Bug 511496 - Volume widget shows and controls inactive output device when no audio is being played
Summary: Volume widget shows and controls inactive output device when no audio is bein...
Status: REPORTED
Alias: None
Product: plasmashell
Classification: Plasma
Component: Audio Volume widget (other bugs)
Version First Reported In: 6.4.5
Platform: Bazzite Linux
: NOR normal
Target Milestone: 1.0
Assignee: Plasma Bugs List
URL:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2025-11-02 04:20 UTC by DiscoDugong
Modified: 2025-12-12 16:55 UTC (History)
3 users (show)

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Latest Commit:
Version Fixed/Implemented In:
Sentry Crash Report:


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Description DiscoDugong 2025-11-02 04:20:11 UTC
SUMMARY
Volume widget displays and adjusts volume of inactive built-in audio output rather than the active bluetooth output. But only when the widget pop-up is not open, and audio is not currently playing.

STEPS TO REPRODUCE
1. power on, log in
2. pair bluetooth audio device if unpaired, connect device if previously paired
4. Open Audio volume widget pop up and ensure bluetooth device is selected*
5. Close Audio Volume widget pop-up
6. Ensure no audio is being played **

*bluetooth device is auto selected to be active when first connected, but this also happens if I manually switch to built in audio and back. Or even if I disable and re-enable both or either audio devices.

**it takes a couple seconds to kick in

EXPECTED RESULT
Audio volume widget would display and control the volume of the active audio output, which is the bluetooth device

OBSERVED RESULT
Taskbar audio widget displays volume state of the inactive built-in audio output instead
Scrolling over widget adjusts volume of the inactive audio output
Volume control keyboard buttons also adjust volume of inactive audio output

The widget temporarily switches to displaying and controlling the active audio output device only when pop up menu is open, or audio starts to play from an application.
The widget reverts back to controlling/displaying inactive device as soon as both no audio is being played and the pop up menu is closed
(For clarity: audio does not get played on the inactive device, it's just the widget's volume display and volume adjustment that is for the wrong device)

SOFTWARE/OS VERSIONS
Linux/KDE Plasma:
KDE Plasma Version: 6.4.5
KDE Frameworks Version: 6.19.0 
Qt Version: 6.9.2

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Distro: Bazzite 43
            -Fresh install
            -Up to date as of time of posting
Hardware- Framework Laptop 12

Workaround: Manually disabling built in audio when using a bluetooth audio device
Comment 1 TraceyC 2025-11-05 20:06:05 UTC
I'm not able to reproduce this on Plasma built from git-master or 6.5.1. Can you re-test when your system updates to Plasma 6.5.1 or later?
Comment 2 DiscoDugong 2025-11-07 21:17:28 UTC
(In reply to TraceyC from comment #1)
> I'm not able to reproduce this on Plasma built from git-master or 6.5.1. Can
> you re-test when your system updates to Plasma 6.5.1 or later?

Hi, thanks for checking this out!
I just tested with plasma 6.5.1 and the behavior is the same.
Though, to be clear, I have not installed the distro totally fresh, plasma has been updated in place as part of the Bazzite's default update schedule using rpm-ostree. So it's possible the issue might be resolved for fresh installs. Or as always, it may just have been introduced downstream by Fedora, or Bazzite.

I did some more specific tests. 
The behavior persists regardless of whether the built in audio is driving the speakers, or the audio port.
I tested a different Bluetooth audio device, and the issue persists.
I tested the different audio profiles available for the bluetooth devices in the volume widget. That has no effect on the behavior.
And interestingly:
I noticed their is an option in the 3-dot menu of each audio device called "play all audio via this device". When selected, that option doesn't visually change anything (no check mark next to it, no pop up showing different settings, no mark on the device display in the widget indicating the option is enabled/disabled for any of the devices, etc). And there are no differences in behavior that I can find either. Audio continues to play through the device selected with the checkboxes on the left of the list, and the issue described above persists. Not sure if that option is also bugged, or if I'm just misunderstanding the way that option works.

Full info from About This System/Info Center:
Operating System: Bazzite 43
KDE Plasma Version: 6.5.1
KDE Frameworks Version: 6.19.0
Qt Version: 6.10.0
Kernel Version: 6.17.7-ba01.fc43.x86_64 (64-bit)
Graphics Platform: Wayland

Processors: 8 × 13th Gen Intel® Core™ i3-1315U
Memory: 16 GiB of RAM (15.3 GiB usable)
Graphics Processor: Intel® Graphics
Manufacturer: Framework
Product Name: Laptop 12 (13th Gen Intel Core)
System Version: A3
Comment 3 Nate Graham 2025-12-12 16:55:18 UTC
I can't reproduce this either with current git master and an Arch-based distro.