I’ve held my tongue on this too long and now I see other people about to suffer my same fate and I can’t have that on my limited conscience.
My biggest complaint about iPhone volume is that there isn’t any. You can’t hear a damn thing. You can’t hear rings for incoming calls, you can’t hear system sounds for text messages, and you sure as hell can’t hear the speaker phone.
You can hear your iTunes on your iPhone because you listen to those through headphones just like a normal iPod. They got that right.
Every other sound on the iPhone is worthless. Unless you’re in a forest with new fallen snow all around you. And no wind either.
There is absolutely no technical reason why iPhone volume can’t be louder. It’s just something that Apple blew in development. You would think with all of the other complaints about smartphone volume with other smartphones, Apple would have put a little more effort into this part of the iPhone.
So, dear Apple, you took my advice on the leopard background, now give us poor souls a firmware update for volume. After all, some of us camped out days for this thing. The least you could do would be to let us hear it ring.
Subscribe to helloimamac
I hear that!
I have to completely agree.. or perhaps we’re just deaf and didn’t know it!?! 
Wayne
Wayne Bienek on November 1st, 2007 at 10:47 am | Link
helloimamac (and others),
It sounds like you were sensitive to issues of inadequate “smartphone” volume before you bought your iPhone. Why didn’t you bother to check the iPhone before you did? And if you did test it, why did you buy it? If you bought it fully knowing that the volume is inadequate, it should have been no surprise to you.
It is rather annoying to hear early adopters complain about a technical issues that they should have know about, when a vast majority of the population would probably consider themselves lucky just to be able to afford an iPhone.
Good luck. I hope Apple fixes it for you, and it is good that you are warning people. Nevertheless, it is difficult to feel sorry for you.
anyone on November 1st, 2007 at 11:08 am | Link
@anyone, perhaps I didn’t explain myself well enough. I suppose I could have another complaint about AT&T stores and the virtual cone of silence that they create. It is a well known fact that AT&T has spent millions on sound baffling and dampening for stores for, I believe, just this purpose.
But I’m not blaming AT&T and I’m not blaming me, or anyone else who bought the iPhone and has a complaint or a problem associated with it, or any other product for that matter. “You’re stupid, you bought it, I only wish I had the cash to by one myself but I’m too broke”, might work for you, but I like to look at problems differently.
I will tell you this, I did not try out MY iPhone in the store. No body can. The AT&T display models are activated and you can call out on them. You can’t take them in your car with you, you can’t take them into a loud shopping center and you can’t take them into a parking lot. But you can listen to the ringer in the store.
“You’re stupid, you bought it, I only wish I had the cash to by one myself but I’m too broke”, might work for you, but I like to look at problems differently.
I didn’t say you were stupid. Perhaps you just wanted an iPhone???
It sounds like you were sensitized to this potential issue and you still bought the phone. At some point it should have seemed fishy to somebody like yourself that the store was soundproofed, that you could not take the phone anywhere else, that, you could not use the phone, and by your own account, you did not try your iPhone in the store. Would you buy a car or shoes or any other product under those situations? I wouldn’t. If you believe YOUR iPhone is malfunctioning compared to the one in the store, you have a completely different issue.
Seems like you really weren’t “looking at problems differently” than you have in the past. You pretty much could have predicted this was going to happen given the circumstances. Or at least that the potential for it was there.
Either way, I won’t be buying an iPhone until Apple fixes (your) problem. The ringer on my treo sucks, and as a result, I am hypersensitized, to making sure I don’t have that problem in the future.
anyone on November 1st, 2007 at 1:00 pm | Link
There are two people in our office that went out and got iPhones the first day, and I know of no volume problems. My boss used to work for Steve Jobs, so he is usually the first to complain about stuff not being done right, and I’ve never heard him complain about that. And about incoming calls… I can hear both of their phones ringing from clear across the office. Are you SURE there isn’t a way to adjust that, that you just haven’t figured out yet?
