‘I hissed at someone to turn it off’ – cinephiles on rumours of an iPhone ‘theatre mode’

A new iOS might have a mode to allow you to check your messages mid-movie without disturbing people. But would it be a good thing?

For those who see the cinema as the last refuge from mobile phones, rumours about Apple's latest squeeze on our attention spans will be alarming. Sonny Dickson, a longtime Apple news leaker, tweeted that iPhones could have a "theatre mode". People have speculated that this could be silent notifications and a dark screen.

Related: Turn it on! Future iPhones and iPads to have 'theatre mode' for use in cinemas