Set Different Volumes For Ringtones, Notifications, And Your Music In Android

Most of us would probably prefer that our smartphone ringtone be louder than those Instagram videos that love to autoplay when we're browsing our feed.

Great news! Your Android phone actually has three different volume levels for the sounds and noises that play from your smartphone, so that you can set your phone, notification and media volumes to whatever level you want.

Here’s how to view and control each of these volume settings.

Go to your system Settings. In most Android 4.0+ devices, this can be done by either swiping the notification panel down from the top of the screen and tapping the Settings icon, or finding the Settings app in your app drawer. Once in the Settings menu, you will select Sounds > Volumes and up will come three sliders that control volumes for Media (Music, video, games, etc), Ringtones & notifications and Alarms.

(Note: There may be an extra step or two, depending on your phone’s maker. For Samsung Galaxy S4 and Galaxy Note 3 owners, for example, you’ll go into Settings, then select Device, then select Sound to arrive at the screen below.)

Now just set each slider to your desired volume (you’ll hear test levels for reference as you adjust) and you’re all done.

The rule of thumb for how the Volume Up and Volume Down buttons behave globally in Android is basically this: When you’re listening to music, watching a video or playing a game, the buttons will adjust the Media volume, and only when an alarm is sounding will the buttons control that level. All other times, the volumebuttons will control the Ringtones & notifications levels.

Got it? Great. You won’t ever again have to wonder how the heck to lower your ringer volume while streaming music (Believe me: I’ve been there).