What’s New About iOS 27 Volume Control?
iOS 27 volume control is a redesigned audio system setting that replaces a single shared slider with three separate controls for ringtone, alarms, and notification sounds, so you can mute alerts without silencing calls or alarms. Previously, iPhones used one “Ringtone and Alerts” slider, which forced everything—phone calls, alarms, and app notifications—to share the same loudness. That meant turning down message pings also risked missing an incoming call or important morning alarm. With iOS 27, Apple breaks that long-standing link. You now get individual sliders for ringtone, “Alarms and Timers,” and “Alerts and System Sounds,” all inside the Settings app. According to PCMag, the feature appeared under the “Individual alarm volume” label during Apple’s WWDC presentation, tucked among a slide of smaller optimizations that many people may have overlooked.
Where to Find the New Notification Volume Settings
To start customizing your notification volume settings, open the Settings app and go to Sounds & Haptics. In earlier iOS versions, this page showed one Ringtone and Alerts slider. In iOS 27, that single control can expand into three distinct sliders, giving you separate alarm volume, notification volume, and ringtone volume control in one place. You’ll see a main Ringtone slider at the top, then sections labeled “Alarms and Timers” and “Alerts and System Sounds.” Each section includes a “Match Ringtone Volume” toggle. When enabled, alarms or alerts mimic your ringtone loudness and hide their own sliders. Turn those toggles off, and new sliders appear underneath, ready for fine-tuning. This central hub is where you’ll tailor how loud your phone rings, how softly messages arrive, and how sharp your timers sound, without digging through multiple apps.
How to Set Separate Volumes for Ringtones, Alarms, and Alerts
Once you’re in Sounds & Haptics, start by setting your ringtone volume control. Use the top slider to choose how loud you want phone calls to ring; this becomes your baseline. Next, under Alarms and Timers, turn off Match Ringtone Volume to unlock the alarm slider. Drag it up for louder wake-ups or down for gentler reminders, knowing it no longer follows your ringtone. Then move to Alerts and System Sounds and again disable Match Ringtone Volume. The new slider here controls notification volume settings for messages, app alerts, and system sounds, independent of calls and alarms. Lifehacker notes that “moving the slider all the way to the left reduces the volume of alerts significantly, but it does not mute alerts entirely,” so you still get subtle audio feedback instead of total silence.
How to Silence Notifications Without Muting Calls or Alarms
With the new layout, silencing notifications without losing calls or alarms is straightforward. First, keep your ringtone slider at a level where you can clearly hear incoming calls, even from another room. Then, under Alerts and System Sounds, lower the slider until message tones are barely noticeable, or as quiet as you can tolerate. This way, group chats and app pings no longer dominate your soundscape. For a separate alarm volume, move to Alarms and Timers and raise that slider high enough to wake you, regardless of your ringtone or alert level. PCMag highlights that iOS 27 provides three independent controls: one each for Ringtone, Alarms and Timers, and Alerts and System Sounds, solving years of complaints about forced volume sharing. You can now keep your phone on loud for calls while keeping notifications almost silent.
Special Case: Sleep Schedule Alarms and What’s Still Missing
There’s one important exception to the new separate alarm volume feature. According to PCMag, “the volume level you set here won’t work with the Sleep Schedule or Wake Up alarm you set in the Health app.” Those alarms already have their own independent volume slider inside the Clock app. To adjust it, open Clock, go to Alarms, tap Change under Sleep/Wake Up, and scroll to the Sound & Haptics section, where you’ll find a dedicated Wake Up volume. This means your regular alarms follow the new Alarms and Timers slider, while your sleep schedule uses its own control. Note that iOS 27 still doesn’t offer per-app volume controls, as Lifehacker points out, so you can’t make YouTube louder than WhatsApp yet. Even so, the new three-way split solves the most common daily annoyance: shared volume between calls, alarms, and notifications.
