@castaway I totally agree. YouTube has to be the gold standard here and the Phonak app has got it back-to-front.
And IIRC, the previous incarnation of the Phonak app’s mute button worked in the standard way.
Somehow I can’t put those two words in the same category 
I have seen it some newer app developments over the last couple of years in this style of button switching for both phone and online apps, and maybe (random thought) it’s a push from Apple/Adobe to make button switches that way.
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I was watching the tv with the tv connector. I opened the app and tried to figure out how to mute the mic/audio and that button toggle was totally confusing. And I’m an avid tech guy. They have made something so simple so over complicated… just to be unique it seems. The UI is a cartoon garbage full of ads now, but on top of that we have icons that are counterintuitive. Way to go Phonak!
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@BrBarry Do you have any examples?
As an app developer myself, working with professional UI/UX designers, I have to agree with @richardsondc that what Phonak has done is counterintuitive - because it’s non-standard.
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“Do you have any examples?” Apple Music on an iPhone is an example, at least in the US. While a tune is playing a pair of vertical bars are showing on the current tune line. Touching the bars stops the tune and the bars change to a right point arrow. Touching the arrow starts the tune and the arrow changes to the vertical bars.
Instead of showing the state of the device, it shows what happens when the icon is touched. It is different, but I have become use to it.
@brian_s That sounds like a standard play/pause button:
pair of vertical bars = pause; right point arrow = play.
Anyone have any examples of Phonak’s non-standard use of the speaker icon to represent mute/unmute? Or is Phonak truly out on its own here?
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Mute/unmute button
There’s more to this issue than meets the eye (literally!).Do toggling button icons represent state or action?
Most, like the play/pause button, represent action (pause/play). Similarly, the upward pointing arrow on the editing box I’m now using, represents an upload action. So with on/off buttons, But back in the ancient days of basic UI design, some designer (or maybe just a developer) decided that the mute/unmute toggling button should represent state (speaker = unmuted; slashed speaker = muted). Now Phonak, in their (un)wisdom, have decided to go against the long-established tradition and make the button action consistent with most other toggling buttons and represent action 
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Wow. We’re really picking this thing apart. The app is supplement to the hearing aids. It’s not essential for the aids to work. I mean you can have your aids programed by your audiologist so you pretty much don’t need to use the app. No matter what gets done to the app everyone’s not going to be happy.
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Essential, though, for those of us who rely on the mute button. 
I’ll keep this short and simple. Hate the new app. It’s good to know Phonak is not alone when it comes to screwing up something. I didn’t get hearing aids to count my steps or monitor my health. Let’s get them working the best they can for hearing. Take that health crap the hell out of my hearing aids.
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I also hate it when companies call an app change an “upgrade” when it really is an “annoyance”. This is where you really need a warning label - “CAUTION - before moving to the CHANGED app note that this change may cause you undo stress and anxiety. NOTE: you will need to learn a lot of new useless crap that we will change again and again just to annoy you.”
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I was surprised, I have already a fitnesstools on my right arm.
I don’t need that function twice.
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I think they figured out that they already had the data. All they had to do was update the app to expose it. The deal to do pulse via sensor in your ear is a bit over the top to me. I hate what they did to the app. When I talked to support today, the recorded greeting warned that call time was longer than normal due to the new app. And when I mentioned that beyond the quicker connect time, I hated it, she agreed she had heard that sentiment quite a bit. I bet the “feedback” is strong.
WH
The mute button seems to be irrelevant now anyway, since it is remaining frozen and non-functional in my program. I re-installed the app once and everything functioned normally for most of a day, then the mute button froze again. Unfortunately, when you visit the app store you find that this app has mostly awful reviews! Why can’t Sonovo get this stuff right?!!
Not for those of us for whom it is still working and who use it on a daily basis.
@castaway Sorry that it’s frozen for you.
This is a feature not a bug and mainly at the request of Paradise users I am told.
I found that counter intuitive but it is actually the same symbology as on my computer LOL
See your computer keyboard.
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@roybrocklebank Wow! You’re completely right! I seldom use the keyboard mute/unmute keys, so I didn’t make the connection that you’ve made. Maybe Phonak’s not that out of line after all!