Sounds still play when mute/silent mode is ON

Question

I'm playing system sounds using AudioServicesPlaySystemSoundWithCompletion and custom sounds using AVAudioPlayer.

Why are sounds played if the silent switch is on? I've tried all the categories for the "AVAudioSession".

I tried the following code:

 try AVAudioSession.sharedInstance().setCategory(AVAudioSessionCategorySoloAmbient)
 try AVAudioSession.sharedInstance().setActive(true)

Also tried this:

try AVAudioSession.sharedInstance().setCategory(AVAudioSessionCategoryPlayback, with: AVAudioSessionCategoryOptions.mixWithOthers)
try AVAudioSession.sharedInstance().setActive(true)

I tried all the categories defined in this link, but the sounds are always playing when the phone is muted (silent switch ON). https://developer.apple.com/reference/avfoundation/avaudiosession/audio_session_categories

I'm playing the sounds like this:

System sounds:

AudioServicesPlaySystemSoundWithCompletion(1304, nil)

Custom sounds:

        let url = Bundle.main.url(forResource: "sound01", withExtension: ".wav")
        do {
            if audioPlayer != nil {
                audioPlayer!.stop()
                audioPlayer = nil
            }
            if let soundURL = soundURL {
                try AVAudioSession.sharedInstance().setCategory(AVAudioSessionCategoryPlayback, with: AVAudioSessionCategoryOptions.mixWithOthers)
                try AVAudioSession.sharedInstance().setActive(true)
                audioPlayer = try AVAudioPlayer(contentsOf: soundURL)
            }
            guard let audioPlayer = audioPlayer else {
                return
            }
            audioPlayer.prepareToPlay()
            audioPlayer.play()
        } catch let error {
            print(error.localizedDescription)
        }

Am I doing something wrong?

Edit your question and include how you're playing the sounds. — Daniel Storm, Apr 27 '17 at 01:43

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 27 '17 at 16:23

The fix was to use the AudioServicesPlayAlertSound function instead of the AudioServicesPlaySystemSoundWithCompletion function.

We also can't use AVAudioPlayer. We need to use the AudioServicesPlayAlertSound function by creating a sound ID for each custom sound.

let soundURL = Bundle.main.url(forResource: "test01", withExtension: ".wav")

if let soundURL = soundURL {
      var soundID : SystemSoundID = 0
      AudioServicesCreateSystemSoundID(soundURL as CFURL, &soundID)
      AudioServicesPlayAlertSound(soundID)
}

can you help on this: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/70875385/why-sound-still-play-when-devices-silent-mode-is-on/70875992#70875992 — Kishan Bhatiya, Jan 27 '22 at 11:16

Sounds still play when mute/silent mode is ON

1 Answers1