I just gave up and downloaded Tile app. There you just create an
account, link that account to Google Home and set up a routine when I
say "where is my phone" it will trigger "ask tile to find my phone".
This works flawlessly with my phone on silent ...
I have the same issue, iOS 15.2, iPhone 12 Pro Max, I've tried disabling
critical alerts and enabling them again and all the obvious turning on
and off stuff but still doesn't work when my phone is on silent.