Headphone safety

Lawrence Finch wrote:

Go to Settings/Screen Time/Content & Privacy Restrictions. Under “Allow changes” tap on Reduce Loud Sounds and change it to Allow. Which is the default, BTW. If is is Not Allow someone changed it to Not Allow.

Good to know this is the default. This question has been coming up quite a bit.

Try Settings>Sounds & Haptics>Headphone Safety>Headphone Notifications. Set it to off.

I came back to this thread to post exactly what LD150 just posted - go to the device in your bluetooth settings and change the device type. For me, the issue is on my bluetooth comm system for my motorcycle helmet, I changed mine over to "car stereo" and it no longer drops the volume automatically for me.

SOLVED!

Scream106gti wrote:

Tom, mine is the same, I have no option to turn off.

It actually states they can't be turned off on mine.

Go to Settings/Screen Time/Content & Privacy Restrictions. Under “Allow changes” tap on Reduce Loud Sounds and change it to Allow. Which is the default, BTW. If is is Not Allow someone changed it to Not Allow.

There is no "solution" unless Apple decides to change its implementation of this feature. Currently it cannot be turned off.

But you may be able to adapt, depending on your situation.

In Settings --> Sounds&Haptics --> Headphone Safety you can activate Reduce Loud Sounds and select a lower value. You can experiment with this setting, if 85 decibels is loud enough you will almost certainly stop receiving notifications because you will not accumulate enough loud sounds over a 7-day period.

If you have to set it higher, you may simply have to occasionally clear the sound data stored in the phone to clear the notifications for a while. You do this in your Health app at Show All Health Data --> Headphone Audio Levels --> Show All Data --> Edit --> Delete All.

Like I said, not a fix but it helped me.

Try upgrading to 14.4 and go to Bluetooth settings and change the device type to car stereo or other.

From what I gather, if you don't see the "Headphone Notifications" toggle you're pretty much screwed. If you upgraded from iOS 14.1 to 14.2 the toggle should still be available. This was the case on my old phone and I confirmed this on my wife's phone which she just upgraded tonight. If you then do a factory reset after upgrading to 14.2 the toggle switch will permanently disappear and there is no hope of getting it back until Apple re-enables it in a future iOS release. Apple has stopped signing iOS 14.1 so downgrading to then upgrade to 14.2 is no longer an option.

The worse part of this "feature" is it carries over to my Apple Watch. I can't get even a 30 minute workout in before the watch is notifying me I'm exceeding some arbitrary noise limit and it cuts the volume in half.

So I have this too and I've found that you can actually ask Siri to remove the restriction. It will flag up again every so often but if you just say "Hey Siri, Remove volume restriction" Siri will then ask if you want it louder or softer, say Louder and you will be able to use the volume control again.

Hopefully we get a proper fix soon but this worked for me.

Here’s what I was sent but I’m sure they’ll delete they apparently don’t want people knowing

Hi Deborah,

Thanks for your patience. I received an update about your case. I tried to contact you by phone but was unable to reach you.

According to engineering response, this feature can not be disabled due in the US due to Government regulation and safety standards. I am enclosing our feedback link so you can submit the response to this issue. It is important for our customer to be able to give the feedback on the issues and how it affects them. Submit feedback at apple.com/feedback.

I know you are disappointed with the response and for that I am sorry. However, it was a pleasure to talk to you. I hope you and yours stay well and Happy Holidays.

Thanks,

Erin

Apple Support

After upgrading to ios14.4 delete the bluetooth device, pair it again. Tap on (i) info

Change the device to the correct type

There is no way to turn this off. Clearly, thousands of people have been trying unsuccessfully, many of which have contacted Apple directly. It is not a glitch or malfunction. They have no intention of changing it.

It’s a shame because it severely limits one of the primary functions of an iPhone for many users, an audio media delivery device. And let’s face it, any threat to Apple to switch companies or devices will fall on deaf ears. 1) Why would that care about a few people’s business vs. complying with gov’t regulations, and 2) they know it’s an empty threat and we wouldn’t actually do it anyway.

However, I do think it is very reasonable for us to request that they find a way to differentiate between different types of Bluetooth devices (assuming that is technically possible). This restriction should not apply to audio devices that have a secondary volume control. Most of these devices depend on full volume being delivered from the phone in order to produce the expected volume at the speaker.

For example, my wife is the Assistant Principal at a Middle School and they play music in the car-rider drop-off line in the mornings. They use an iPhone and a Bluetooth speaker to do this. But with this new feature, after 15 minutes at full volume it cuts back 50% and they cannot get enough volume out of the speaker for it to be heard. Our family has the same issue with the Bluetooth speaker we use outside in the backyard, and I also have the same issue now with the Bluetooth FM Transmitter I use in the car for music and podcasts.

Though I don’t think it likely, I do wish Apple would listen to their customers on this and improve the feature so it does not have such a broad-brush application to all audio content.

Well, I was one of the first to complain and say that Apple isn’t concerned about their customers. But I have to give credit where credit is due, they listened and they seem to have fixed it in 14.4. You can now classify your devices in Bluetooth settings.

btw it seems some Apple branded headphones cannot be anything other than headphones.

And I had to delete my speaker dock and add it back

It turn out that WHO has some sort of headphone safety thing and Apple is now drinking the koolaid.

After a lengthy conversation with an Apple tech, this feature cannot be tuned off after a hard erase and restore on all devices sporting 14.2 or higher...

Apples version of think differently now has taken to treating us like children. I understand the notification telling me it may be hurting my ears, but I swear if they turn down my music one more time I’m gonna go nuts....

Try turning it on and off again, and test with other apps. It may be the app that is limiting it.