Max Maxwell on November 2nd, 2007 at 3:45 pm | Link
Steve wanted them like that. Steve approved every aspect. And since many of you believe that Steve is God, then how can you complain. The volume level is divine.
WHAT!! WHAT!! Can you speak up??
I can’t hear a thing on iPhone. This blows…I’m so disappointed, I can’t hear it ring and I can’t hear anyone talk….
shweta on November 7th, 2007 at 9:00 pm | Link
I have to say the same, the sound when you are talking on the i phone is not good at all. I can hear wayyyyy better on walkie talky phone that still exist . lol But other than that its pretty cool !
Jack on November 13th, 2007 at 4:34 pm | Link
The volume does suck. I am on my third iphone (one left in NYC cab, the second my wife washed in my shorts pocket) and all three have had the same crappy sound problem. I am lucky about one thing, in my Jeep there is an RCA jack for Ipods to plug into. Plugging the Iphone in makes the caller’s voice come over the speakers in the Jeep. I sit in the Jeep once I get where I am going because I want to finish my call while I can still hear the caller through the Jeep speakers.
I found this thread while searching for the firmware update I heard rumor of that supposedly fixes that problem.
joe putman on November 29th, 2007 at 9:13 am | Link
The thing that really pisses me off is when I dial a number on my iPhone and put the phone up to my ear, the first dial ring is the perfect volume. After the first dial ring, the sound noticeably drops off - almost in half.
If the volume is right on the first dial ring, why not the rest of the call?
Have had my iPhone for 5 days and have missed every call but 2 calls. I even missed calls while the thing was sitting on my desk and I was working on my computer.
No matter what ringer I select, I can’t hear it. What good is having a phone if you miss every call?
kat on December 6th, 2007 at 9:25 pm | Link
Your troubles are of course Apple’s fault; of course. Small people instinctively loath things and institutions that are great. Who is John Galt? AT&T provided me a 14 day return policy (probably mandated to them by Apple, or by law). So I suspect your volume problems were outweighed by your wanting to be iPhone-chic - or maybe wanting to contribute blogs about being iPhone-chic.
Ironically - I found this blog because I’m not able to turn my volume OFF. I can’t get my iPhone to consistently just vibrate and not make any sound at all. I can’t even figure out how to turn the iPhone entirely off - which was rather embarrassing during jury duty recently. But then - I’m an idiot.
To the point: I suspect the reason Apple designed their iPhone to limited db levels is because they know how annoying and inconsiderate it is for people (you) to blow-horn your announcement to everyone in earshot of how cool your are to have a cute little ringtone that define you as a person. Bravo… to Apple’s designers for limiting the volume to reasonable levels.
Johnny on December 16th, 2007 at 8:47 am | Link
I just bought my son an iphone for Christmas and my mom bought me one and neither one of us can hear d darn thing on it. Every othr aspect of the phone is cool but to not be able to hear when you get a call or receive a call is a major bummer. I don’t know what we are going to do.
Donna on December 25th, 2007 at 6:13 pm | Link
I too can not hear anything on my iphone, if I hold it up to my ear. If I use a bluetooth headset with it, I can hear just fine. Even while sitting at my desk, I keep the bluetooth headset on, and I can hear the phone ring through the headset.
The apple dongle earbuds also work well, but get in the way of work. [With all this “new-fangled wireless invention”, you would think that someone would invent headphones that don’t have cords.]
iphoneuser on January 25th, 2008 at 1:57 pm | Link
I completely agree. The volume is way too low on the iPhone. I, too, have missed the majority of phone calls and emails. This is ridiculous after dishing out $400 for a phone.
Tony on February 26th, 2008 at 2:59 pm | Link
The volume for such an innovative company really does stink. Its truly baffling why Apple has not done something about this. How hard can it be? My Sprint Sanyo phone is so loud that I have to pull it away from my ear..
