Getting phone calls or hearing your alarms is one of the most important things our iPhones do! And missing calls is not fun, especially when they come from your boss or a family member. So when you can’t hear your iPhone’s ringtone or your alarms because the volume is too low or it dips in volume after the first couple of rings, it’s a real problem.
Today, we share the one setting that fixes this problem for most folks. And we’ll add on some additional tips to get your iPhone ringing loudly AND consistently!
Check this one setting for ringtone and alarm volume problems
Folks with Face ID enabled iPhones, like the Phone 11 models (11, 11 Pro, & 11 Pro Max) & X Series (XR, XS, XS Max, & X) notice this problem more than others (and older) iPhone models.
In particular, they report that the iPhone XR model often rings or starts an alarm at full volume but then quickly the volume fades out to a level that’s difficult to hear. This issue seems especially true for folks that are hard of hearing.
So if your iPhone’s ringer issue is that the phone’s ringer or alarm volume goes from loud to low, this tip is for you!
We mentioned there was a single setting that usually fixed the problem, and that setting is part of your iPhone’s Face ID. It’s called Attention Aware Features.
Go to Settings > Face ID & Passcode
Toggle off Attention Aware Features
To prevent your ringer or alarm volume from fading toggle off attention aware features
When you deselect Attention Aware Features, your ringer and alert volume remains loud even when you pick up and look at the phone
This feature is also in Settings > General >Accessibility > Face ID & Attention
When this feature is on, the TruthDepth camera, checks if you are paying attention and if it believes you are, it automatically lowers the volume when you look at the screen when the phone is ringing or when an alarm triggers.
It’s strange but true that on iPhones with Face ID there are special settings to adjust how loudly your phone rings AND they’re located in your Face ID & Passcode settings!
Is your iPhone’s alarm volume too quiet?
We’ve heard from a lot of our readers with Face ID iPhones that they are missing their alarms! They set the alarm volume to the maximum level but then in the morning; they don’t hear it!
If you set an alarm and then missed it because its volume was too low, causing you to be late for work or an appointment, follow the steps above and disable Attention Aware Features.
As a reminder, go to your settings for Face ID & Passcode and turn off the attention awareness feature. It should fix the problem!
Remember, alarms on iPhones use the same volume as the ringer!
Check out this article for more on changing your alarm volume and other alarm settings and controls.
What are the iPhone’s Attention Aware Features?
With the introduction of Face ID, your iPhone is now able to detect whether or not you are looking at your device via facial recognition.
With Face ID, Apple added two different features that use Face ID technology to assist you.
Require Attention for Face ID
Attention Aware Features
If your iPhone has Face ID, it also has two attention settings that use facial recognition
Require attention for Face ID uses facial recognition to verify your identity before iOS unlocks your iPhone and allows its use.
Attention aware features use this same technology to check if you are looking at your device. If your iPhone verifies you’re looking at its screen, when your phone starts to ring, the ringer or alarm volume starts at your set volume level but then reduces the overall volume, since it believes you are aware it’s ringing or sounding the alarm.
Turn your iPhone’s ringer’s volume all the way up
For those with older model iPhones without Face ID or if your ringer problem isn’t related to attention aware features, try increasing the overall ringer volume.
Go to Settings > Sounds & Haptics
Locate the section Ringer and Alerts
Slide the volume control all the way to the right
If you want to control the ringer’s volume with the side (physical) volume controls, toggle the switch for Change with Buttons on.
Tapping Change with Buttons allows you to manually adjust the volume of your alarms or your ringer as needed, via the physical volume buttons on the side of the phone.
When this option is off, tapping the physical volume buttons doesn’t change the volume of your ringer or your alarms.
Check your mute switch
Your iPhone comes with a switch to mute sounds quickly. People use this when entering meetings, a movie theatre, or another event where a phone ringing out loud would really disturb everyone else!
Your iPhone includes a physical ring/silent (mute) switch on the left side of your iPhone, just above the volume buttons. Flip it to control which sounds play through your iPhone speaker.
Check your side switch on your iPhone. If you see orange, you’re on mute
Can I have a separate volume level for my iPhone ringtone and my iPhone alarms and notifications?
Unfortunately, at this time, there is no way to separate the volume of your iPhone’s ringer for phone calls from the alert volume for things like alarms, texts, emails, messages, and other alerts–their sound is set at the same volume.
And we really don’t know why Apple ties both the ringer and alerts volume to the same volume slider. It’s doesn’t make sense for how we use our devices today!
