How to turn off Headphone Safety on iPhone

Looks like there is regulations apple is following after all.

In Canada it is: CSA 62368-1.

in USA it is UL 62368-1

and in Europe it is EIC 62368-1.

under clause 10.6 it appears that all

new audio visual equipment must adhere to some sort of method of informing the user of the consequences of exposure to loud sounds:

RS1 85db and under

RS2 100db and under

10.6.4 Protection of persons

Except as given below, protection requirements for parts accessible to ordinary persons,

instructed persons and skilled persons are given in 4.3. NOTE 1 Volume control is not considered a safeguard.

Between RS2 and an ordinary person, the basic safeguard may be replaced by an instructional safeguard in accordance with Clause F.5, except that the instructional safeguard shall be placed on the equipment, or on the packaging, or in the instruction manual. Alternatively, the instructional safeguard may be given through the equipment display during use.

The elements of the instructional safeguard shall be as follows:

”Do not listen at high volume levels for long periods.” or equivalent wording.

An equipment safeguard shall prevent exposure of an ordinary person to RS2 power source without intentional physical action from the ordinary person and shall automatically return to an output level not exceeding RS1 when the power is switched off.

The equipment shall provide a means to actively inform the user of the increased sound pressure when the equipment is operated with an acoustic output exceeding RS1. Any means used shall be acknowledged by the user before activating a mode of operation which allows for an acoustic output exceeding RS1. The acknowledgement does not need to be repeated more than once every 20 h of cumulative listening time.

Apples implementation of this is a massive fail.

The regulation states the user should be subject to accepting to listen to levels over 85db after having been warned on screen; and for this to happen ONCE EVERY 20 HOURS, not every 20 minutes.

Apple needs to implement a better solution to allow the respect of these regulations but also not to irritate their user base to this point.

Indeed, the regulation they are following is UL 62368-1.

i understand they must follow it, so I don’t believe there is any chance at being able to turn this off ever again, however... they need to figure out if it’s possible to implement a solution which is smarter and less intrusive that still fulfil regulatory criteria... this solution they made isn’t very good in application, specially given it can’t differentiate between headphones and speakers and car audio systems.

I have a current Galaxy phone. It follows the EU regulations: when the user increases the volume to where it would exceed 85dB, there is a warning popup, the user needs to acknowledge, and then the volume can be increased further up to 100dB. This warning will reappear after 20 hours of listening (presumably - I have not measured it myself, but that is what the regulations require, and it will take several days or even weeks for me to see the warning again). Also, the volume does not drop during the warning.

While the described Android behaviour can be annoying, it is considerably less intrusive than the iOS headphone notifications since 14.2, which drop the volume and which can reappear every few minutes. Before 14.2 my EU iPhone followed the same regulations as the Samsung.

As far as I can tell, the EU regulations in this matter have become adopted by IEC 62368-1 and thereby become international as of December 2020, which may have caused Apple to review its handling. However, the implementation in iOS 14.2 goes well above and beyond the requirements, and instead it moves closer to the much stricter WHO recommendations. I don't think there is any legal requirement for other manufacturers to follow this course.

So for now I have switched to my Samsung, but I keep my hopes up that Apple will change its mind on this, as I would love to reactivate my iPhone, or even upgrade to an iPhone 12.

I see no reason for hostility. William is quite right in that the EU volume limit is a thing and has been so for years. People have been circumventing it since the first implementations back in the DAP-era in the Noughties; it was a frequent discussion topic in hifi-forums like HeadFi. The exact legal situation is convoluted, and I'm only a layman myself. There are a bunch of European Standards (EN xxxx), which are not legally binding on their own, there are national standards that tend to be translated copy&paste versions of the ENs, there are EU directives and EU regulations (something I often mix up myself, though the difference is significant), and there are national laws. And a lot of this stuff is referring to each other, and there are multiple versions from different years where newer versions supersede the older ones.

Anyway, I think it is safe to say that pretty much any consumer phone and DAP sold in the EU in the past 10-15 years will have some form of volume limit somewhere in its code, even though maybe in the actual country of sales there is not yet such a legal requirement - it is just easier to build one EU version for the EU market. Whether it is activated and how it is implemented is a different matter again. I have two Samsung EU phones here, in one it was always on and could not be deactivated by normal means (though the workaround/hack was pretty easy), and in the other it was present and on by default, but could simply be turned off. The rules seem to allow some leeway - they differentiate between what a "normal person" can do and what a "skilled person" is allowed, so I guess a manufacturer can bury the off-switch behind two layers of menus and claim compliance. There are also exemptions for "professional" equipment.

At the same time high-profile manufacturers are more likely to draw legal attention, and thus they are more likely to play it safe in their interpretation. Back in the DAP/iPod-day Apple and Sony were pretty strict, making it hard to impossible to circumvent the limit, whereas with niche manufacturers it was often enough to just change the region in the settings. As far as I know there is even a physical (hardware) difference between Apple's headphone/Lightning-adapters in the EU vs the rest of the world, resulting in lower output in the EU.