As far as the first ring being loud and then dropping, I, too experience this. I believe its the crappy junky garbage ATT network that is responsible and believe it or not THAT statement is direct from the mouths at the local ATT store.
In short..
The “I” is fantastic.
The “Phone” sucks badly.. get rid of ATT and I believe most of the problems will be solved, including terrible reception, dropped calls left and right which just add misery to the already crappy junky volume issue.
Any Apple executive is welcomed to discuss this with me.
peter on March 6th, 2008 at 11:32 pm | Link
Quoted below, and as stated by tc3 on November 30th, 2007, is the problem I’m having . Why is it okay on the first ring and then drops off, that is THE question! This is having social consequences. My wife thinks I’m ignoring her calls. Today I took it from my pocket after feeling the vibration and was amazed to find it was not on silent mode. I had not heard a thing. And she had to shout on the call so I could barely hear her. Perhaps we’ve got double the trouble — she has an iphone too!!! HELP! pcx
“The thing that really pisses me off is when I dial a number on my iPhone and put the phone up to my ear, the first dial ring is the perfect volume. After the first dial ring, the sound noticeably drops off - almost in half.
If the volume is right on the first dial ring, why not the rest of the call?” tc3
Patrick Carroll on March 25th, 2008 at 11:00 pm | Link
omg!! i have the same problem, i cant hear anyone, they cant hear me, it jamz ALOT.. my itunes is not working, i cant hear anything and when i cant turn the speakers on when someone is calling me
i was working fine the first day but then all of a sudden it started jamming and i couldnt call UGH :@!! other phones are not like that! whats up with the iphone?
hammy on April 18th, 2008 at 12:39 am | Link
I can’t hear the iPhone when someone calls me. The ringtones are too soft and I end up missing calls since I can’t hear them ring!
SMS messaging is almost impossible since I can’t hear them when they arrive.
Has anyone got a solution for this frustrating and highly annoying problem?
Sarah on July 25th, 2008 at 1:53 pm | Link
I can’t hear people talking - they have to yell for me to hear. I’m so annoyed as I love everything else about the iPhone. Can anyone help me please?
Laurie on July 30th, 2008 at 9:48 am | Link
Just with respect to hearing a person on the other end of the line: I followed Apple’s advice and picked out what looked like fluff from the ear piece at the top of the phone. It worked, but I cracked the glass in the process. Be careful, I’m just nipped it with a blade and it cracked all the way to the bottom and up to the top. I still can’t here the ringer though.
Patrick Carroll on July 30th, 2008 at 2:26 pm | Link
OMG! i thought that it was just me having a issue with this phone! So does anyone know hoe to fix this issue or do we just go about life with a phone that only works when it wants?
mandy on October 6th, 2008 at 6:39 pm | Link
I will not purchase another iphone due to the lack of volume control! My hearing is within normal range, and I’ve tried to use the ear phones but nothing helps!!!
sheree on November 9th, 2008 at 11:00 am | Link
I’m a huge apple fan and this week had to make the decision to ditch my iPhone, cancel my plan, pay my early cancelation fees, and go back to a motorola flip phone on VZN. I couldn’t hear anyone on calls and it really started pissing clients off and I found it very frustrating. I would keep it as a weekend phone or something, but I had to port my number to my new phone since I’ve had the number for 9 years and all clients know it. I guess I’ve basicaly got a really expensive (16 gig first gen) iPod touch. Other than not being able to hear it ring, or hear people trying to talk to me on it, the iPhone was fun.
kello on December 4th, 2008 at 9:46 pm | Link
I think I just blew a wad of cash. Wish I had tried to listen to the damn thing before I paid the cash and found it to be a dud. Steve, your a num nut.
WRECKS on December 6th, 2008 at 9:19 am | Link
Am I going def or is the iPhone volume lowwwwwwwwww……………please help….this is annoying. I can’t hear S*&#!!!!
tesh on January 2nd, 2009 at 12:44 pm | Link