Developer Builds Geofencing App to Auto-Silence Phones at Mosques, Meetings and Lectures
A developer built an Android app called Muffle after witnessing a disruptive phone notification during a mosque sermon, aiming to automate phone silencing based on the user's physical location. Most existing solutions depend on fixed time schedules or manual input, which fail when plans change, prompting the need for a smarter, location-aware system. The app's geofencing engine uses Google Play Services' GeofencingClient combined with a secondary FusedLocationProviderClient check to confirm a user has actually entered a defined boundary before adjusting audio settings. An initial 50-metre fixed radius proved unreliable due to the device switching between Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and cellular signals, causing delays of several minutes in detecting location transitions. The hybrid verification approach keeps battery impact low by only activating the additional location check after the primary geofence event is triggered, though inconsistent location permission behaviour across Android manufacturers presented unexpected challenges during development.
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