Weird behaviour of tone volume settings with AirPods Pro 3

[myhades]

The Tone volume setting when Manage headphones is enabled doesn't seem to have the same percentage-to-actual-volume mapping in iOS.

For me, the lowest MagicPods can go (15%) sounds like ~80% in the iOS settings, even though the numerical values shown on both sides are the same. That is whatever value I set in MagicPods stays the same when switched over to iOS (at least in UI), while the observed tone volume is different.

This is annoying as the default tone volume of Gen3 is too loud. To match the same volume I had to set it to 15% on MagicPods but when I switch over it's too low. So I had to manually set it to 15% when I'm on Windows, and set it back to 90% on iOS everytime I switch.

I'm not sure if this is a implementation error on Apple's side, but mind if you take a look? Thanks.

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Here's the logs:

MagicPodsServiceLog.txt
MagicPodsUILog.txt

[steam3d]

Hi. Everything is correct. The tone volume is 100% when audio is playing and 15% when it is not. This is the standard behavior of the tone volume.

[myhades]

Based on that information, I tested more on iOS and iPadOS 26.3.1 with both AirPods Pro 2 and 3,

1. With AirPods Pro 2, tone volume bahaves consistently with what you described.
2. With AirPods Pro 3, tone volume stays at the set value regardless of whether music is playing. I've verified this with multiple volumes.

I don't know if this is a bug or expected new behaviour for gen 3 (I prefer the latter), would it be possible to implement this for gen 3 to be consistent with Apple? Or provide a toggle to control this fallback behaviour when playing? Since it bahaves differently across iOS and MagicPods I assume it's implemeneted on the client side and thus possible. The default tone volume for gen 3 is just too loud even with the music playing.

[steam3d]

I can not reproduce. It works the same as on IOS.

Windows
Play music: Volume is around 100%
No music: Volume is 15%

IOS
Play music: Volume is around 100%
No music: Volume is 15%

[myhades]

I found that when music is playing, the tone volume is remapped based on the playback volume.

It scales with the playback volume on top of the set tone volume. The tone sounds can even be lower than the set value when music is playing but at 0% volume (if you are at 15% of tone volume then almost non-exsistent). The exact mapping is unclear, but it definitely does not just jump back to 100%.

I'm testing with iPhone 15 Pro (26.3.1) + AirPods Pro 3 (8B34). If we have the same setup it should be noticable enough that you'll draw a similar conclusion.

[myhades]

Just tried on the Pro 2 as well, it's the same kinda playback-volume related mapping.

I think we both only tested at a static playback volume... except for mine was set to a place where tone volume still sounds lower than default and seemingly matching what I set and yours a place where it sounds like 100%.

[myhades]

Let me know if you want to proceed with this. If so I can help extrapolating a curve with my Pro 3. If not I'll close this.

[steam3d]

@myhades I cannot confirm this issue. I will wait for another person who has the same issue, or until I am able to reproduce it on my side.