We have been getting a number of support emails with complaints that audio alerts cannot be heard when our app is placed in the background. If you have experienced this issue and are using iOS 5.0 please do the following steps to make sure you can hear audio alerts:
- Start the Settings app (not the Settings tab in our app)
- Select Notifications (at the top of the screen, just Under the Wi-Fi)
- Select our app from the list (Ease into 5K, Ease into 10K, or Bridge to 10K)
- Make sure the Notifications are turned ON for our app and look like the following screen:
Enable Notifications for our apps
For reasons that we are still trying to figure out, the iOS 5 disables notifications by itself and that is the reason why audio alerts are not heard when the app is in the background.
Bluefin Software Blog 
Is anyone else getting multiple audio alerts? I’ll be told to Run, Walk, Run in succession. I’ve been using the app long enough to know what’s supposed to be coming next and usually the last instruction is the correct one. I’m using 6.1.3 on an iPhone4s.
Melissa,
Thanks for writing. I will need a bit more info from you to see what is going on. Could you please email at support@runhelper.com and tell me which week/day the audio alerts are going in succession? Are you playing music from the in app iPod, audio book from the Music app, or running our app in the background and using another app for music? All this will help us narrow down the problem. You can also try restarting your iPhone to see if that will help as well. Looking forward to your email. Thank you and have a great day.
has the music volume decreasing issue been addressed? i am still experiencing a drop in music volume when starting the bridge to 10k app. i have an iphone 4s with the latest ios (6.somethng). i love the app, but will need to look elsewhere if the music volume issue can’t be / hasn’t been fixed.
thanks,
rc
Thank you for your question and sorry for the volume issue. We are addressing it in the next update, which will be coming out soon.
Hi Kira,
Sorry for the late reply. We will have this issue fixed in the next update.
@kira
i also have the same thing happening. my music volume goes down to about 70%while the alerts stay at high volume. i just wish i could hear my music at full volume. it’s a bit of a deal breaker for me if this can’t be rectified.
fwiw, if i use Nike+ and pause and restart workout, the volume gets back to full volume. but soon as i use Ease into 5K again, it drops down.
Nick,
Thanks for writing. We have received reports of this happening and are looking into fixing it. Could you please send us your model number and type of device you are using along with the latest iOS version? Thank you.
Hi, has it been updated for 5.1 as mine seems to have the problem again since I updated.
Thanks
Hi Jonathan,
This is not a bug with our app, but a bug with iOS. If notifications were disabled again after updating to iOS 5.1 please enable them again as per instructions on this post.
I just sent an email about this problem. It is so frustrating when ramping up with running to not get the alerts. This has been going on for weeks for me and I thought I had tried everything. I just got in from another day without alerts. I’ve tried the notifications in settings now and I hope this resolves the problem. This has been a great app for me until iOS5 and the ease into 5K switch over.
Thanks for the comment. Enabling the Notification will make the alerts play for sure.
I, too, have been having problems with volume and audio alerts. I know Alex and Tanya are working on it, but here are a few short-term solutions that helped me!
1. When running with Pandora playing and either Ease into 5K or Ease into 10K running with the phone locked, I noticed that the audio alerts sometimes would skip. By only enabling the aforementioned “Sounds” option in the Notification Settings screen and nothing else, the audio skips far less frequently.
2. With the recent update, sometimes audio alerts can be hard to hear, especially when music is playing. Try making sure that the “Alerts” volume bar in the Volume tab at the bottom of the app screen is raised to the max. Lowering the music Volume bar can also make audio alerts a little more audible for the time being.
2. To help with the current volume issue (like kira described), I usually raise the volume using the Volume tab at the bottom of the app screen during the Warmup, then lower it again during Cooldown.
Again, these aren’t permanent solutions, but they’ll certainly help until the next bug fix. Thanks again for some incredible apps, guys. I use these every time I run. 5K or 10K training definitely would not have been as smooth for me if I hadn’t had your apps!
…and one more thing! For a short-term fix of the volume for sound notifications when the iPhone is locked, do the following:
– Make sure mute switch is off on iPhone
– Put ringer volume to max in iPhone settings
– Ensure that “Alerts” volume in app is set to max
Andrew,
Thank you so much for posting these great tips.
The App Isn’t even listed as a choice in the Notifications settings.
HI Eric,
Thanks for writing. You may have to scroll down all the way to the bottom of the screen once in the Notifications section. There are two headers. The first one lists all the apps where the notifications are turned on and the second header lists all of the ones that are not. If you haven’t already. Please try scrolling all the way to the bottom of the screen.
Thanks Alex, that must have been it! Incidentally, I now get the super blast at my first run prompt. Minor issue for me.
Niggling update complaints aside, I just ran six straight minutes today after struggling to run 30 seconds in week one! Needless to say, I’m thrilled an I would not have done it without this app, so thank you for making it!
Jaileer,
Thank you for commenting on the new update. We are working to fix any new issues with the version. However, I am also happy that the app has gotten you to run 6 minutes straight. Keep up the good work.
Is there nothing to be said about the volume problem with the upgrade?
All my notification settings show properly, but alerts aren’t working. Your app is in the foreground, even, but when the screen turns off I get no alerts.
Is your phone’s mute switch off? When the phone’s screen is turned off, the phone cannot be on mute in order for audio alerts to be heard.
My problem is not that I can’t hear audio alerts. I’m using 5.01 and I can hear the alerts fine, but they usually blow my ears out. As soon as I activate your app, my music is lowered, so I turn it up. Then when the alerts come along they’re too loud. Once again I ask why the volume is being lowered when the app starts. This never happened before the upgrade.
Also, I’m doing Week 4 and I’m no longer getting the “last run coming up” alert. Plus, today after the 2nd recent upgrade my GPS added an additional mile to my run. My map shows Mile 2 where it used to show Mile 1.
Whoever wrote the code for these upgrades did a terrible job.