Apple volume turned down when using headphones

For some reason, Apple have decided to let my phone analyse how I’m using headphones when listening to music, and then unexpectedly turning down the volume without even asking me. I can turn up the volume again, but this is extremely annoying.


I find this a problem because:-

this was not mentioned in the notes of what the update would include;

I listen to very varied music, so it can go from very loud to very quiet, so this makes the quiet bits too quiet to hear;

notifications come up every time it does this, with a sound that also interrupts the music;

if I am in a loud environment, the music is turned down too low to hear properly;

there does not seem to be any way of stopping this that I have found.


Does anyone know a way of stopping this. It is exceptionally annoying, and I have had to start reusing an old iPhone just to play my music through my headphones. This will not be updated as I know that this would happen again.



[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Posted on Nov 9, 2020 12:15 AM

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Posted on Jan 2, 2021 11:03 AM

It is the health app that does it. I tried deleting the app for permanent fix but it does not work but i can offer you this as at least a bit of help. It’s still more than apple did for me. Delete the data in health app regarding headphones and that will reset the counter giving you another “week” of loud music which in translation means some time without the volume going down depending on how loud and how long you listen to music. The permanent solution would be if they allowed us to tamper with source code enabling the complete elimination of health app. Sorry that’s the best i got

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Jan 2, 2021 11:03 AM in response to loki scotland

It is the health app that does it. I tried deleting the app for permanent fix but it does not work but i can offer you this as at least a bit of help. It’s still more than apple did for me. Delete the data in health app regarding headphones and that will reset the counter giving you another “week” of loud music which in translation means some time without the volume going down depending on how loud and how long you listen to music. The permanent solution would be if they allowed us to tamper with source code enabling the complete elimination of health app. Sorry that’s the best i got

Jan 13, 2021 10:15 AM in response to Community User

from the limited research i have done it seems to be worldwide. started on the iOS 14.2 and carries on into 14.3. but it also seems to be tied to the geo code stored in phone, so if you have bought in the US an EU coded phone phone it has the cannot be bypassed issue. but there is also lots of US bought phones doing this. even telling it it is in US not EU doesn't work as it is hardwired in and can't be changed.


I personally have emailed tim cook directly as sometimes he does apparently answer. even on his twitter get him there. i have tried, even got a hash tag going #nomorevolumelimit the more we can bring attention to it and get more voices behind it, the more apple engineering will bump it up the todo list to get it sorted out.


maybe even have a word with your carrier? as a big company getting loads of these complaints prob would be passing it back to apple saying we are getting these complaints, fix it.

Feb 4, 2021 6:05 AM in response to Peter from Cambridge

So I went into the health app, selected browse at the bottom, and selected hearing. I’ve deleted all the data it’s collected. If it does what I think it will. It should be good for at least 7 days until it comes up with an average again. If this works, we may have to clear the data weekly, but I’ll take that over my headphones being turned down. I work in a loud factory and listen to podcasts. I turn them all the way up but there’s no way its at the level this algorithm is claiming.

May 19, 2021 10:54 AM in response to Peter from Cambridge

Okay so I’m not sure if anyone has mentioned a solution or if you found one that works for when you have headphones on or an aux cord hooked up to the phone. It seems on my phone that the phone only turns down my music when it is hooked to head phones and not Bluetooth. Now how I was able to fix this was by going to my settings. There I found sounds and haptics, after that I clicked on headphone safety. There I was able to find the button that said lighting adapters, I clicked on this and there you have the option to forget all adapters. Click this. After you do this when you plug in headphones or an aux it should give you 2 options. One says headphones and the other says “ other device” or something along that line. Select the “ other device” and it should work now without turning your music down any!

Jan 26, 2021 9:50 AM in response to Peter from Cambridge

I just got a new iPhone 12 and had the same thing happen to. I mostly listen to audio books and listen at a comfortable level. Suddenly the sound gets turned way down and a notification appears telling me that I’m not listening at a safe (by their standards) measure! When I opened the link for more info I received a grammatically poor explanation that this was being done for my safety. I’m extremely upset and feel a complete invasion of my privacy. When I looked at my settings and went to the health app I noticed many things being monitored. If I want to monitor my health habits I should have the choice to do this and not have it foisted on me by Apple. I wear a Fitbit for those purposes by choice.

I called Apple and was told that there is no way to remove this feature and that it was added for the user’s protection! They make me feel that I’m too incompetent to decide how to monitor my own health habits

Feb 11, 2021 2:48 AM in response to lobsterghost1

> Guess you couldn't be bothered to read past the first post to see Apple released iOS 14.4, which addresses this?


Except 14.4 does not address this issue. The issue is that Apple assumes that all people use a specific kind of headphone, so the volume set in the device would be an indication of the volume that a customer hears. But that's nonsense: I'm using a regular audio cable both in my car and when listening to music with the iPhone via a speaker at home. The volume that I actually hear depends only what I set up on those devices and has (almost) nothing to do with what the iPhone things (except the volume drops significantly when Apple messes with its own volume).


Due to this wrong assumption, "Due to regulations and safety standards, headphone notifications can't be turned off in certain countries or regions" still applies. But the regulation doesn't say what Apple does: It only says that the volume must be limited to 85 dB. Apple could simply be honest and say the truth: The iPhone has no idea what volume I am exposed to.


Here's the text of that regulation: https://ec.europa.eu/health/scientific_committees/opinions_layman/en/hearing-loss-personal-music-player-mp3/l-3/3-hearing-protection-limits.htm


Even when connecting to the speaker via Bluetooth, that setting that they have apparently introduced in 14.4 does not exist. When I tap the (i), there simply is no device type. And I am using iOS 14.4. But this is probably one of the region where that applies.

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Apple volume turned down when using headphones

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