Sound issues with iOS 26

Software
1

I “called myself looking” for this issue in the forum, and came up empty. Feel free to share a link to something I may have missed.

iPhone 15 Pro Max on iOS 26, phone calls and texts no longer provide audible notification. No ring, no ping. If I look at the screen, there are notifications, but I don’t sit around looking at the screen! Sound and Haptics setting is unchanged from before moving to 26. Default Calling App is set to Cellular. No ringtone plays, however.

I have a similar issue with Messages. No audible signal, although notifications appear on the screen. If I’m using the laptop, I get an audible ping, but nothing on the phone.

This may also be tied in with my first Apple Watch, which came online just about the same time as the move to iOS 26.

I would appreciate any solutions, suggestions, or pointers to areas to research.

2

If you have notification for a particular app set to show on your phone and your watch, it only “announces” them on the watch (presumably because that’s the likeliest to get your attention.)

Announcement being sound or haptics.

I’m guessing this is what you’re seeing. Those notifications are sent as normal to your watch and show up without sound/haptics on your phone.

3

Interesting. I’ll have to look into that later this afternoon. Thanks!