iPhone ringtone quiet - even on loudest setting

Problem: iPhone rings very quietly.

Checked attention aware, it was off.

The ping for SMS and other notifications is really loud whilst the phone rings very quietly. I can usually hear it in the next room, now it’s so quiet I don’t notice it ringing when it’s in front of me.

I’ve tried restarting.

I’m on iOS 17.2.1 and all the sliders and buttons are set to their loudest setting.

help!!!

Just found a fix on Apple support for low ringer issue. Turn off the attention aware feature and ring tone remained loud. Who would have thought to look at that setting.

On iOS 17 there are two attention aware settings. I had to turn both to off to disable it.

Accessibility -> Face ID & Attention -> Attention Aware Features

Accessibility -> Voice Control -> Attention Aware

iPhone ringtone quiet - even on loudest setting

None of these worked for me. Phone was set to top ringer volume and side button volume, but still no sound when calling the phone. The answer for me was in "sound and haptics" under settings. Something moved the volume to zero (not me)--must have been an update. Very frustrating as I have missed a lot of important calls because of it. It also changed my new voicemail tone!!

iPhone rings for 2 secs then fades out

Even if you have the ringtone set to loud via buttons and soft switches, the ringtone is quiet if you are looking at the phone when it rings. This is due to the Attention Aware “feature”.

Switch off the Attention Aware in TWO places.

1. Settings/Accessibility/Face ID & Attention
2. Settings/Accessibility/Voice Control (the final option on that page so scroll down)

hope that helps.

Pre-iOS 17 I found that just disabling attention aware features did nothing. I had to completely disable FaceID to get loud ringtones again.

The upgrade to iOS 17 re-enabled attention aware features, and I disabled it and Face ID again, but ringtone volumes are still completely borked again since media volume now also controls ringtone volume.

iPhone ringtone quiet - even on loudest setting

Hi Cherub7171,

Although the ringtone volume is up in settings, this might be due to the volume being lowered on the phone. Try calling your wife and as the call is ringing, have your wife press the volume up button. Does the volume appear to be turned up all the way on the slider that appears? If so, you can lock the ringer volume in and prevent it being changed with the side buttons by disabling Change with Buttons if you'd like. Below guidance is from Adjust the volume on iPhone - Apple Support.

"Lock the ringer and alert volumes in Settings

1. Go to Settings.
2. Tap Sounds & Haptics (on supported models) or Sounds (on other iPhone models).
3. Turn off Change with Buttons."

Also, check if your wife is looking at the phone while you call. This new feature called Attention Awareness will lower the volume when the camera sees the owner looking at it. Turn Attention Aware features on or off on your iPhone or iPad Pro - Apple Support

She can also turn that feature off, and test, OR have the phone facing down when you test.

Kind regards.

Thanks for figuring out that fix.

Did you checked the psychical switch to turn on the silent mode is in the right position? I was also having the same issue the ringtone wasn't working. I turned on the silent mode once and then forgot to turn it off.

Also having the same issue with my grandmother’s phone after updating to iOS 17