I love listening to podcasts and audiobooks at bedtime because they help me sleep better. Ideally, you want just the right volume when listening to an audiobook or podcast in a quiet location – something that remains comfortable to listen to for a long time. A little louder, and it becomes a distraction and causes fatigue in listening and a little quieter, and everything becomes incomprehensible. I’m quite sensitive to changes in volume and loudness, so I always spend some time fiddling with the volume sliders to find a comfortable level. However, thanks to the way Android handles media volume and volume control, finding the spot is always a struggle. It’s always too loud or too quiet no matter how careful you are to adjust the volume slider. This problem is more evident with earphones – wired and wireless – than over-the-ear headphones.
This has been a struggle on nearly every Android phone I’ve used in recent years. On the iQOO 7 Legend, for example, even the lowest volume is too loud to listen to sleep sounds or podcasts at bedtime. Plus, every step of the volume has a huge jump, so you’re always stuck between too high or too low a volume. If you only want a modest increase or decrease from the current level, that is nearly impossible. My Xiaomi Mi 10i 5G running Pixel Experience based on Android 12L is better with lower volume levels, but after the third or fourth click I am in the same situation where every jump in volume becomes really huge.
Thanks to the way Android handles media volume, finding that great audio spot is always a struggle.
The volume issue is further complicated by Android’s “Absolute Volume” control, which unites the volume of connected Bluetooth speakers and the volume of phone media. This is a huge convenience gain because it takes the hassle out of independently adjusting the volume control on your Bluetooth headphones and the phone’s media volume, meaning changing the volume on your phone controls the volume on the Bluetooth device and vice versa.
However, this convenience comes at a price: the loss of precise control over volume levels.
I’m not exactly sure when Google paired bluetooth and phone media volume. I remember being able to adjust the internal volume of my Sennheiser HD 4.50 headphones independently of the phone’s media volume in previous Android versions. This provided more flexibility and precise control of overall volume output. I can set the phone’s media volume to 5 and then use the headphones’ physical controls to adjust the internal volume until I find the right spot.
The problem is that while Android does give you an option to disable absolute volume control, which separates bluetooth and phone volume, I’ve had mixed results with this option. While it works with my Sennheiser headphones and the OPPO Enco M31 neck strap, it does nothing for the truly wireless earbuds. It’s only really useful if your Bluetooth headphones have volume control.
There was a very effective solution to this problem in the form of the Precise Volume application. The app connects to your phone’s audio system to replace Android’s 15-step volume limit and add 100 volume steps. It hasn’t been updated in a long time (since 2017, actually), and it no longer works on devices running Android 9 Pie and above.
Before you mention it, yes, I also tried the build.prop method to increase the volume steps from 15 to 30. However, it didn’t work in my case, by adding empty steps instead of distributing the total volume evenly over 30 steps. Not only that, this option is not applicable to a large portion of the Android community as it requires root access.
Google should take inspiration from Samsung and LG
A simple solution would be to add more concrete steps to the media volume.
So, what can Google do to give Android users more control over output volume? A simple solution would be to add more concrete steps to the media volume. As mentioned above, Android currently offers 15 volume steps. By comparison, my Sony Walkman MP3 player had 32 steps. Samsung provides an app called voice assistant, which allows Galaxy smartphone users to add 150 volume steps. Meanwhile, the LG V30 and V40 introduced 75 steps when custom DAC is enabled. If Google doesn’t want to go the lengths of Samsung and LG, even 30 steps will be more than enough. By default, Android can continue to use 15 steps while giving power users an option to enable additional steps to better control the volume.
Another option that Google could consider adding is the master volume slider which would limit the total volume of the output system-wide. So, for example, you can set the main slider to 60% to reduce the overall volume/height for each volume step. Another option is to allow Android media apps to add their own volume slider which works independently of the system media volume. This way, you can play with both sliders to adjust the final volume.
Of course, I am not the first to raise this issue. it’s a An old problem that many Android users have faced for years It hasn’t caught Google’s attention yet. It’s something I’m particularly familiar with bugs some users have, and it’s been an issue in my own use for a long time as well.
While we all know Android has come a long way since its early days, it’s important not to overlook improvements and quality of life changes like these. It’s a mature operating system at this point, but problems like this hold it back.
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