How do I Turn Ringer On or Off on my iPhone? How do I adjust the volume on my iPhone?

Here you’ll find how to ensure the phone is at your desired settings in terms of volume On/Off and High/Low.

It’s probably happened to all of us at least once that we are sure we had our iPhone ringer set to “On” and volume audible, but we miss a call that took place with the phone well within earshot.  What’s happened?

Most likely, the On/Off button has been toggled to the “Off” position without you realizing it.  It’s easily done.  And easy to rectify, too.

Ensuring the ringer itself is enabled

On the thin left edge of your phone, you will find 3 control buttons.  And by “edge” we mean the thin surface that is not the screen nor back of the phone.  The tiny button nearest the top edge is the Ringer On/Off button.  See picture below.  When the button is slid toward the back of the phone, the ringer is off and you may notice a small red dot is now visible. 

You normally need to use your nail to slide the button back and forth as it’s quite small.  As you change its position to ringer off, you can see on the top of your screen, a message will flash up momentarily that the Silent Mode is On.  See picture below. If you can’t quite made out the faint “On”, look for the red ringer (bell) symbol with a line through it vs a grey bell and volume slider.

Checking and Adjusting the Volume Level

The quickest way to check and adjust the volume level on your iPhone is by using the pull down quick menu that appears when slide your finger downward starting from the top right corner of your screen.  (See pic below, left).  Be sure to start from the corner, as starting more from the top middle of your screen will instead bring up the recent notifications. The quick menu will appear as shown in the picture below on the right.  The ringer volume is circled, and you can adjust it by sliding up or down with your finger.  Note, it will demonstrate the volume by playing louder or softer your chosen ringtone, so you might want to avoid doing this when you might disturb others.

• 

• 

Alternatively, you can also quickly adjust the volume of your ringtone by using the two buttons on the left edge of the iPhone (see pic below). 

These are the raised buttons found beneath the ringer on/off toggle button. Note that these buttons will simultaneously adjust the volume of anything you play on the phone (music, videos, voice volume on a phone call).  It’s easy to remember that the upper button increases volume and the lower one lowers it.  You will probably need to press the corresponding button more than once to notice a marked difference.  At the same time you can see a volume slider appear on the left side of your screen with the volume adjusted according to the number of times you push the button.

Does your volume keep adjusting itself?

If you find you keep inadvertently adjusting the volume simply by keeping the phone in your pocket or purse, this is probably due to grasping the edges tightly whilst using it for other things. You can temporarily disable the buttons.  Do this by going into Settings from your main screen.  Look for this symbol.

Then scroll down to “Sounds and Haptics” (see below left) and select by tapping.  Look for the option “Change with Buttons” (see below right).  If there is no green showing on that button, the ringer volume will not be affected by pushing the volume buttons on the left edge of the phone. If you do want to adjust the ringer volume with the side buttons, simply tap once on the “Change with Buttons” option, and you will see the green appear.

• 

• 

Adjusting volume when using Apple earbuds

Do you use the Apple ear buds (earphones with wires connecting to your iPhone) that came with purchase of your smartphone? If so, they offer an alternative quick way to adjust the listening volume, whether music or voice.

Simply squeeze the “+” or “-” buttons on the microphone. This is the slim rectangle about 3 inches below the right ear bud. It may be difficult to see the pale grey markings, but volume up is always above the divot and volume down is below when the earphones are in place. See image below.

With 3 ways to adjust the sound, you’ll be in complete control to get your desired volume no matter the ambient noise.

Never miss another Gransplain tip when you subscribe for free. You’ll automatically receive our tips each week, and we promise to keep your email just between us.