Roon hijacking iOS volume [Ticket In]

[benjamin]

Hey @Rob_Magnotti,

There have not been any updates from our team on a solution for this yet. In the meantime, take a look at this thread and a potential workaround while we continue to work on a solution

Roon interface volume plus and minus buttons (+/-) sometimes get stuck [Fixed with Build 1364/1365)

Thanks dear Mike_LC. Could be wrong, but making my way to the devices’ Audio settings list is something I believed had been achieved (see previous screenshot). It’s the volume limiter altogether that’s not showing among the settings. Could be an active option forbiding the use the volume limiter, but that’s just a guess. There’s a bunch of advanced settings too, among which I see “force max volume at playback start”. Decided it should be off for every device, even though the crazy “progressive…

[Alan33]

Thanks for the follow up @benjamin.

One point about this remains cloudy: all the things you’re speaking about (including the linked thread) are related to the Roon Enfpoint jumping to 100%. That is not the case under discussion here: it is the iPhone volume itself that jumps to 100%… and this happens whether or not the iPhone running Roon Remote is Enabled (but not used) or Disabled.

In short, it’s likely a related issue, but quite distinct from Endpoint volume jumping.

Hoping to learn if this latter bug is also on the bug repair team’s radar? Thanks!

[RBO]

@Alan33

it is the iPhone volume itself that jumps to 100%

Exactly.

Endpoints remain unaffected by the volume jump.

[kitated (Jim)]

I’m having this occur as well. It only occurs when I’m using Roon. While the suggestion of using a Shortcut helps by reducing the volume back to whatever you set (5% in my case), as long as the Roon remote app is on-screen my iPhone’s volume is at 100%.

Edit: And just to be clear, I have no problem with Roon properly controlling the volume of my endpoints. This is strictly affecting the overall volume level of my iPhone.

[Alfred_van_Hoorn]

@benjamin, @support

@Alan33

it is the iPhone volume itself that jumps to 100%

@kitated

This is strictly affecting the overall volume level of my iPhone.

Exactly the same here. Every time I switch to or start the Roon Remote App the iPhone’s volume goes to 100%. This very annoying.

[kitated (Jim)]

I’m using the Shortcut, and it will reduce my iPhone volume back down to 5% (which is what I set in step 9.), but not until I switch away from the Roon remote app. However, as soon as I switch back to Roon, the phone volume immediately jumps to 100%. If I manually lower it in Control Center, go back to Roon, and then look in Control Center again, the volume is back to 100%. There’s no way to make the phone volume stay lower than 100% as long as Roon is the active app.

I’m having no issues with Roon properly controlling the volume of my endpoints thank goodness. That would be a much bigger issue indeed!

[kitated (Jim)]

@anon15113244

You can create the shortcut to apply on opening and closing the app.

Oops, I only selected to run it on Close. Does using it on Open keep the volume permanently lowered for you while the app is open/active? I’m not able to test it myself at the moment.

[kitated (Jim)]

Ok. Thanks for posting this. Maybe this will be good enough until we hopefully get a fix, either by Apple and/or Roon.

@anon15113244

you can adjust it accordingly whilst in the app

As I said in my earlier comment, with just running the Shortcut on Close alone, my volume shot to 100% anytime Roon was open/active, and could not be manually lowered from there as long as Roon remained open. I mean you could manually reduce the volume in Control Center to zero or whatever you wanted, but when you closed Control Center, bringing you back to the Roon app, and then reopened Control Center, the volume was right back to 100%. So unless you were paying attention you might have thought you’d taken care of manually lowering it, when in reality you had not.

Edit: I’ll change my Shortcut later today and report back on the results. Fingers crossed that it’ill work at keeping the volume phantom menace under control.

[kitated (Jim)]

@AMT it appears that adding Open to the Shortcut isn’t working for me at keeping the volume under control, after initially appearing to. I turned on notifications, and although I’m being notified the automation ran when I opened Roon, when I go to Control Center, the volume is at 100%.

Btw, the only apps open on my phone are Roon, and Safari with one tab … the Roon forums.

Edit: Just for clarity, I have an iPhone 13 on iOS 16.1, as well as the latest Roon 2.0 versions on everything. I just noticed there’s a new iOS version 16.1.1 that’s recently been released. I’m downloading it now to see if that might miraculously contain a fix. If you don’t hear otherwise from me, then assume it did not.

[kitated (Jim)]

@anon15113244, my Shortcut settings are exactly like yours except I set the volume to 5% and I enabled Notify When Run.

@anon15113244

on iOS 16.2

Did you mean 16.1? I just updated to 16.1.1 and that appears to be the latest version:

But the exciting news is I’m happy to report that, at least for the moment, updating to 16.1.1 appears to have fixed the issue, and my iPhone volume is now staying at 5% as I move back and forth between Roon and other apps!

Edit: of course we still need a permanent fix rather than a work around by the use of Shortcuts. If I disable the Shortcut automation, the volume still jumps to 100%.

Edit2: it looks like I spoke too soon. After re-enabling the automation, the volume is back to jumping to 100%.

[kitated (Jim)]

@anon15113244

iOS16.2 beta

I wonder if the beta release contains the fix?

Edit: what happens for you if you disable the automation?

[hacker19 (Roon Dude)]

This is not the only way Roon hijacks iOS :-(. Say you are playing music through YouTube Music or other app. When you open Roon it pauses YouTube. This is very likely a violation of iOS standards.

[PixelPopper]

@hacker19

When you open Roon it pauses YouTube. This is very likely a violation of iOS standards.

That may dependent on the current audio device selected in Roon i.e. the IOS device. I’m certainly no authority on IOS standards but if what you state is correct there numerous apps committing the same violations, eg. Naim, Qobuz, Tidal, Amazon Prime to name just a few that override playback ….

[kitated (Jim)]

@anon15113244

Kids and wife in bed, I dare not find out. Usually music can end up full volume (although hasn’t for a good while now).

Hey @anon15113244, have you felt brave enough to disable the automation and see if your volume will remain under control? While it would be nice to know if iOS 16.2 Beta might actually contain a fix for this issue, I completely understand your hesitation. If it ever starts functioning correctly for me again, I’ll probably be reluctant to install any new Roon or iOS update ever again.

Cheers!

[kitated (Jim)]

Smart man. Plus I’d never want to be in the crosshairs if you disabled it and then couldn’t get it to work properly again (or blew a speaker … yikes). I’d never be able to forgive myself!

Thanks so much for taking the time to troubleshoot things with me. I really appreciate it.

[Whya_Duck (Hugh)]

Roon’s hijacking of the iOS volume leve has been an issue for me since I began using Roon in 2020. My specific case seems to be when using a Bluesound mini powered speaker as the Roon endpoint. The “volume control” setting is “device volume”.

When controlling that endpoint from the iOS Roon Remote app, my iPhone volume gets set to 100%.

I’ll try the automation work-around suggested and provide feedback.

[Whya_Duck (Hugh)]

The automation works for me.

Thanks so much for support providing this solution!

[MBI]

Happened again yesterday morning, while baby in bed.

[Rob_Magnotti (Rob63)]

FYI, enabling lock screen controls(beta) under app settings appears to stop the iPhone volume from maxing out. At least for me.

[Alan33]

Thanks Rob… the workaround is working as advertised here so far too.