So in that sense it does not surprise me if Apple takes the safe route and picks the strictest version they can find. They even show some pragmatic restraint - implementing the full WHO suggestions would result in a truly obnoxious device, as there would be even way more notifications than now. I can see where the WHO is coming from, from a hearing protection perspective there are flaws in the EN/IEC standards. But pestering the user is the wrong way. The WHO even acknowledges that the users are unhappy with the far less intrusive EU limits, but it seems the WHO response is to educate the user even harder. (I can picture a future fully WHO-compliant device that implements other possible health suggestions that might come up eventually - "Click agree to keep using your device beyond the recommended screen time...", "Click agree to turn up the brightness beyond the recommended maximum..." :D).

People will accept moderate limits, but once they get too annoying, people will hack. And once you start hacking, you might as well hack it all away. The WHO approach is destined to fail, and Apple's implementation is already too far across that threshold. They should go back to what is legally required.

urbncwby76 wrote:

Surprise surprise... as expected iOS 14.3 final was just released after so many betas and two release candidates and Apple has not bothered to even scratch the surface with regards to this annoyance.

That's because you are assuming it is a bug and not the way Apple has decided they will comply with French law and other EU mandates and possibly US liability laws.

As has been stated, if you are unhappy, the only way Apple will know is if you leave them feedback:

Feedback - iPhone - Apple

Please everyone, report this as a bug to Apple. The more people who do, the more chance that they might do something.

Report it as a bug in IOS for using external speakers which have their own volume control (They are correct when they say there is an EU law about protecting hearing with a headset, but this shouldn't also be forced on users of external speakers)

https://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html

I have reported some defects :

Firstly the volume/exposure of bone conducting headphones is nothing like the tracking in apple health. Therefore I am being incorrectly notified, this is a defect with the feature.

Secondly if "Reduce Loud Sounds" is set to "Don't allow" in content/privacy restrictions then these volume notifications seem to get stuck in an infinite loop, notifying me every couple of seconds. Thats quite a dangerous defect when I am cycling and to get audio back at all I have to stop, get the phone out, unlock it and so on. Setting back to allow seems to resolve this.

Support have told me that the feature is force enabled in order to meet regulations in my country (UK).

I have reported an additional defect that the changes in interpretation of standards, which directly affects users, should only affect new devices. I think this is actually a complaint tbh and it's unclear how I make one of those. I get that different manufacturers will interpret standards differently, and I want to be able to use that information as part of my decision making process when I buy a new device, not have the new interpretation dropped onto my existing device.

Too late for that. I don't know if another one would be different. This is, I fear, going to be across the board. I called Apple Care with my serial number and they basically said "can't help you" in so many words. It's going to be imposed on even devices in North America too.

It is 100% the issue. I confirmed it with apple the first day I got my 12 pro max and I verified it by erasing and restoring my 11 pro max. If you simply update to 14.2 and above, no problem. Once you're on 14.2 if you erase and restore you will not be able to turn this off.

Again, this is confirmed by Apple and verified with several devices....same behavior EVERY time.

Arhnace wrote:

Here's to hoping! However, I was told by support there is no "fix" coming this is mandatory on all new iPhones because of their partnership with the WHO.

Don't think that Support techs make policy or control product features and development,

Clcik (i) next to the Bluetooth line item for your device.

It looks like you can do this whilst it isn’t currently paired which is handy so you can do them all at once.

I had to unpair and re-pair my Bose headphones to get them to connect. I also find that iOS 14.4 doesn't let me set the device type for all Bluetooth devices. There is still no option on the Apple Watch (updated to 7.3) to set the bluetooth device type. The proper fix would be for Apple to let us disable this feature entirely.

Sorry, I don't buy that. I'm in the US. iPhone 12 Pro Max and iPhone

12. iOS 14.4. And I still have the switches to turn Headphone Safety

off in settings on both of our phones.

Factory reset your phone and let us know if you can still turn off the Headphone Safety.

Hi

I've noticed a new (?) option under Accessibility settings. It seems like the Headphone Safety can be disabled. Go to Accessibility > Audio/Visual and turn off "Headphone Notifications".

I didn't test it yet, but it should work I think.

I called Apple and they said turn on do not disturb while listening so I did and I do not get the notification at all so I can listen loud and long on iPhone 12mini...or use my old se device which I loved!!!!!

So there is no way of turning it down. The smart thing for Apple to have done, is come out with a way that distinguishes the difference between headphones and a speaker. Unfortunately a Bluetooth is all that the phone sees. I hate getting these notices when I have a speaker on and jamming out while cleaning. It is frustrating. I have been Apple faithful for over 10 years but this might have me throw in the towel. Disappointing.