In practically all mobiles under the Android operating system you can have separate volume levels for notifications and ringtones. This makes sense, as you might want incoming calls to have higher priority than app notifications and set a louder sound for them. However, Google phones do not have this functionality, although it had it for a while, it ended up being removed, linking the ringtone and notification volumes together.
Users with a Google Pixel had been thinking for a long time to separate the button from the two volumes, but the company never listened to their comments. This could change later this year, when Android 14 offer sliders separate for ringtone and notification sound.
Easily change the volume on your Google Pixel
Many Pixel users running Android 14 DP2, the second developer build, are noticing separate notification and ringtone sliders on their phones. This was not the case when they initially upgraded to the latest test version of the operating system. As the popular informant Mishaal Rahman in a Twitter thread, Google has been working on the separation of notification volume and ringtones since Android 13 QPR2 beta. With Android 14 DP2, it seems that the company remotely enabled the option to separate both sliders.
It is important to note that although the ringtone and notification sliders are not linked, both go silent if you put the phone on vibrate. It’s unclear if this change is intentional or a bug, but it’s a step in the right direction for Google.
If you are a Pixel owner, you can install the Android 14 Developer Preview or the Android 13 QPR3 beta to enjoy this change on your phone, although it is not entirely recommended, since this version is riddled with bugs because it is a test phase. Let’s hope that the American company separates the volume, ringtone and notification buttons with either of the two releases of the operating system later this year.
The truth is that it is incomprehensible that Google had not made this decision much earlier. Mainly, because any other device under the Android ecosystem allows you to change the volume of these two sections independently, since many users want to have the notifications silent, but the calls in sound.
When will Android 14 arrive?
At the moment there is no official date for the start of the deployment of Android 14, but through Google’s schedule we can know that the first open beta could start during the month of may. So that it would only take about two months to appreciate the news of the operating system in first person.
Regarding the final version of Android 14, everything seems to indicate that it will land on all devices from August or early September along with the launch of the Google Pixel 8 series.