Have you ever picked up your iPad, visited a website or followed a link to a video, played that video, and thought there was something wrong with the audio because you couldn’t hear anything? Or, instead, you were startled by the sudden, unexpectedly loud volume? Chances are that in both cases you simply forgot the volume level you previously set up — muted in the first case, left too high in the second. Or perhaps you were remembering the level you set it when you last used your iPad or iPhone with headphones, and now you’re using it without, or vice-versa. 

I know it’s easy to check the volume level by trying the Volume Up/Down buttons, or (with iOS 7) to just enter Control Centre and look at the volume slider. But wouldn’t it be nice and useful to simply have a volume icon in iOS’s status bar, just like in Mac OS X? You could learn at a glance if you left your device on mute, or whether the volume level is high or low. It could even be an optional setting, with a “Show volume icon in status bar” on/off switch in Settings > Sounds. Yes, it’s a tiny detail some will find superfluous. For me it would be a nice addition, since I frequently change the volume settings when I use my iOS devices at home and when I’m out.