Volume of entire app gets quieter after accessing mic - ios

Question

I am having a volume issue within my iOS app. When I call setupMic() the volume level of the entire app is lowered significantly.
Here is the code I am using:
func setupMic() {
//make an AudioSession, set it to PlayAndRecord and make it active
let audioSession: AVAudioSession = AVAudioSession.sharedInstance()
do {
try audioSession.setCategory(AVAudioSessionCategoryPlayAndRecord)
} catch {
print("There was an error setting the category")
}
do {
try audioSession.setActive(true)
} catch {
print("There was an error setting the audio session to active")
}
//set up the URL for the audio file
let documents: AnyObject = NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(.DocumentDirectory, .UserDomainMask, true)[0]
let str = documents.stringByAppendingPathComponent("recordTest.caf")
let url = NSURL.fileURLWithPath(str as String)
//make a dictionary to hold the recording setting so we can instantiate our AVAudioRecorder
let number = NSNumber(unsignedInt: kAudioFormatAppleIMA4)
let recordSettings: [String: AnyObject] = [AVFormatIDKey: number,
AVSampleRateKey: 44100.0,
AVNumberOfChannelsKey: 2,
AVEncoderBitRateKey: 12800,
AVLinearPCMBitDepthKey: 16,
AVEncoderAudioQualityKey: AVAudioQuality.Min.rawValue]
//Instantiate an AVAudioRecorder
do {
recorder = try AVAudioRecorder(URL: url, settings: recordSettings)
} catch {
print("There was an error")
}
}
//This function is called everytime our timer levelTimer fires
func levelTimerCallback() {
recorder.updateMeters()
let averagePower = self.recorder.peakPowerForChannel(0)
if averagePower > -7 {
stopMonitoring()
print(recorder.peakPowerForChannel(0))
didCompleteChallenge(true)
}
}
func startMonitoring() {
if self.recorder != nil {
recorder.prepareToRecord()
recorder.meteringEnabled = true
//start recording
recorder.record()
//instantiate a timer to be called with whatever frequency we want to grab metering values
self.levelTimer = NSTimer.scheduledTimerWithTimeInterval(1, target: self, selector: #selector(levelTimerCallback), userInfo: nil, repeats: true)
}
}
func stopMonitoring() {
self.recorder.stop()
self.recorder.deleteRecording()
self.levelTimer.invalidate()
}
I call setupMic() and startMonitoring() in an updateWith() method. I also call stopMonitoring() when the view is updated again with the updateWith()
Once the microphone is accessed the volume decreases. Any suggestions? Any fixes?

Answer 1

Fixed the issue. The volume was not actually getting quieter, the audio was actually routing to the earpiece. I just needed to set the audio session category options to .DefaultToSpeaker. AVAudioSession.sharedInstance().setCategory(AVAudioSessionCategoryPlayAndRecord, withOptions: [.DefaultToSpeaker]). Thanks anyway internet.