So you cannot lower the volume for any alarm you use to wake up in the morning (or for whatever) without lowering the volume for incoming calls.
The current recommendation is to turn down the ringer volume slider each night, then turn it back up in the morning so you don’t miss any phone calls. Yeah…not ideal!
We’d love to see Apple separate phone ringer volume from alarm volume. And we’d also like to see a separate volume slider for notification volume for things like incoming messages and other app notifications.
For most of her professional life, Amanda Elizabeth (Liz for short) trained all sorts of folks on how to use media as a tool to tell their own unique stories. She knows a thing or two about teaching others and creating how-to guides!
Her clients include Edutopia, Scribe Video Center, Third Path Institute, Bracket, The Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Big Picture Alliance.
Elizabeth received her Master of Fine Arts degree in media making from Temple University, where she also taught undergrads as an adjunct faculty member in their department of Film and Media Arts.
If you are having problems when you set your alarm and you can’t hear it because it’s very soft when it goes off there’s a trick I learned and you don’t have to disable Face ID. Before you go to sleep turn your phone face down and your set alarm will go off as normal and the volume you have it set to will be as loud as you want it because your phone isn’t looking to idea you.
Thank you so much for this comment about the alarm and ringer volume. I was pretty much driving myself crazy trying to figure out how to independently set ringer and alarm volumes. I hated being blasted out of bed every morning with an alarm that was too loud, and then miss an important phone call from my doctor at 8:30 in the morning while I was still resting in bed. It makes no sense to me that Apple has not fixed this problem. I was so proud to get an iPhone 11 as an upgrade from my 6S and still can’t believe that this device has this issue. Correct me if I’m wrong, but if I remember to slide the sound and haptics slider back-and-forth each night and morning, that should solve my problem right? What a pain in the neck!
Sorry, but the stupidity of Apple is their apparent need t take a simple problem and solve it with a ridiculously obtuse solution. They really need to get over themselves and innovate technologies which simplify, not which create their own new problems.
Thanks, I appreciate updates and improvements, however, I wish that when one does an update, that the new feature aren’t automatically applied to one’s device or settings. I was wondering why this had changed, I appreciate the information.
Apple often chooses to enable new features out of user convenience and because they believe these features enhance user experience. For many people, they would rather have control on turning things on (or off.)
But that is the rationale behind enabling some of the new features when an update comes out
The volume on the phone would continuously go down itself with touching anything.
Apple told me to disable Attention Aware Features under Face ID & Passcode, then take it out of the case for a day or so, then reprogram everything.
After the problem was still not resolved, we told them to send us a new phone.
I just received it yesterday & the same problem is happening.
I viewed your problem-solving solutions and I have now disabled the Change with Buttons feature in hopes that this will stop the volume from going up and down on its own.
I missed calls a lot because the volume was so low I could not hear it.
If this doesn’t work, I don’t know what I am going to do. Thanks, Melinda Carroll
Thank you. I just made the adjustments you suggested. I hope this will resolve my issue. I find it strange that I’ve had the iphone 11 for 2 months and this just started happening in the last few days. I’ve been restarting the phone several times a day trying to fix it.
Hi I recently upgraded to iPhone 11 I had a problem with low incoming calls sound Vodafone and apple could not fix it so Vodafone have just sent me a replacement same problem so I thought it’s got to be user problem I looked everywhere for a setting no good so I looked for a fix on line thank god I found you fix in one minute you understood the issue and had the perfect and answer it was the Face ID if your not looking at the phone no issue BIG THANK YOU
Why has apple not solved this known issue with the alarm being super quiet when “attention aware feature” is on? This issue has been around for a long time now.
Coming from using a Samsung Galaxy which has independent volume for Ringer, Alarm, Notifications and Multimedia, this has to be the dumbest thing ever.
Now I have to put up with this stupidity (and no, I didn’t choose the phone, it is a company supplied one).
I agree Davo – just went from Galaxy to iPhone 11 and can’t believe I can’t separate media notification volumes from ringer volumes. This should be a basic, easy function to incorporate.
At work I want my ringer loud so I don’t miss calls, but now I have the unending dings and chimes of every other app that I still want to hear, but just not as loud…
If you are having problems when you set your alarm and you can’t hear it because it’s very soft when it goes off there’s a trick I learned and you don’t have to disable Face ID. Before you go to sleep turn your phone face down and your set alarm will go off as normal and the volume you have it set to will be as loud as you want it because your phone isn’t looking to idea you.
