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New iPhone 5 volume issues

When iPod volume is set to mid range and no music is playing the system sound is mid range even with ringer volume turned up to full. Then when the iPod is set to full volume and no music isolation system sounds are at full even though ringer volume was never changed.


Anyone else experiencing this?

iPhone 5, iOS 6

Posted on Sep 21, 2012 11:05 PM

Reply
72 replies

Sep 29, 2012 1:24 PM in response to Jordanb5816

This discussion board should merge with this one: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4353733?answerId=19803546022#19803546022&ac_cid=tw123456#19803546


Essentially, we now have iPhone 4 users running iOS 6 and experiencing the same problems:

  • Low volume/alert/ringer sounds
  • Text message sound during a call is extremely low
  • The volume of the music player acts as a global control for all sounds, excluding the ringer

So, we can definitively theorize that it is inherent to the new OS. What more can we do to reach out to Apple and alert them to this issue?


Just to get some things out of the way, the following "works" for some but not all:

  • Reset All Settings
  • Hard Reset

Siri only makes this more complicated, as the issue seems to be a direct tie-in to the music player's volume with one exception- at full volume the text sound during a call is still very low. While I'm glad that I didn't receive a scuffed iPhone 5, this cannot go on any longer and 6.0.1 better resolve this issue. Anyone up for personally writing Tim Cook? I'll do it right now!

Sep 22, 2012 2:46 AM in response to Jordanb5816

Thank goodness, I thought I was going crazy.


Got my iphone5 yesterday and was amazed at how loud it seemed for alerts etc.


Used the iPod today at work and never thought any more about it until my alerts seemed very quiet.


I checked the ringer volume and it was at full.


I saw you lost a d tried out myself by going into the music app and playing a track and turning the volume almost to zero, then I paused the track and exited the music app.


I opened up settings > sounds and checked the text tone setting, the alert sound were very quiet but the ringer volume was still showing as full. The actual ringtone setting in sounds does not alter, the volume seems to stay high.


I then went back into the music app and played a track again, this time though I moved the volume slider to full. I paused the track and went back into settings > sounds and again checked the text tone setting and wow I nearly blew my ears off.


From what I can make out the volume of the music app adjusts the volume that alert sounds produce, a little strange.

Sep 22, 2012 9:33 AM in response to MadTogger

i just received my first call on my iPhone 5 and noticed the same thing. The volume when just speaking on the phone was terrible. On speaker it sounded more like what I was used to with my iPhone 4. Does anyone have instructions on how to fix this? i read the posts above, but no luck so far ... uhg. otherwise no complaints ... but the volume for incoming calls is important ... waaa. 😟

Sep 22, 2012 10:23 PM in response to Jordanb5816

On my iPhone 5 the text message notification volume seems to be tied to the music (non-headphone) internal speaker volume level and not the ringer volume.


I discovered this phenomenon when I noticed that incoming text messages weren't triggering a sound even though the ringer volume was sufficiently high. I went to the Music App to play a song to test the speaker and noticed that the volume slider was all the way down. After I increased the music volume, it increased the text message notification sound.

Sep 22, 2012 10:54 PM in response to golfgrouch

You can see the volume changing in action.


Open the music app and move the slider to about half volume without the earbuds connected.


Now insert the earbuds still with the music app open, no music needs to be playing. Now that the earbuds are connected use the volume control on them to increase the volume to full, you can see the slider moving up just as it should.


Now still with the music app open, pull the earbud jack out, the slider returns to its half way position that you manually set without earbuds in. Plug the hack back in again and the slider moves to full volume exactly where you set it using the earbud control.


So although this doesn't solve why the music app volume determines alert volume, it shows that the iPhone remembers two different volume settings either by moving the slider in app or adjusting via the earbud controller.


Still don't know whether this is a hardware or software issue given the recent ios6 release, I will try the same procedure on my wife's 4s when I get home and post back the results.

Sep 25, 2012 5:56 AM in response to Frank Malloy

Well strangely, mine has sorted itself out. No idea how.


