iPhone 13 pro max notification and ringer sound not very loud

Just had a conversation with Apple Support and the connected into my iPhone, screen share, and we went through all my settings. We tested my notification volume and they also were surprised my notification volumes were so low but my ringer was loud. Apple Support had me do a "Rest All Settings". When the iPhone booted up again the first option they had me turn off was Accessibility/Face ID & Attention/Attention Aware Features (OFF). Default was ON. After that the notification sound levels worked great. I hope this can help you.

hi, i just had a genius bar appointment at regent street london today ay 13.40 , i have complained about low sound notifications and lock sound,i had all the settings correct including attention aware feature off. they have run diagnostic and sound check,everything is perfect according to apple tech. so the problem is not the phone or the hardware, issue behind the problem is software,they are hoping there will be a software update for apple 11-12 and 13, apple tech also reported my complaint to head office i have also mentioned there are thousands of us complaining on discussion group and also all over the internet sites, hope this will help

Hey go into settings and turn this off, it will lower notifications when the phone senses your face, and with it off notifications will come in at full volume, it worked for me.

I looked up this problem with iPhone 13. Go to Face ID and passwords setting. The scroll down to “attention aware feature” and turn off. This works!!

Just noticed I typed "REST" ALL SETTING. Go to Settings, General, scroll down to Transfer or Reset iPhone, then select Reset, then Reset All Settings. It will ask you twice to make sure this is what you want to do. Takes a few minutes and after I followed their instructions Accessibility/Face ID & Attention/Attention Aware Features (OFF). Default was ON I had to redo my Wallet Credit Cards and put in my Wi-Fi password to get on my Wi-Fi. Good Luck. Let me know how it goes.

Update on this. I opened a support case with Apple regarding this problem. They asked me to restore my phone to factory defaults and iOS 15.2 and retest. I did that and found the problem still exists afterwards, that is alert volumes on the phone are low when MFI hearing aids are connected and normal when they're not. Ringer volume seems unaffected by the hearing aid status (for me, anyway). The setting of "Attention Aware Features" in FaceID has no effect on the problem either way.

They've escalated the case to their engineers and will get back to me, they say. Will advise of the outcome in this thread.

Sort of. Apple wanted to capture a failure in the logs from my phone. It took a while to get that, but they did, and the latest (almost two weeks ago, now) word from the telephone support folks is:

"As of right now they [the Apple engineering and accessibility teams] have seen the issue reproduced in the logs that we have sent over and state that this is more than likely a bug issue and may be fixed with a software update. They are working diligently on a fix for this issue."

They're supposed to get back to me when they've got a update. Sorry I didn't post earlier, I'll pass any updates I get here. The wheel grinds slowly, doesn't it?

This appears to be an issue with iOS 15.2. My wife’s phone and mothe-in-law’s iphone 13 pro are identical and all relevant settings match - one phone is on 15.1 and the other is 15.2.

The phone on 15.2 clearly has a problem with low ringer volume and message’s notification.

I intend to open a case with Apple - both phones are less than 1 month old. If Apple doesn’t fix their code, they will be replacing two iphone 13 pro devices under warranty and will have not resolved the problem—of course defective or poorly designed silicon could be at play but I doubt it. When testing ringtones, the phone is obnoxiously loud so it’s not so easy to explain away….

Good find, @rgilbert. I have a 13 mini running IOS 15.2 with MFI hearing aids. Alert volume on the phone is low with the hearing aids connected, and nothing coming through the hearing aids. Alert volume on the phone is normal with the hearing aids disconnected. Ringer volume doesn’t seem to be affected either way. Not certain if it behaved that way on earlier versions of IOS 15.

I can turn on Accessibility|Hearing Devices|Play System Sounds and the alert tones will not play on the phone at all, only on the hearing aids. I prefer to keep this setting off, though, and get the alerts on the phone.

I haven’t seen other community posts or notices from Apple linking low alert volume to connected hearing aids. Far as I know this isn’t normal behavior, and will be reporting to Apple as a new problem.

I've been working with an Apple support specialist to collect diagnostic information to submit to the engineering staff for investigation. That information was just sent off this afternoon. I have another call scheduled with them tomorrow to confirm receipt of that information and creation of internal trouble ticket. At this point, they acknowledge there is an issue, things are not behaving as they should, and they intend to follow-up. Once created, the trouble ticket has a tracking # that user's experiencing the same problem can reference when calling in.

I did some more testing that confirmed that (for me, anyway) ringer volume is not affected by the hearing aids being turned ON or OFF. But alert tones are, on average, 15 dBA lower when the hearing aids are ON and connected than they are when the hearing aids are OFF. A difference of 10 dBA results in perceived volume to the listener being twice as loud or soft.

I'll post back here when I've talked with Apple support with anything new they have to say.

Hello Lapfro,

Thanks for posting in Apple Support Communities!

We see that your iPhone volume is very low for the ringer and notifications.

We’d be happy to help you!

We recommend following any steps that you have not already in If you hear no sound or distorted sound from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch speaker for further troubleshooting.

Take care.

I have iphone 13 pro max running on ios 15.2.i have the notification sound issues with lock sounds and receiving messages are very quiet,Community Specialist answers are not enough to solve the problems,it is not the settings,it is not factory reset,it has nothing to do with volume buttons or Attention aware features either,Apple is selling expensive phone and facing software issues and there are thousands of people complaining all over the internet regarding the issues,it is a software issue which Apple neglecting the customers and resolve the issue.lots of people complaining on internet site visited apple shop with this issue only been told its not the issue with the phone,and people are waiting updated ios software with the fix.Apple can look at the discussions on their apple site to see all the complaints.

Do either one of them have hearing aids Bluetooth connected to their iPhones?

I had to replace one of my hearing aids. When I paired my new hearing aids with the iPhone the volume of ringer and notifications went to and extremely low level again. If I have ringer and notifications directed output to my hearing aids it drives me crazy. It is as if Apple made the decision that all deaf people with hearing aids want the ringer and notifications ONLY directed to their hearing aids. I sure don"t. The low output volume issue is back. I hope a software update fixes this issue. I am using Oticon Opn S1 miniRITE hearing aids with the Oticon ON app on my iPhone. What brand are you using? Just wonder if it is only certain brands that have the issue?

lurch177, I can go into accessibility/hearing/hearing devices and switch on "Play Ringtones" and "Play System Sounds" and have them directed into my hearing aids, but that will drive you nuts and no one, MFI user, should be "forced" to have that done. Apple definitely has some sort of software issue. This did not happen to me with my old iPhone XS, which is what I was using prior to getting the new iPhone 13 Pro Max. iOS 15.1 and 15.2 have had this issue. Very hard to believe that more MFI hearing aid users are not complaining. Good luck with Apple.