Why does my iphone go silent when connected to bluetooth

When you navigate to a place, you can hear voice directions. Learn how to fix voice navigation problems on your mobile devices.

Table of Contents Show

Hear directions through your phone instead of Bluetooth
Fix other navigation problems
Step 1: Turn on your device’s volume.
Step 2: Make sure voice is turned on in the Maps app.
Step 3: Turn up the volume in the Maps app.
Step 4: Switch to your car speakers.
Step 5: Download voice directions
Issue description
iOS devices
Solutions
Android devices
Solutions
Why is my iPhone silent when Bluetooth is on?
Why is my iPhone silent when in my car?
How do I make my iPhone ring when connected to Bluetooth?
How do I stop my iPhone from going to silent mode?

Hear directions through your phone instead of Bluetooth

Bluetooth devices don't always connect easily. If you're having trouble hearing Maps instructions through your Bluetooth speakers, play Maps audio through your phone's speakers instead. You can choose which speakers to use in Google Maps settings.

On your iPhone or iPad, turn off Bluetooth.
Open the Google Maps app
.
Tap your profile picture or initial

Settings

Navigation settings.
Turn off Play voice over Bluetooth.

Step 1: Turn on your device’s volume.

Make sure that your device’s volume is on and not muted. After you start navigation, turn up your volume.

Step 2: Make sure voice is turned on in the Maps app.

On your iPhone or iPad, open the Google Maps app .
Start navigation.
In the top right, you'll see the volume setting. It'll be either:
To hear sound all the time, tap the volume setting and switch to Sound
. Google Maps should start talking.

Step 3: Turn up the volume in the Maps app.

On your iPhone or iPad, open the Google Maps app .
Tap your profile picture or initial

Settings

Navigation settings.
Choose Louder.

Step 4: Switch to your car speakers.

You can hear voice navigation from your car speakers using Bluetooth or a USB cable.

Step 5: Download voice directions

Sometimes voice directions aren’t downloaded or must be updated on your device. When this happens, you’ll hear a chime instead of voice directions.
1. Make sure you're connected to the internet. If you have a strong internet connection, voice directions download faster.
2. Get directions.
3. Use the Google Maps app as you normally would. Voice directions are downloaded while you have the Maps app open.
4. When the voice directions are done downloading, you'll hear directions instead of chimes when navigating to a place.

Was this helpful?

How can we improve it?

Issue description

After connecting a Bluetooth device to an iOS or Android device, you may encounter the following issues:

Failure to answer calls through a Bluetooth headset.
Cannot record and play audio through a Bluetooth speaker.

iOS devices

Reason

The possible reasons include:

The iOS system selects audio routes for phone and VoIP calls, and the default audio routes are different from what you expect. Phone calls also include FaceTime calls and other calls implemented with CallKit.
The default audio route for a phone call after connecting an iOS device to a Bluetooth device:
- After tapping the answer button on iPhone, the default audio route is the iPhone speaker.
- After tapping the answer button on a Bluetooth device, the default audio route is the Bluetooth device.
The default audio route for a VoIP call after connecting an iOS device to a Bluetooth device:
- If a user has answered phone calls, the default audio route is the one used by the last phone or VoIP call.
- If a user has not answered any phone call, the default audio route is the Bluetooth device.
If the default settings mentioned above conflict with the audio routes you want, you need to change them when connecting your iOS device to a Bluetooth device. For details, see Solutions.
On an iOS device, the audio route for audio inputs and outputs must be the same. If you set the Bluetooth device as the audio route for recording, the system switches the audio route for playback to the Bluetooth device accordingly.
A Bluetooth speaker can only record audio during a system phone call. If the app does not use the CallKit, the following happens:
- Users who send audio streams cannot record or play audio through the Bluetooth speaker.
- Users who only receive audio streams can only play audio through the Bluetooth speaker.

Solutions

Depending on which type of call you have an issue with, choose one of the following solutions to set the audio routes:

Phone call

Before answering a phone call, change the audio route setting in Settings: swipe down to reveal the search field, search Call Audio Routing, and change the audio route to Bluetooth Headset. All incoming calls will be answered through the Bluetooth device even if you press the answer button on the iPhone.

During a phone call, you can switch between the Bluetooth Headset, Handset, or Speaker options in the call interface.
If you connect an iOS device to a Bluetooth speaker and answer calls in an app, ensure that the app uses the CallKit, otherwise, the above settings do not work.

VoIP call

Before making a VoIP call, you need to switch to the Bluetooth Headset mode in the Control Center. Apps can call the iOS native API setPreferredInput method to change the audio route.
When a VoIP call through the Bluetooth device is interrupted by a phone call, tap the answer button on the Bluetooth device to answer the phone call, after which you can continue the VoIP call through the Bluetooth device once the phone call ends.

Android devices

Reasons

Permissions to access the Bluetooth device are not added in the AndroidManifest.xml file.
Only the Bluetooth device that supports SCO can record and play audio. If the Bluetooth device supports only A2DP, then it cannot record audio, which means it cannot be used to answer a phone call.
You can route audio to a Bluetooth device only if the Android device supports the use of SCO for off-call use cases.

Solutions

Add the following lines in the AndroidManifest.xml file to request permissions to access the Bluetooth device:
_5
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.BLUETOOTH" />

_5
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.BLUETOOTH_ADMIN" />
_5
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_PHONE_STATE" />
_5


_5
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.BLUETOOTH_CONNECT" />
Check if the Bluetooth device supports SCO. If not, switch to a SCO-capable Bluetooth device.
Call the Android native API AudioManmager.isBluetoothScoAvailableOffCall method to check if the device supports the use of SCO for off-call use cases. If the device does not support the feature, the user can only answer the call using the system default audio route.

Why is my iPhone silent when Bluetooth is on?

Because its probably routing its audio to the bluetooth device its connected to. Is this not the desired behavior?

Why is my iPhone silent when in my car?

Driving Focus is an iPhone mode that acts like Do Not Disturb while you're driving. When enabled, Driving Focus temporarily limits notifications like calls and texts. You can turn Driving Focus on and off on your iPhone, or set it to turn on automatically.

How do I make my iPhone ring when connected to Bluetooth?

Before you turn it on, make sure your speaker and iPhone are connected with each other via Bluetooth..

Open the Settings app on your iPhone..

Go to Accessibility settings..

Tap on Touch..

Next up, Select Call Audio Routing..

Now, choose Bluetooth Headset or Speaker as per your choice..

How do I stop my iPhone from going to silent mode?

All iPhones and some iPads have a ring / silent switch on the left side of the device (above the volume buttons). Move the switch in way that the switch does not have an orange background color as the image below. Pushing it towards you will turn off silent mode. Pushing it away from you will turn it on.