Affiliate Disclosure
If you buy through our links, we may get a commission. Read our ethics policy.

Apple Watch Series 10 owners report speaker problems

An unknown number of Apple Watch Series 10 users are finding that the speaker volume is far too low, sometimes after months of it sounding fine.

Speaker quality is one of the many reasons AppleInsider concluded that the Apple Watch Series 10 was worth buying. For the first time, this and the Apple Watch Ultra 2 allowed for music and podcasts to be played back through the device's own speakers without requiring AirPods or similar.

Now around four months after launch, there are a series of complaints across Apple's support forums. Each of them says that the volume from the Apple Watch Series 10 speaker is too low.

"The speaker is low when on calls. It sound[s] blown when people talk," writes one user. "Apple['s] suggestion is to send it off [but it's] a brand new watch."

Another says that they had the same recommendation from Apple, and was then sent a replacement. "The volume was fine for the 1st month then went low with full volume in everything again," says this user.

Watch the Latest from AppleInsider TV

That issue over the speaker seeming fine at first but degrading later is a recurring one across most of the online complaints. "I got a new Apple Watch Series 10 in November 2024 and by December the sound was so low you couldn't hear it when it was on full volume," says a third user.

The problem appears to be related specifically playing back of media. Several users are now comparing the Apple Watch Series 10 speaker unfavorably to those on previous models, which did not play back media.

Earlier Apple Watch models could be used to take phone calls, though, and some users are saying that this is now also more difficult on the Apple Watch Series 10. The reports were first spotted by MacRumors.

Apple has not commented, and there is no indication of how widespread the problem is. Spot checks with our sources do not indicate a higher-than-average service rate for the device for any reason.

At present, no AppleInsider staff have had the issue. Admittedly, our sample size is small.

AppleInsider, as always, suggests getting an issue documented by Apple Support. Apple does not take action based on reports from media venues like ourselves, nor do they care about social media when it comes to a hardware issue.

Prior to adding media playback, Apple most noticeably improved its speakers back with the Apple Watch Series 4 in 2018. At that point, Apple was said to have boosted the Apple Watch speakers' volume by 50%.

3 Comments

pbdickey New User · 1 comment

I have an Apple Watch Ultra (not the Ultra 2), and indeed this is happening to me too.  I have spoken with Apple, and have been into the Genius Bar.  It is still not resolved and occurs what appears to be randomly.  A watch reboot temporarily fixes it.  When it happens the person I am speaking with is soft, I cannot understand what they are saying.  Even with the volume turned all the way up.  It renders the phone unusable.  The Genius at the Apple store told me she thinks a recent watch firmware update caused the issue to start happening, because she had seen it with other watches.  I told her that this was a key lifesaving issue for me when I am far from shore on my windsurfer and need to call for help if I am broken down.  She said the watch is not meant to take calls without a headset.  I told her it worked fine in the beginning, this is the whole reason I had purchased the watch, and it is not acceptable that Apple would degrade this functionality.

2 Likes · 0 Dislikes
cia 22 Years · 274 comments

Thanks to this article I now know I have a bad speaker in my AW10.

1 Like · 0 Dislikes
maltz 14 Years · 529 comments

pbdickey said:
I have an Apple Watch Ultra (not the Ultra 2), and indeed this is happening to me too.  I have spoken with Apple, and have been into the Genius Bar.  It is still not resolved and occurs what appears to be randomly.  A watch reboot temporarily fixes it.  When it happens the person I am speaking with is soft, I cannot understand what they are saying.  Even with the volume turned all the way up.  It renders the phone unusable.  The Genius at the Apple store told me she thinks a recent watch firmware update caused the issue to start happening, because she had seen it with other watches.  I told her that this was a key lifesaving issue for me when I am far from shore on my windsurfer and need to call for help if I am broken down.  She said the watch is not meant to take calls without a headset.  I told her it worked fine in the beginning, this is the whole reason I had purchased the watch, and it is not acceptable that Apple would degrade this functionality.

I get it, but what did you expect her to do about it?  You seemed to just be ranting rather than asking her for a solution.