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Hi, does anybody know how to turn the headphone safety setting off on the new iso update???
cheers.
[Re-Titled by Moderator]
iPhone 11, iOS 14
Some of us have been handed a nasty surprise from Apple after recently updating to IOS 14.2. Prior to iOS 14.2 our phones had a feature called headphone safety which notified us that the volume of our headphones was too high and lowered it back down autonomously. This feature was mandated for EU states but it was optional for everywhere else, essentially if you lived outside of Europe, you were able to turn this feature off.
Once you update your phone to iOS 14.2 there is no longer an option to disable this headphone safety feature, whether you live in the EU or outside of Europe (I live in Canada). Okay, so what’s the big deal? Well, first thing, ethically speaking, medical concerns such as hearing loss, which this feature is trying to prevent, are essentially a personal choice, which should not have any interference with a Tech company.
More importantly, the feature has been designed terribly. It cannot differentiate between Bluetooth headsets, Bluetooth speakers, and Bluetooth receivers for your car radio. We typically listen to music quite loud on Bluetooth speakers, since they are typically further away from us, however since the phone cannot differentiate between a Bluetooth speaker and Bluetooth headphones, it assumes your listening to headphones too loud and lowers the volume for you to 50%. If you higher the volume manually it will continue to lower it every 20-30 minutes. This experience becomes dangerous when driving as it forces you to either pull over or reach for your phone and fiddle with the buttons while driving, which can have dangerous consequences.
We have tried reaching out to apple, and we were met with disappointing results. The recommended help was to submit your feedback to apples feedback page: https://www.apple.com/feedback/ Upon accessing the feedback page, there isn’t even an option to report any feedback for iOS 14.2 bugs/ features.
Shockingly, posts submitted to the apple community boards/forums kept being deleted, and I was personally threatened to have my apple ID deleted and ISP blocked if I continued to raise awareness in regards to this issue. This is truly a first for Apple, in 13 years that I’ve been a customer, I never thought I would get threatened this way. So one must assume there is no help coming, no consideration, no willingness to engage in discourse by Apple in regards to this with the impacted users.
Apples mythological existence was largely propelled by the introduction of the iPod, a device that made it easy for us to enjoy music, how we wanted, where we wanted. Today, amongst so many limitations due to the global pandemic, all we really ask is to please, let us enjoy our music uninterrupted, un-convoluted, we need this right now, for some of us, music is the only thing we have left to keep us afloat.
Please allow those who are not within the EU the ability to turn this feature off; we are all conscientious adults able to manage our hearing.
This is not a smear campaign against Apple, we just want to be heard, much like we just want to hear our music.
[Edited by Moderator]
I think I figured out a work around to this annoying, inconvenient, & in several of our cases - unsafe issues.
if you delete your decibel history periodically it *forgets* that you’ve exceeding *their* idea of what’s best for YOU.
i think that I have the pics in the correct order this time
Thanks for posing this because it is not straightforward, and the lengths gone to keep hidden in settings especially since it’s unrelated to Health App & Sound & Haptics Notifications:
If in US/ Resident of Country not required to have headphones safety alerts, follow this Path:
Settings > Accessibility > Audio/Visual > Headphone Notifications (Switch to Toggle Off) Pop-up Window > Select ‘Turn off’ to confirm stop Headphones Safety notifications
And you’re welcome Beautiful People,
Now go Listen to your Jams at whatever Decibel you soever choose❣️
Solved !!!
Go to Health app. Click headphone levels / headphone warming/ show all data/ edit / (select all) delete.
you have now reset the data back to "zero" that the average is Calculated with.
FINALLY FIGURED IT OUT!!!
STEP 1: OPEN HEALTH APP
STEP 2: UNDER BROWSE TAB CLICK HEARING
STEP 3: SCROLL DOWN TO HEADPHONE AUDIO LEVELS (but you can click the two above for the same menu)
STEP 4: SCROLL DOWN AND CLICK SHOW ALL DATA
STEP 5: ONCE OPENED (you should see a list of recorded data) CLICK ON EDIT TOP RIGHT HAND CORNER
STEP 6: SELECT DELETE ALL
once you do the delete all you should be allowed back to your normal hearing. Hope this helps as it did me.
This was SO helpful! Thank you sooo much!
Apple, I’ve loved your products for so long and keep getting iPhones when I could easily upgrade to Android - but this is enough. Like. This screenshot from your own website’s info on volume control…
unacceptable.
Give us the warning, sure, but then let us deal with our own consequences. Also, if I’ve got my phone plugged in to car audio and you’re telling me my “headphones” are too loud… that’s just plain dumb.
Cut it out. Don’t make me regret my decision to upgrade to iPhone 12. I WILL switch to a Google Pixel if this continues.
Apple took that feature away. Not on mine anymore. I found the best solution is actually ditching the lightning headphones, and using the lightning to 3.5mm adapter, and registering the device as a non-headphone. Then it won't track your volume. Problem solved. 3.5mm headphones = freedom.
Incredibly enough out of accident I had the lightning earpods plugged in after I had registered the 3.5mm adapter.
For some reason now when I have the lightning earpods in (not even 3.5mm headphones) I can now select whether it is headphones plugged in or not. This is running IOS 14.4.
This could be a glitch, but I know my lightning earpods are no longer recognized as headphones, because it doesn't respond to "reduce loud sounds".
So even when the lighting earpods are connected, you go to lightning adapters and turn off "connected to headphones". This has worked well for me. I am receiving no more warnings.
You can select this when any lightning connection is plugged in. I cannot speak for BlueTooth but it works. You just have to register the 3.5mm adapter with your phone as an "other device". Then you can disconnect the adapter and plug anything else into your phone, and the software will believe that is what is connected and bypass the headphone restrictions if you keep it turned off.
Settings- accessibility- audio/visual- headphone notifications- *off*
Watch this GIF made on iPhone SE (1st Gen) iOS 14.2. Watch till the end.
This option is not there. It's FORCED by Apple in countries outside US... See below:
Then there's nothing anyone here can do for you. Apple will do what is legally required by country or region. And we as just users here don't need to search for the validation on this. You should contact your governmental authorities to see what new laws they may have enacted. I live in the US. I have full access to Headphone Safety settings.
I agree. I use my phone at work for radio through a Bluetooth speaker, it turns the volume down to minimum every 25 minutes.
It’s pretty frustrating and it should be down to the end user to choose and not all Bluetooth connections are in-ear headphones. I’m using my old iPhone for work now.
I’m in the US and I can’t turn it off either?
I’m in the US, and also cannot turn off the notifications. Also, despite the reduce loud sounds being turned off, it *constantly* reduces the volume when connected to my car’s Bluetooth. It is near infuriating when I’m trying to listen to directions or music, and suddenly have no volume. Real fun trying to get the BT volume back up while driving. Safety? Ha.
I did not have this issue with my X. This just started with my 12 Pro.
i am looking at my 11 pro max running 14.2 and it has the ability to turn it off. I don’t understand why my new 12 pro max can’t. I even tried changing regions on the old phone to see if I could replicate this but I can’t.
same issue for me with automatic turning down of the volume when using a Bluetooth speaker at low volumes. It’s really annoying.
How to turn off Headphone Safety on iPhone
