[Webkit-unassigned] [Bug 237322] New: webaudio api is muted when the iOS ringer is muted

[bugzilla-daemon at webkit.org]

https://bugs.webkit.org/show_bug.cgi?id=237322

            Bug ID: 237322
           Summary: webaudio api is muted when the iOS ringer is muted
           Product: WebKit
           Version: Safari 15
          Hardware: Unspecified
                OS: Unspecified
            Status: NEW
          Severity: Normal
          Priority: P2
         Component: Media
          Assignee: webkit-unassigned at lists.webkit.org
          Reporter: hartman.wiki at gmail.com

1. Set your iPhone to silent with the side toggle
2. Play an <audio> or <video> element. Both are audible
3. Try to use anything with WebAudio API. AudioContext/AudioBufferSourceNode/Webaudio API is muted.

This is a difference in the channel used by the APIs. Audio and video element are on the media channel, where webaudio seems to be on the default/ringer channel of iOS.

This is HIGHLY confusing. I cannot count the amount of times where I have begun playback using webaudio and figured the webpage had broken, only to figure out that because I always have my phone set to Silent, the audio is muted.

There are even workaround for this in the wild, where people play a clip of silence using <audio> on loop, to open up the media audio channel and force the mixer to merge both audio sources and output the webaudio api to the media channel.

WebAudio API should either:
1. use the media channel (as it already requires a user interaction to unmute, I'm not sure why it would NOT be on the media channel)
2. at the very least present some visual feedback indicating that audio is muted because the ringer is muted.

I hope this can be fixed.

Wikipedia tracking ticket: https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T301741

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