FaceTime volume very low - iTouch 4 to Mac

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Level 1

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FaceTime volume very low - iTouch 4 to Mac

FaceTime seems to work fine between my macbook pro and my friend's ipod touch in terms of calling, video, the connection staying online...However, she can hear me perfectly fine whereas I can barely hear her. She has to talk loudly and directly into the microphone for me to even distinguish words.

- the volume on my computer is turned all the way up
- removing the silicone case on her itouch barely improves it--she still has to yell to be heard
- she had used facetime on her itouch with another person who has an iphone, and the volume and everything worked fine for them
- Applecare had no solution for this, and told me that since facetime for mac is a beta version there's no specific volume control to adjust only her volume

Has anyone else encountered this problem/found a solution??

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.5)

Posted on Dec 11, 2010 11:20 AM

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Answer 1

EZ Jim

Level 7

22,590 points

Dec 11, 2010 2:53 PM in response to stillom

stillom wrote:
FaceTime seems to work fine between my macbook pro and my friend's ipod touch in terms of calling, video, the connection staying online...However, she can hear me perfectly fine whereas I can barely hear her. She has to talk loudly and directly into the microphone for me to even distinguish words.

Welcome to Discussions, stillom

This is certainly not normal.

BTW - The iPod touch mic is in the upper right corner at the back. Is she really turning the iPod around to speak into the mic?

- the volume on my computer is turned all the way up

If you use external speakers with your MacBook Pro, check your connections and the settings on both the Mac and the speaker amplifier controller if you have one.

If you do not have other speakers, is the volume on your computer then far too loud on other apps like playing iTunes? If not, restart your Mac and try adjusting volume again in another FT session.

- removing the silicone case on her itouch barely improves it--she still has to yell to be heard
- she had used facetime on her itouch with another person who has an iphone, and the volume and everything worked fine for them

Then the problem is at your end. You should also test with at least one other device to see if you have the same problem with others as you do with your friend.

- Applecare had no solution for this, and told me that since facetime for mac is a beta version there's no specific volume control to adjust only her volume

Your test with other devices will let you know whether volume differences for different users is relevant to your problem.

Has anyone else encountered this problem/...

I have not hear of anybody but you reporting this problem.

...found a solution??

No, but we are hoping you are the one!

Message was edited by: EZ Jim

Mac Pro Quad Core (Early 2009) 2.93Ghz Mac OS X (10.6.5); MacBook Pro (13 inch, Mid 2009) 2.26GHz (10.6.5)
LED Cinema Display; G4 PowerBook 1.67GHz (10.4.11); iBookSE 366MHz (10.3.9); External iSight; iPod4touch4.2.1

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Answer 2

Dec 12, 2010 8:26 AM in response to stillom

Same problem here.

Using my iMac and an iPhone 4 in the same house via wi-fi.

The phone can hear the iMac but not vice versa.

Yes, I did turn the mute on and off on the phone.

I'm now playing with the system settings on the iMac. It seems that I have to adjust the input controls to a very high setting.

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Answer 3

lucastle

Level 1

5 points

Jan 5, 2011 4:55 AM in response to Michele Smith2

I'm having the same problem. The problem is NOT on the MacBook side... because it works fine on Skype calls. And the ipod was working fine up to a week ago. It just suddenly went into very low volume mode. We tried skype and facetime and the problem is the same on both. video is fine but audio is super low... both listening and speaking for both parties.

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Answer 4

Jan 12, 2011 1:27 PM in response to lucastle

Same for me - worked great for a week, now the volume is too low on my new iPod touch. Here's more data - it only happens when I Facetime my wife, but not other iPhones. Grrr.

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Answer 5

EZ Jim

Level 7

22,590 points

Jan 13, 2011 7:49 AM in response to Oogenesis

Welcome to Discussions, Oogenesis

Oogenesis wrote:
Same for me - worked great for a week, now the volume is too low on my new iPod touch. Here's more data - it only happens when I Facetime my wife, but not other iPhones. Grrr.

Then the problem would seem to be in your wife's iPhone.

If she can successfully FaceTime with others, while talking with you she may be blocking the mic with her phone's case or her fingers? Maybe she is calling from a noisy place or talking particularly softly from her calling location? Perhaps she is simply holding her phone too far from her face?

If your wife's volume problem is the same with others but only in FaceTime, restarting, resetting, or restoring her phone might help:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1430

If her phone volume is low on everything and none of the suggestions above apply, ask her retailer or Apple Technician to check whether her phone needs to be serviced or replaced.

Mac Pro Quad Core (Early 2009) 2.93Ghz Mac OS X (10.6.6)
MacBook Pro (13 inch, Mid 2009) 2.26GHz (10.6.6)
LED Cinema Display; G4 PowerBook 1.67GHz (10.4.11)
iBookSE 366MHz (10.3.9); External iSight; iPod4touch4.2.1

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Answer 6

Dec 6, 2013 3:26 PM in response to EZ Jim

Same problem here. MacBook Air versus pretty much any iPhone or iPod touch I could find. But I have a clue: people on the iPod or the iPhone could hear their return very clearly. So I tried putting a pair of headphones on the MacBook: with those on, the problem was gone. What I think is happening is that the MacBook iSight mic is capturing the audio from the speakers (the ones below the keyboard) and canceling the output. If you stick a headset, an iPod mic/headphone or even external, third-party speakers to your MacBook, the problem is circumvented.

This is not a solution, though. And also just a hypothesis as to why this is happening.

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