I got home the other day a tried my wife's 4s, that had no problems, so to me that cancelled out an iOS6 issue as we are both running the same software.


Over the last few days I have been transferring my contacts from Goolge Exchange to iCloud and getting that running nicely, so in the process I setup 'My Info' and added it to Siri.


I have been using Siri quite a bit in trying to get it to pronounce certain contacts names correctly, all this mind you without using the earbuds but just directly to the phone.


I was with Frank in not wanting to 'Reset All Settings' straight away, that would be a headache.


Today though, I plugged in the earbuds, listened to a little music, asked Siri to perform a couple of tasks and then immediately checked the volume of my Alerts, they were fine, full volume.


I moved the slider to about have inside the Music app and checked my Alerts volume again, once again they were perfectly correct, full volume.


So, again, no idea how this happened but my 5 is now tickety boo.


Regards..,

Sep 25, 2012 10:46 AM in response to Frank Malloy

You need to add yourself as a contact in contacts then go to Settings > General > Siri > My Info and choose yourself from the list of contacts.


Activate Siri and say "Siri call me [name]" substitute [name] for anything you want.


Did you know that if you are using iCloud contacts you can also add relationships to your own contact details, i.e spouse, mother, father, child etc.. by adding a new field choosing relationship and then picking from your contacts.


You can then for example activate Siri and say "call my wife"


Regards..,

Sep 28, 2012 1:24 AM in response to MadTogger

OK, haven't had any more issues with Alert volume but did notice something strange.


First off I have to say that I had no music playing on my 5.


I plugged my earbuds in and asked Siri via the earbud mic to play a certain playlist. Siri responded and the volume of Siri's speech was high, I guess full volume as my last setting in the Music app.


I then told Siri to shuffle, again using the earbud mic, this time however when Siri responded, the speech was extremely quiet, luckily I was sat in a quiet place.


I was then driving along and decided to send a text to my wife using Siri via the earbud mic, my first attempt failed because I missed hearing the 'bing bong' sound.


I tried again and strained really hard to hear the 'bing bong' sound but just about did, what I coudn't make out though was Siri reading the text back to me.


I think we could do with a separate volume control setting for Siri.

Sep 29, 2012 1:30 PM in response to Pyosisification

Known bug, reported in multiple other threads (one of them is the one you referenced).


It works properly (ie. alert volume under Settings>Sounds and the ringer volume up/down from the keys controls the alert) until you invoke Siri or use turn-by-turn directions with voice. That is what causes the media volume to incorrectly control the ringer/alert volume. It's a bug.


A restart will fix it...until you use Siri or turn-by-turn again. You can just turn up the normal music volume to compensate.

Sep 30, 2012 3:50 PM in response to Jordanb5816

Here's what I've found on my iPhone 5...


If I set my iPod volume (on the Now Playing screen) to half, my alert volume will be at its loudest.


However,

If I set my iPod volume to either extreme (min or max), then my alert volume is barely existent.


I've also noticed that my key click volume behaves in the same way as my alert volume. It's pretty annoying and I hope it gets fixed. Seems like a software issue and I'm hoping for a fix in 6.0.1.

Oct 2, 2012 3:50 PM in response to MadTogger

"I have also informed Apple of the thread via the feedback link."


While that is commendable, it will not resolve the issue, as Apple employees are not allowed to interact on these message boards. Mr. Malloy is right in that is a known issue. So rather than sending feedback links, I took the liberty of contacting Apple by phone, where I was transferred to a tier-two representative, then to a product specialist, who escalated the problem to engineering. Then I spoke with Alisa Causey, a Corporate Customer Care Administrator. All the while voicing the concerns of us all and demanding satisfaction and change. Finally, I sent a lengthy e-mail and a handwritten letter to Tim Cook.


So, now I wait patiently for a reply and a fix, just like all of you. We have power in numbers. Do the same as I have and we will see results sooner than later.

New iPhone 5 volume issues

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