
Apple has had a patent for “theater mode” since 2012, stating their hopes that the mode could use GPS and cellular triangulation to activate and deactivate the mode by itself. The patent states, “While the user is in the movie theater, the mobile device deactivates its cellular communications interface and/or automatically sets the device to a silent mode. When the user leaves the movie theater, the portable device enables phone communications and/or restores the ringer setting to the setting utilized prior to the device’s deactivation. Hence, a theater owner or operator may feasibly charge additional in the way of ticket price (or offer as a free incentive) the feature of ‘no cell phone interruptions’ during certain movies.” No word on whether this actual version will incorporate what their patent plan originally intended to do.
Most fans have taken to Twitter to complain about the possible update with such messages as:
https://twitter.com/tmetz1226/status/816493428301139968
Does it immediately show a message to the user saying "STOP BEING A DICK" and then turn the phone off? #TheaterMode https://t.co/B0X4Rm7zNg
— Jessica King (@shebakesalot) January 4, 2017
While Apple’s intentions for this new mode may be to discourage cell phone use in theaters and provide moviegoers with a better cinematic experience distraction free, how many people will even use it? Will it also come down to moviegoers being charged extra for a special movie theater to watch films where cellphones are not allowed?
We’ll have to wait and see what exactly it does when it releases next week.
But here’s a better concept for theater mode.
Just TURN OFF your phone when you watch a movie. Why pay to watch a movie if you aren’t really going to be watching? Leave the distraction for a couple of hours. No one will miss you. The world will go on without you. No need to have FOMO. You can check it when you leave. You won’t be distracting those around you.
Movies are where you go to get away from the realities of your life and the everyday world. Going to a theater to watch a movie is an affordable mini escape. Don’t be that annoying person and treat yourself to a mini vacation at the cinema.
