Maps volume diminished to barely audible levels after giving out the first directions

Thanks! MileIQ makes sense since that app wants location access always. I just checked negative reviews for MileIQ on the app store and someone there (E Farmer) confirms that MileIQ is the culprit. They basically have isolated the issue to MileIQ using same methods I have been perusing (although they also went through two new iPhones first). They report the issue resolved once MileIQ is deleted from phone. I recommend that we each file a bug report with MileIQ support (available through the app) to accelerate a patch release.

Thanks again.

Out of curiosity, I also just searched for Shazam in that subreddit and, while not seeing error reports, I found that Apple has integrated into the Maps app some features for locating concert venues or the like through Shazam so this is indeed curious and dates back to approximately two years ago. Doesn't necessarily explain the Google Maps issue but definitely worth some testing.

Officially from Apple:

Discover concerts with Shazam - Apple Support

The easiest way to get a list of installed apps on your iPhone is with Apple's "Configurator" app available on the OSX App Store:

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/apple-configurator/id1037126344?mt=12

Unfortunately, the latest release of Configurator is only supported on Sonoma. With this tool, it is possible to export a list of all installed apps as a CSV file: Actions->Export->Info ... select "Device Information" and then check "Installed Apps" followed by clicking "Export".

I have approximately 200 apps installed so it's not feasible to test each one by one alone. If others are able to do this, we can identify possible suspect apps that are common in our profiles and then just test those app in common.

It's easy to manually delete apps from the Configurator list that may represent privacy concerns. This might be a good place to start when we run out of other diagnostic ideas. Let me know if anyone is game. In fact, I'm willing to post a list of my apps somewhere and you all could just tell me which you also have - that's probably easier and avoids any privacy concerns.

Reply back to this thread if you are willing to help me with this. Thanks.

Additional tests:

• mapped a 1 mi walk (~ 30 minutes) while wearing Apple watch. This test induced the unwanted behavior where audio output switched from phone loudspeaker to earpiece speaker at approximately 20 minutes into walk. Also used fitness tracker to record walk on watch during this walk. Fitness tracker audio cues unaffected.
• mapped same walk the next day under same conditions except disabled bluetooth on iPhone prior to mapping and conducting the walk. Apple watch indicated no connection to iPhone during walk. Problem did not recur during this test. That is, the maps app on iPhone continued to speak directions from the loudspeaker for the duration of the walk.

Next test will be to confirm that disabling bluetooth on iPhone before mapping a drive will also prevent the speaker switch issue from recurring.

Unfortunately, I've been unable to restore my profile going from iPhone 12 mini back to iPhone SE1 but I am able to restore the SE from the last backup circa 2019. Obviously there are substantial differences between these devices as well as my profile from that far back but it will serve as a data point. I don't recall observing this map issue on that device so I'm not expecting to see it during new testing with the iPhone SE1.

Additional tests in the meantime - I did clear all Safari history and data (had many tabs open) and delete many unused apps in preparation for the device restore. Also reviewed all settings and disabled audio notification support on many installed apps. Subsequent testing under those conditions saw no improvement. Audio output switching to strictly from the earpiece speaker is still occurring.

Observations:

• There is some dwell time between routes for which the problem does not reset. That is, once the speaker output has switched off, choosing a new map route within a short period of the failure does not reset the output. However, longer periods (O(many minutes); probably less than 1 hour) between map routes does reset the output correctly to the loudspeaker temporarily again.
• Loudspeaker output can be recovered within maps by switching to the music app and playing any song from my library momentarily. Once audio is restored it seems to stay restored for duration of that route although have not tested with drives > 30 mi. Audio remains solid even if I subsequently kill the music app during the route.
• Muting and un-muting the audio output using audio controls within the Maps app does not correct the behavior.

Tests:

• Identical and simultaneous 20 mi. driving routes using problematic iPhone 12 and iPhone SE1 with SE1 using iPhone 12 hotspot during the test showed that iPhone 12 continues to exhibit loss of loud speaker audio while iPhone SE1 (with my old profile) worked without loss of audio.
• Also compared problematic iPhone 12 with family member's iPhone 12 as a control and only the problematic iPhone 12 exhibited loss of loud speaker audio while the control iPhone 12 remained audible for duration (same route and simultaneous use). iPhones were on the same cell network each using their own SIM card.
• Also tried killing every app except for the Maps app before running a route test but the problem continues to occur.

I've suspected this problem might be resulting from some strange 3rd party app conflict but the last test seems to rule that out - unless there's some sort of background refresh going on that killing the app doesn't prevent?

