There are two kinds of people in this world: People who put their phones away while watching a movie in a movie theater, and people who are rude. (Do whatever you want at home, we don’t care.) Nevertheless, a rumor has been going around for the past few days claiming that Apple is working on a “theater mode” for its iPhones, even though people who care so little for the theater-going experience that they will scroll through Facebook throughout all 112 minutes of Thor: The Dark World (true story) are probably not considerate enough to put their phones into “theater mode,” either.
The source of this rumor is walking spoiler alert Sonny Dickson, whose website says he “specializes in exclusive leaks, news, and reviews for technology, cars, and pop culture”—but mostly just Apple products—obtained ”from sources both inside and outside of Apple.” Last week, Dickson tweeted:
He went on to say that the new iOS update is scheduled to seed in beta on January 10. Apple does usually seed updates to a new iOS without holding a press conference (those are reserved for a whole new iOS), so the lack of an official announcement of the new feature less than one week from its purported launch doesn’t disqualify the idea in itself. But still, the news should be taken with a grain of salt.
One thing Dickson doesn’t explain in his tweets is exactly what this new “theatre mode” will entail. How will it differ from airplane mode, or from just turning the fucking thing to silent and putting it in your pocket or purse if you can’t stand to have your phone turned off for a couple of hours, remains to be seen. More than likely, it will just make it easier for people to throw away $10 (or more!) by buying a ticket to a movie that they have no intention of watching, either by turning down the brightness on the screen or tinting it red or some other ostensibly less annoying color while “theatre mode” is enabled. Your move, Alamo Drafthouse.