iPhone volume decreasing on its own

Same problem here with my iPhone 12 Pro.  Most recent update (15.6) did not fix the problem.  I think the problem got even worse with the update.  It is annoying and destroys the listening experience.  I have tried all the solutions explained on this thread with no luck.  Tried also restoring my iPhone to factory settings.  No success.  Same result.   

It is worth to note that problem only shows up when streaming music on mobile data (I normally use Apple Music).  It never

happens when connected to Wi-Fi, at least in my experience.  

This problem happens when playing sound through headphones, CarPlay (2 different cars, same problem) or with phone speaker.  It always lowers the music level for a period of 20 seconds and then goes back to the previous level.  This happens about 4 times each hour in my case.

My son owns an iPhone XS and is starting to have this problem.  However, not as often as my iPhone 12 (he gets the lowered volume on music about once per hour, also on mobile data). 

Any other ideas or workarounds to try until a fix is released by Apple?

This bug is extremely annoying.  Steve Jobs would be very disappointed to have such a quality flaw on his most iconic product.  This is what I have found so far in my iPhone12 Pro:

- It always happens when using mobile data. Never when connected via WiFi.

- It always happens on the same places, even with all location services turned off.  I think it may be related to base station hand-off.  Not all hand-offs between base stations, but always on the same hand-offs from specific base stations.

- I have 2 lines in my iPhone with different carriers (one with regular SIM and the other one with e-SIM).  The problem always happens when data is routed through the line with regular SIM.

- It happens even connected through different VPNs (and also without them), so it’s not a network thing.

- It is not related with CarPlay, headphones or Apple Watch.  It happens the same with and without them.

- All apps capable of audio playing are equally affected by this bug: Apple Music, Tidal, Spotify, TuneIn Radio, Simple Radio… just to name a few.

- Tried absolutely all the fixes and suggestions on this thread, including complete reset to factory settings.  No success.  Firmware is up to date (iOS 15.6.1)

In a nutshell and despite all efforts to achieve the highest sound quality for pure music enjoyment (like Dolby Atmos and Lossless codecs), this bug completely destroys the music listening experience, which by the way was one of the most important principles related to iPhone creation. Hopefully this bug is addressed in iOS16.  Otherwise, it may be a good reason to switch to Android (or get a secondhand Walkman...)

i faced same issue with Mi fitness app, i tried all possible options and settings none worked but this is what worked for me:

i got call from my friend while i was connected to bluetooth and audio was playing before call, while call was disconnected the volume gained back to 100% .

solution : call a random number and end call immediately. Music should be at 100% now.

let me know if that work.

whats funny is my 13promax will only do this when my battery drops under 50% as soon as I connect my charger it doesn’t do it anymore. Think you guys might want to test this theory for yourselves because it was the case for me

I’ve been experiencing the same problem for about a month now. I randomly used the “Hey Siri” command the other day and for whatever reason it hasn’t happened since. Give it a try.

It's definitely a network event, 8 hrs of flight mode and it never happened once. Began happening again immediately on reactivating data services.

One thing that decreases music volume, is opening the camera app. Also, I get better volume with the EQ feature OFF. And sounds better than any of the EQ settings.

Bkush04,

Thank you for those details.

At this point it may be best to reach out to Apple directly.

You can contact them b going to Get Support.

They will take a closer look and check on available options.

Good Luck!

I don’t know if you’ve resolved this issue yet but I have been having this problem and I think I found how to fix it I went to my settings and searched attention aware, then go to voice control and turn anything on under command feedback here’s an image

This issue is impacting me too. For hours today (and many many times previously) the music plays at a reduced volume. Tried all the fixes mentioned, attention aware, notification volume, restarting the phone, reinstalling softwareisolating the issue to one app.

Today, the app that caused the volume to return to normal level was launching the camera app.

Furthermore, the answer can't always be to restart the phone or reinstall software. Sometimes we are running apps that can't be interrupted with a restart and we certainly shouldn't have to reinstall software every time any thing is wrong with the phone (seems to be Apple's equivalent to ibuprofen). Nevertheless, neither fixes the issue.

Another related issue, my music randomly stops playing when listening via wired headphones. Though it was the attention aware or lift to turn on, so disabled both. Unfortunately, the problem continues. For example it's happened while walking with phone in hand and phone in pocket. Sometimes happening multiple times in a row. I thought maybe the 1/8" plug was partially disconnecting resulting in in stopping, but with testing I couldn’t reproduce it when partially pulled out.

All I want is to listen to music without fighting my device.

@jdelapen - using a new eSIM from my provider actually fixed this for me.

For me, the issue looks to be sorted out now. I didn’t do anything, other than keep my phone updated. I have also restarted it more than usual while trying to figure out this bug. Seems to have sorted itself out.

The audio was lowering for any app that involved audio. YouTube, Spotify, etc. I timed it once and the audio was dropping for 30 seconds at 10 and 6 minute random intervals. It lasted for about a month. I didn’t find any relief by playing with the settings. Like it random appeared, it randomly left.