Thank you so much for this comment about the alarm and ringer volume. I was pretty much driving myself crazy trying to figure out how to independently set ringer and alarm volumes. I hated being blasted out of bed every morning with an alarm that was too loud, and then miss an important phone call from my doctor at 8:30 in the morning while I was still resting in bed. It makes no sense to me that Apple has not fixed this problem. I was so proud to get an iPhone 11 as an upgrade from my 6S and still can’t believe that this device has this issue. Correct me if I’m wrong, but if I remember to slide the sound and haptics slider back-and-forth each night and morning, that should solve my problem right? What a pain in the neck!
Sorry, but the stupidity of Apple is their apparent need t take a simple problem and solve it with a ridiculously obtuse solution. They really need to get over themselves and innovate technologies which simplify, not which create their own new problems.
Thank you! This saved me from going crazy trying to figure out why I was missing alarms.
Thank you !!!!!!! Face ID off fixed it
After a month of missing texts and alarms I found this article. EZ and worked like a charm. Thank you for posting this solution.
Thanks, I appreciate updates and improvements, however, I wish that when one does an update, that the new feature aren’t automatically applied to one’s device or settings. I was wondering why this had changed, I appreciate the information.
Hi Julie,
Apple often chooses to enable new features out of user convenience and because they believe these features enhance user experience. For many people, they would rather have control on turning things on (or off.)
But that is the rationale behind enabling some of the new features when an update comes out
thanks ,
the instruction is very helpful. I fixed my alarm problem.
Thank you so much!!! Lifesaver… my alarm was playing at the absolute lowest level in the mornings, what a relief!
I received an iPhone 11 for Christmas.
The volume on the phone would continuously go down itself with touching anything.
Apple told me to disable Attention Aware Features under Face ID & Passcode, then take it out of the case for a day or so, then reprogram everything.
After the problem was still not resolved, we told them to send us a new phone.
I just received it yesterday & the same problem is happening.
I viewed your problem-solving solutions and I have now disabled the Change with Buttons feature in hopes that this will stop the volume from going up and down on its own.
I missed calls a lot because the volume was so low I could not hear it.
If this doesn’t work, I don’t know what I am going to do. Thanks, Melinda Carroll
Thank you. I just made the adjustments you suggested. I hope this will resolve my issue. I find it strange that I’ve had the iphone 11 for 2 months and this just started happening in the last few days. I’ve been restarting the phone several times a day trying to fix it.
Thank you – Thank you – Thank you VERY much!!!
This particular bit of iOS reasoning makes absolutely no sense to me.
I’m very hard of hearing and this was making me crazy and I was ready to take a 4-pounder to the thing.
BIG help… thank you so much!
Hi I recently upgraded to iPhone 11 I had a problem with low incoming calls sound Vodafone and apple could not fix it so Vodafone have just sent me a replacement same problem so I thought it’s got to be user problem I looked everywhere for a setting no good so I looked for a fix on line thank god I found you fix in one minute you understood the issue and had the perfect and answer it was the Face ID if your not looking at the phone no issue BIG THANK YOU
Another problem on certain iPhones due to some random hardware or software glitch allows Spotify to hijack the audio controls.
This leads to your alarm not ringing at all — and your phone ringing when it’s in silent mode when you receive a call — if the Spotify app is open!!
This is rare — and even the Apple “geniuses” can’t figure it out.
Complete restore does NOTHING, so it appears to be a hardware glitch — probably a certain chip??
Happens with my iPhone XS Max but fortunately doesn’t affect my 11 Pro Max — with user preferences and settings transferred over from the XS Max!
Why has apple not solved this known issue with the alarm being super quiet when “attention aware feature” is on? This issue has been around for a long time now.
Coming from using a Samsung Galaxy which has independent volume for Ringer, Alarm, Notifications and Multimedia, this has to be the dumbest thing ever.
Now I have to put up with this stupidity (and no, I didn’t choose the phone, it is a company supplied one).
I agree Davo – just went from Galaxy to iPhone 11 and can’t believe I can’t separate media notification volumes from ringer volumes. This should be a basic, easy function to incorporate.
At work I want my ringer loud so I don’t miss calls, but now I have the unending dings and chimes of every other app that I still want to hear, but just not as loud…
This article solved a problem I was working on over two days for over an hour. Thank you!!!