Caught the iOS 15 volume bug? Here’s how to fix it

Rather than start things off with specific troubleshooting, let’s start off with the below tick sheet to ensure you’ve covered the basics. If you are absolutely sure you know what the issue is and wish to skip these steps, feel free. Although, these steps won’t take long and will give you that peace of mind that you’re trying everything:

• Restart iPhone
• Turn off Bluetooth and disconnect all Bluetooth devices
• Turn off any do not disturb features or any active Focus modes
• Turn Airplane mode off and on to refresh wireless connections
• Check volume is turned up
• Check mute switch

If you’re using an older iPhone with a headphone jack or a lightning port headphone adaptor, double-check your 3.5mm jack is fully plugged in. It’s also worth trying another set of headphones or a new adaptor to check that’s the issue.

If the iOS 15 volume bug only happens when using plug-in headphones, it’s almost certainly a hardware issue, but hopefully, it’s just your headphones or lightning adaptor. Otherwise, a new headphone or lightning cable port will be needed.

You may just have notifications and sounds deactivated on a specific app. Go to Settings > Notification Settings > ‘App’ > Notifications. Next, toggle on ‘Allow Notifications’ and ‘Sounds’ and you should be good to go.

If you don’t have automatic app updates turned on, an outdated app may be causing specific audio problems related to it. Just go into your App Store, search for the app and it will tell you if an update is needed.

Apple is dropping hotfixes and iOS builds far more frequently than they used to, and you should be being notified when they do. However, it’s easy to miss these updates from time to time. Go to Settings > General > Software Update to check, then update if necessary.

If you’ve painted yourself into a corner with changing settings and your volume has stopped working, you can just reset all settings and start from scratch. Even if you haven’t. It’s still a good troubleshooting step to take when all else fails.

Go to Settings > General > Reset > Reset All Settings. Don’t worry, this will literally reset all iOS 15 settings. You’ll still keep your accounts and data, although it’s always wise to do a cheeky iCloud backup before doing anything like this just in case.

If you’ve tried everything above and you’re still having no joy, let’s try factory resetting your iPhone. Before kicking things off, you’ll need to backup images, videos, and anything else of importance. The easiest way is to do this via iCloud, which will do this for you automatically, although those who need larger storage will need to pay for it.

When ready, go to Settings > General > Reset > Erase all Content and Settings, then enter your passcode to start the process. Just make sure your iPad is on charge before starting this process.