Loud ads despite using setAppVolume(0.5)

[Bastiaan]

I am getting a lot of negative reviews from users complaining about extremely loud ads. After some searching I found that ad volume can be reduced by using the setAppVolume function. If you set that to 0.5, the ad volume should be 50% of the current device volume.

In the onCreate method of my Application class I initialize admob and set the app volume to be 50% of the current device volume using:

override fun onCreate() {

    super.onCreate()

    MobileAds.initialize(this)
    MobileAds.setAppVolume(0.5f)

}

I am using the latest AdMob sdk:

implementation 'com.google.android.gms:play-services-ads:19.7.0'

I published an update with these changes, but the ads are still very loud. I have the feeling that this didn't change anything. Did I do something wrong? Should I call the setAppVolume just before showing the ad instead of at initialization? Thanks for your help.

[Mobile Ads SDK Forum Advisor Prod]

Hi Bastiaan,

Thank you fo bringing this question to our attention. Based on the code snippet that you presented and our documentation here . What you showed should work. If people are still complaining one of the other things that they need to know, is that this works based on the volume of the phone. If this really should become an issue, you can try to get a Charles log of any offending ads. Which we can look into more.

Regards,

William Pescherine Mobile Ads SDK Team

ref:_00D1U1174p._5004Q2DK9xg:ref

[Bastiaan]

Hi William,

Thanks for your answer. There are still a few things that are unclear to me.

1. If you say that it "works based on the volume of the phone", what do you mean with that? I assumed that the ad volume will be set to 50% of the current media volume, is that correct? 

2. You also mention that there can be offending ads. This raises the question how the volume is regulated. I assumed that the AdMob SDK temporarily reduces the media volume with 50% before starting the ad, and restores it to the original media volume after the ad is dismissed. But if an ad can offend the volume rule, apparently the ad itself sets its output volume, which makes the setAppVolume function more like a suggestion... I tried it several times today, and none of the ads used a reduced volume (my media volume was at 90%, and all ads were really loud, definitely not 45%).

If it is true that the setAppVolume is nothing more than a suggestion for the ad, and if it is true that pretty much none of the ads follow that suggestion, then there is really no point in using this. In that case I will develop my own solution that temporarily lowers the media volume while presenting the user an ad. 

[Mobile Ads SDK Forum Advisor Prod]

Hi Bastiaan,

I work with William and will assist you. Kindly note that the setAppMuted and setAppVolume functions are supposed to control the volume of the ads only for certain ad formats: namely, native video ads and video interstitials. These formats uses Google-provided code to control the playback and volume. All other ad formats may not respect those settings. We suggest that you use the correct ad format (native video ads, video interstitials) instead when using said functions.

Regards,

Aryeh Baker Mobile Ads SDK Team

 

ref:_00D1U1174p._5004Q2DK9xg:ref