IOS 27 Finally Brings the Ability to Set Separate Volume Levels for Alarms, Notifications, and Phone Calls.
I keep my iPhone on silent mode because I hate recurring notifications from messaging apps, but I’m afraid they’ll cause me to miss important phone calls. I’d love to be able to turn on a loud ringtone so I can hear these notifications, while also lowering the volume for annoying messages. But this wasn’t possible on my iPhone—at least until iOS 27. As eagle-eyed Reddit users noticed, Apple’s upcoming iPhone update now lets you set custom volume levels for different types of notifications. Here’s how.
How to Set a Custom Notification Volume Level in iOS 27
To set this up right away, you’ll need to install the iOS 27 developer beta , as iOS 27 won’t be released until this fall. I don’t recommend this for most users and advise waiting until iOS 27 is generally available, or at least until Apple releases the public beta next month. If you do decide to install the developer beta, be prepared for an unstable iOS version and the risk of bricking your phone or losing all your data. However, once you install iOS 27, follow these steps:
-
On your iPhone, go to Settings > Sounds & Haptics .
-
In the “Alarms & Timers” section, disable the “Match ring volume” option . This will allow you to set a custom volume level for alarms and timers.
-
Use the volume slider below this setting to set the desired level. Please note that moving the slider all the way to the left significantly reduces the volume of alerts, but does not turn them off completely.
-
Next, in the “Notifications and system sounds” section, disable the “Match ringtone volume” option . This will separate notification sounds from the system volume.
-
Use the slider below this button to set the desired volume level for notification sounds.
-
At the top of this page, you can also use the slider to set a custom ringtone volume.
These changes allow you to set individual volume levels for the three notification types. Unfortunately, Apple hasn’t yet implemented per-app volume control in iOS 27. If you want to set a higher volume specifically for YouTube or Netflix and a lower volume for WhatsApp, you’re out of luck. I hope Apple includes per-app volume control in its plans, as it’s the next step in the development of the feature I discussed here.