How do the various iPhone volume controls work?

How do iPhone volume controls work?

There are several volume levels.

They do not interract with each other.

First of all, I like to have the "Change with buttons" turned on in Settings, Sounds & Haptics, it makes it easier to fiddle with the volumes. (for iphone 6S and earlier it is Settings, Sounds)

The various independant volume modes:-

1. You have an adjustment for Ringer and Notifications which you can adjust with buttons while the home screen is visible. Keyboard, alarm, and lock sounds are controlled here.
2. You can adjust audio and camera shutter volume with buttons while listening to Audio on phone speaker.
3. You can separately adjust volume with buttons while listening to Audio on headphones/bluetooth.
4. You can adjust call (voice) volume level which is how loud you hear the caller and how loud they can hear you, which can only be adjusted with the buttons during a live call. It cannot be adjusted in settings.
5. Siri - his/her volume can only be adjusted with the buttons while Siri is active (Globe icon showing).
6. Maps navigation voice can only be adjusted with the buttons while Maps voice is speaking

Note: For Hearing Devices (aka hearing aids) refer to this special link Use Made for iPhone hearing devices – Apple Support (UK)

Volume controls in more detail.... 

1 Ringer, Notifications, Keyboard clicks, Lock sound and Built in Alarm are adjusted together while you are in any of the Home Screens.

Turning down the ringer may mean you sleep through an alarm!

(Note If you use a third party alarm app such as "Digital Clock" they usually use the Audio adjustments not Ringer, and will come through headphones if connected. )

2 Adjust Audio with buttons while listening to media on phone speaker

Note the plain speaker graphic.

 Audio volume includes the camera shutter in most countries outside Japan.

3 Adjust Audio with buttons while listening to media using Bluetooth

Note the bluetooth symbol on the graphic.

If you find the bluetooth device has low volume, for example you are in the car on Bluetooth or on a Bluetooth speaker, and the volume will not reach an expected level, feel free to increase the volume in the iphone itself to maximum.

This used to be a problem with Headphone Notifications in iOS14 when the volume would be dropped suddenly by the Health app, but later on fixes were available as in the next paragraph.

If you find the bluetooth volume goes down by itself accompanied by a level warning and this is not appropriate, you can override it in two places

1. Settings, Bluetooth and tap on the (i) next to the device. Then select Device Type 'Speaker' instead of 'Headphones'.
2. Turn off Headphone Notifications in Settings, Accessibility, Audio/Visual.

4 Adjusting Caller voice volume with buttons can only be adjusted during a live call.

If you find you cannot hear callers while connected to a car bluetooth system or CarPlay you should increase the caller volume using buttons on the phone so that it matches the audio volume level.

5 Adjusting Siri's voice volume with buttons can only be done while Siri is active

6 While navigating in Maps, say in the car, the navigation voice level and the radio or music level may be mismatched. If you wait for the navigation to speak then you can adjust volume level with buttons or the steering wheel volume adjustment. Note the mute/unmute switch on the screen itself. Steering wheen mute may work also.

Other things affecting volume or silence.

Mute Switch (Iphone 15 basic, iphone 14 and older).

This is not a physical speaker switch, it operates a software control which silences some sounds but not others.

Turning Mute Switch off will silence Ringer and Notifications.

It will mute the camera shutter in most countries outside Japan.

It will not silence inbuilt Alarm or media.

It should not silence third party alarms either but it might - test it for your app..

iPhone 15 and later

May have an action button which can be programmed to have the same Mute function, or other chosen actions,

Do not Disturb (aka Focus)

Like the Mute Switch it may silence some Ringer and Notifications only, but may let through calls from selected or allowed callers or apps.

While sleeping at night, depending on your situation, it may be better to use Focus rather than mute switch so that selected family or work numbers can reach you in emergency

The official support article is here Adjust the volume on iPhone – Apple Support (UK)