Plexamp iOS - Connecting to remote players changes phone volume unexpectedly and instantly

Plex Labs
1

When I use the plexamp iOS app on my phone to connect to an instance running on a headless raspberry pi, it changes the volume of my phone to match the Pi.

The Pi is connected to a DAC → AMP → Speaker combo, so naturally, I want it to be outputting max volume at all times.

However, this issue means anytime I connect to the Pi to change songs, my phone volume gets set to max, then when I disconnect or do something else, I get blasted at full volume the next thing I do on my phone. This has startled me when watching YouTube and other videos multiple times.

However, the worst issue was when I started playing music on my Sonos Roam (located in the bathroom) from iTunes on my iPhone (AirPlay) while my wife was bathing my son. I then connected to Plexamp on my Pi to start up some tunes in the living room… this caused the Sonos (which by Apple’s AirPlay implementation is controlled via my phone’s volume) to jump immediately to MAX VOLUME, and basically blew the ears of my wife and 3 year old son. NOT FUN.

I don’t know why the app behaves like this, but I see it as a pretty big issue.

2

Settings > Playback > Remote Control > Use Hardware Volume.

You can disable that.

3

Thanks, that fixed my issue.

But I still feel this is kind of a safety issue, having connections to Plexamp suddenly set volume to max on external devices. At minimum I’d think this should default to OFF.

However, better still, the feature should be updated to behave more like standard connections like, Bluetooth or AirPlay, where the hardware volume buttons only control the connected device, not the phone itself, or additional connected devices. Somehow those protocols seem to understand that only the remote’s device should be changed, and at the end of the connection, the phone’s volume is what it was prior to connecting.

4

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