Ringer volume turns off when Bluetooth in car connects

It’s happening, but as of now there are no answers. The output of Bluetooth should no have an impact on the vehicle audio volume, but it seems to and I think there is more to the story. The issue seemed to start with the iOS “down date” #12 or #13.

I too am having the issues described by most here and have a 2018 Cadillac CTS (CUE entertainment system), iPhone X on latest public iOS update.

what should be noted is that this DOES NOT happen when connecting via Bluetooth to my wife’s 2012 Chevy Tahoe nor did it happen on my 2009 CTS I just sold. All using the same phone and iOS.

Sadly this does make it SEEM somehow related to these newer car systems.

I’m experiencing the same issue, Iphone 8, iOS 13.3, GMC Canyon. I have the ringer volume turned all the way up, and the change with buttons setting toggled off.

When I get in the vehicle and the phone connects, but the vehicle is playing some thing else (Sirius XM for example) and turn the vehicle off, nothing changes.

If I play something via Bluetooth, then turn off the car, the back on so that the phone auto-plays what was previously playing, when i get out of the car later, the volume drops by 60% or more. If I do the same thing multiple times (for instance running errands), at some point it will ringer volume will drop to 0%.

I’m missing important calls all over the place! Apple, please fix this! It shouldn’t matter what the ringer volume is set to - it should stay set, and not get changed by outside sources. the only time i’d consider that turning down the ringer volume would be okay is while connected (by usb cable) to the car, *and* using carplay. otherwise, stop messing with it!

The irony of that is that Apple has repeatedly stated that they will not allow third party apps to control system features of the phone. I've been asking for an app that would change my ringer volume based on location or a specific WiFi network for YEARS and the answer is always the same thing about "control". Seems to me that GM has control of my ringer volume while NO OTHER bluetooth device EVER has done this. Also seems to me Apple is lying, or very mistaken, with at least ONE of those answers. Either they do, or do not, allow third party access to 'system settings'.

Yeah, sure, it's a GM problem when it conflicts with their own past answers.

The ringer volume on your iPhone becomes somewhat synchronized when connecting with Bluetooth. Please note that I said “somewhat synchronized. When connected to you vehicles audio to play music from your iPhone you will likely see the volume set at a level you would set when using headphones or earbuds. This however is likely a lower volume then you might set it when listening through the speakers in your car or SUV, and this is where things go haywire. You exit the vehicle and the volume on your device using earbuds is now way too high.

The Answer,,, the audio volume in your vehicle when connected to your iPhone should be the volume control of your vehicles Entertainment System, unaffected by the volume you set on the iPhone for earphone listening. I do not understand how things degraded to this current issue, it’s common sense.

Additionally, when you attempt to raise the volume from your headphone setting to a level acceptable using the speakers in your vehicle by raising the volume on your iPhone, it (cellphone) rubber bands back to the low setting.

Add me to the list. I have a 2018 Buick Regal Tour X with the Bose audio system and every time I drive the car, the ringer volume on my iPhone gets lowered all the way. This happened with my old iPhone 6 and continues to happen with my new iPhone 11 Pro. Sometimes, if I look at the phone I see the ringer volume displayed at the top of the screen and it's "stuck" there and will not go away thereby blocking access to anything at the top of the screen. Both my in-car infotainment system and my iPhone are at the current software level and this issue continues. VERY frustrating to say the least!

Don't know if I've stumbled on to a solution or if I'm temporarily lucky but my iphone XR and 2020 Blazer are playing nicely lately. No recent issues with volume being decreased after using phone Bluetooth connected in car.

The only thing that I've recently done differently is the following. I've had issues with no audio navigation prompts when using Apple Maps directions in the car. After following the secret trail (anyone who's done it knows what I'm talking about) to enabling Apple Maps voice prompts when using Bluetooth connection in car I haven't had any issues with the ringer volume decreasing after phone has been connected in car. Not sure why Apple makes enabling voice prompts so difficult to find compared to Google Maps.

I've thought I'd solved this issue before and then been disappointed but fingers crossed this fix seems to be working so far.

Stopped by local AT&T store today and while showing tech this phenomenon, which he had never heard of, I noticed for the first time that as I turned volume on truck up the volume bar on phone went up as well. So they are completely linked, although it is still quite frustrating.

It doesn’t happen with other brands of phones as far as I’ve been able to find. Also the fact that some GM products and Ford products cause the same issue with iPhones leads me to believe it’s a phone issue.

I don't believe has anything to do with the year, make or model of the vehicle. My 2015 F-250 cut off the ringer and the only way to get it back was to reboot the phone. Now in our 2018 Flex and 2020 F-150 the ringer is turned off and after exiting the vehicle we have to remember to turn the volume back up. Reading through this thread we find people with all makes and models of vehicles experiencing the same thing.

I did speak with a manager at Apple a couple of weeks ago and she informed me that they are actively looking for a solution. She told me to turn off my Bluetooth for 24 hours and see if that helps. It apparently does for some. I haven’t tried it yet though. She told me to keep the latest versions installed. I don’t believe that just because the fix isn’t in iOS 14 beta doesn’t mean that it’s not possible for it to still be fixed then. It is a beta software after all....

That’s an incorrect assumption Dennis from Temple. Im just not being a part of this mob mentality that’s going on. This is a forum to bring issues and resolutions to light.

That said, I finally got in my vehicle for the first time in days and either the 13.6.1 update worked or the Bluetooth off for 24 hours trick did. Seems to be operating normally as of now.

This happened with my last update on my phone. It is something that apple needs to fix. For some reason On th update they wrote in code to turn down ringer volume when your phone is connected to your vehicle. It may have been to decrease distractions While driving. However, they should have wrote better code so the volume returns to your original setting upon disconnecting from vehicle

This is a software issue not a hardware issue. The software takes over the sound not hardware so don’t have a clue what u are trying to refer to. And by the way it has happened since I got the phone with is an iPhone XS. The workaround seemed to be working till 2020. And now doesn’t work at all since the 14 update. That right there is proof it’s not a hardware issue.

I use to think it was a software issue also. Now I think the reason they cannot solve it is because it’s a hardware issue. Apple understands the issue. They have been unable to fix it with software updates because it is a faulty design in hardware. Those of use with 11 PRO’s are stuck with it until we get new phones. They have worked on this for over a year and continue to fail. When you have 11 billion transistors in a device, these things happen.