I have a question regarding the behavior of AVAudioSession.sharedInstance().outputVolume.
Observed behavior:
- When the app is in the foreground, I read audioSession.outputVolume (for example, 0.1).
- The app is then moved to the background.
- While the app is in the background, the user changes the system volume using the hardware buttons (for example, to 0.5).
- When the app returns to the foreground, audioSession.outputVolume still reports the previous value (0.1).
From my testing, outputVolume only seems to update when the system volume is changed while the app is in the foreground. Volume changes made while the app is in the background are not reflected when the app returns to the foreground.
Questions:
According to Apple’s documentation for AVAudioSession.outputVolume:
“The systemwide output volume set by the user.” https://developer.apple.com/documentation/avfaudio/avaudiosession/outputvolume
However, based on our testing on iOS 18.6.2 and iOS 18.1, the observed behavior seems to differ from this description. Questions:
- The documentation states that outputVolume represents the system-wide volume set by the user. In our testing, the value does not reflect volume changes made while the app is in the background and only updates when the app is in the foreground.Is this the expected behavior of AVAudioSession.outputVolume?
- Is there any other recommended way in Swift to retrieve the current system volume that reflects user changes made both while the app is in the foreground and while it is in the background?
Any clarification on the intended behavior or recommended handling would be greatly appreciated.