Google says Android will separate notification and ringtone volume

Abner Li | Apr 29 2023 - 11:59 am PT

For the past few releases, Ringtone and Notification volume has been controlled by one slider, but Google today signaled how that might be changing in Android 13 QPR3 or 14.

With Android 13 QPR2 Beta 1 in December, we spotted an ADB command that created separate “Ring volume” and “Notification volume” sliders in the Settings > Sound & vibration menu. This joined Media, Call, and Alarm volume for a total of five sliders.

QPR2 hit stable in March without the separate volume sliders, while there are currently no changes in QPR3 (Beta 3). The ADB command continues to work (as shown in the screenshots below):

adb shell device_config put systemui volume_separate_notification true

On Saturday, Google updated the “[Feature Request] Please allow to have separate volume bars for notification and ringtone sounds!” entry in Android’s issue tracker from December of 2021 with the following: “The requested feature will be available in a future build.” With 47 comments, the status is now changed to “Fixed.”

Looking at the roadmap, it’s unclear when notification/ringtone volume change will land in the stable release of Android 13 QPR3, which is scheduled for June, or Android 14. It’s not currently live in 13 QPR3 Beta 3 or 14 Beta 1.1. (Update: Some are seeing it live in Android 14 Beta 1.) An upcoming release in Android 14, and a subsequent beta, feels more likely at this stage of the development cycle, but it’s still technically feasible for Android 13, which will stop getting major updates after the June release.

This would be a quality of life improvement for those that don’t want to hear incoming calls (as they prefer vibration) but want to hear notifications, or vice versa.