Messages: audio messages don't play out loud

Hey there Roddy Barros,

Great work in narrowing this down!

This might be expected behavior as described:

" Listen or reply to an audio message

1. Raise iPhone to your ear to play incoming audio messages.
2. Raise it again to reply.

To turn this feature on or off, go to Settings  > Messages, then turn off Raise to Listen."

It's found in Send and receive photos, videos, and audio messages on iPhone. Can we test out adjusting the settings to see if Raise to Listen if on? If so, can we turn it off then try to listen to a message? We want to see if this will let you hear this on your speaker.

Let us know how it goes!

Kind regards.

Hi Roddy Barros,

Thanks for posting in Apple Support Communities! Is this happening in the Apple Messages app? Are you able to play any other sounds from your speaker?

To troubleshoot you can do the following:

1. Check your sounds settings, confirm the ring/silent switch is set to Ring ( should be switched forward, orange not showing)
2. Clean both your receiver and speakers
3. Check the sound on your device by going to Settings > Sounds & Haptics and drag the slider back and forth to see if you hear any sounds.
4. Confirm you can use speaker on calls

Also, the latest iOS is iOS 15.4 currently, we'd recommend backing up your data and updating to the latest by going to Settings > General > Software update to see if this continues.

Check out the following resources:

If you hear no sound or distorted sound from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch speaker

Update your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch

Hope that helps!

Thanks for clarifying.

Based on the steps you've taken, we recommend you Contact Apple Support for additional support.

All the best.