So now it's looking more like there is a Maps app software bug at work here. Very peculiar that not more people are reporting this issue? What could result in under reporting:

• iPhone users using 3rd party mapping software.
• Apple Maps users who always simultaneously listen to podcasts or music (or some other audio source) while simultaneously drive a spoken route via the maps app because that will mask this problem.
• Connecting phone to in-car BT audio system or other BT output source during map usage.
• Intentionally muting the map audio output during use.
• Only affecting certain model iPhones in combination with any of above.
• ?

I've run tests with only a subset of my full profile of 3rd party apps installed and was able to induce the voice navigation failure. While this is not sufficient to conclude that a 3rd party app interaction is to blame, these are the four 3rd party apps (all other apps were completely deleted) that were installed (and have been installed for a long while in my full profile) during the testing where I did see the navigation voice failure occur:

• DraftKings (fantasy league version) [location privilege: while using]
• MileIQ (free tier) [location privilege: always]
• MyRadar (free tier) [location privilege: while using]
• Peacock (subscription) [location privilege: while using]

If @Icanger or @captainandy can confirm that they also have one or more of these apps installed - that could help narrow suspicion. Each of these apps has location privileges "while using the app" enabled except for mileiq which has the privilege enable "always".

It's still possible that the problem lies in a shared library that could be a part of many different apps or not related to a specific 3rd party app at all but rather some other peculiar side channel interaction, but can't hurt to consider this scenario. Thanks.

A bit more information: I confirmed that the problem is in fact that the audio output is somehow switching from playing from mainly the loudspeaker output to only playing from the earpiece speaker. Immediately relaunching the maps app with same route continues to only narrate only from earpiece speaker which is barely audible no matter how loudly the volume is set.

A work around: playing music from the loudspeaker simultaneous with a maps navigated journey prevents the speaker switcheroo so the directions remain audible. I also verified that the speaker switheroo problem occurs for both driving and walking routes.

lcanger wrote:

Did you ever figure this out? Mine does the same.

Not yet. When I updated to iOS 17, on first use of Maps app it appeared to be fixed as the problem didn't recur immediately. Unfortunately, it eventually did switch output from loudspeaker to the earpiece as it's been doing but it took a few more minutes to do so - this was only on initial use. On subsequent uses, it quickly switches the output to the earpiece as it was doing on iOS16.

I recently deleted the Maps app and re-installed it as my next step to see if that corrects the issue. I haven't yet used Maps after re-installing the app to see if that changes the behavior. However, I don't expect that to resolve the issue. After that test, I plan to completely wipe the phone and reinstall everything from scratch - I'm resisting doing that because it will be painful to restore everything from a complete wipe - there are some two-factor authenticators that require special consideration to maintain their keys when doing a full erase of your phone. Please post back if your testing reveals additional clues or you find a fix. Thanks.

Thanks. This suggests there is something in our profiles that is causing the issue. I agree that re-installing the Maps app is unlikely to correct the issue but can't hurt. Still haven't tested the result of that. Your post has also given me the idea to resurrect my old phone (1st gen SE). I didn't notice this problem using that device but I could be mistaken. I will wipe it (has child data now) so that it is pristine and test to make sure the Maps app works correctly without a profile. Then I will load my existing profile (iPhone 12) and see if the problem crops up.

Too early to claim victory but after re-installing the Maps app - for walking directions, the speaker switch issue appears to no longer be happening (i.e. spoken directions remain audible and clear through the loud speaker). Prior to re-installing the app, the problem did occur on this same walk so this is an encouraging result. I don't do a lot of driving so it may take a few days before I can verify that simply re-installing the Maps app completely resolves the issue for driving as well.

No joy. Audio out on the first mapped drive route worked fine but during the second drive route the audio output reverted to the same bad behavior - the initial couple of spoken directions are emitted from the loudspeaker but then the audio output switches to the earpiece rendering it barely audible and remains that way unless I bring up the music player for a moment which redirects audio output to the loudspeaker remaining there for duration of the route even if I stop the music selection from playing. So re-installing the Maps app does not permanently correct this problem. On to the next debugging step ...

Apple has a tool called feedback assistant that allows you to submit issues like bug reports. However, I have never received responses in past bug reports submitted there (several). Not sure if Apple developers react to those reports but they certainly don’t seem to reply.

You can also submit feedback via their Apple Support app but I think that’s more geared toward usage issues for newbie’s. Nevertheless, I did submit a report there just now to see if it elicits a response.

The trouble with reporting this issue is that I have not seen it widely reported anywhere. My family all have iPhones and I’m the only one having this issue. In fact, AFAIK, you and I are the only other person who seems to have this same issue. I’m sure there are more but a variety of reasons must keep them from reaching this point (e.g. masked by other features or options, misunderstand issue, complacency, etc. ). Just out of curiosity, do you also have an Apple watch? Wondering if handoff to watch maps app for haptics is somehow playing a role here? I always have my apple watch with me. Regards.