> I would love my phone to know I’m in Church for a wedding or at a play and not have to remember to switch.
I kinda have the opposite problem. I turn my phone to silent because I'm at a restaurant or cinema or whatever, then 3 or 4 weeks later discover I never remembered to turn it back.
And I'm 100% OK with that, I've gotten good enough at turning the ringer on when I'm expecting a call, and not worrying about "missing calls" from people who aren't in my VIP list or who don't leave voicemail.
Semi-related, I've found this one of the primary reasons I wear a smartwatch. My phone now generally remains on silent 99% of the time, as does the watch. It's pretty easy to miss a vibration when a phone is in a pocket or on a table somewhere, but having a vibration on my wrist is almost always noticeable.
The few times I do not notice a notification, I'll pick up up when just keeping an eye on the time.
Not having bings , boops, and rings surround my life has been a huge nicety -- Far more than I'd have expected. Highly recommend if someone wants to be 'notified reliably' but has the modern day sounds also drive them a bit nuts...
First one sets my phone to silent when I arrive at work (500m radius I think). It also sets it back to loud (or whatever the previous state was) automatically when I leave that radius.
Second one sets my phone to loud when my phone connects to my home WiFi. This helps with the problem you describe - but agreed, phone stuck on silent isn't generally an issue (until I miss some courier's phone call and kick myself).
Basically the phone communicates with the venues via an AirTag like network and enters DND or becomes a school mode device.
It can be on by default, and some users like on call doctors or firefighter etc can override and take responsibility for managing themselves.
I would love my phone to know I’m in Church for a wedding or at a play and not have to remember to switch.