How to turn off Headphone Safety on iPhone

This issue has nothing to do with the phone I’m afraid. I have an 11 Pro Max and can’t turn it off either. Apple support informed me that it’s tied to the serial number of the phone and hence where it was purchased from.

Fun. I ordered mine directly from Verizon. I’m on chat support waiting for them to probably tell me restore the phone. This seems like one of those issues that support will be useless to help and the only hope is an update. Hopefully more people report this to Apple.

Apple just told me it is mandatory in the us. That all devices once erased and restored with 14.2 will have the same restriction. I’m not clear if they meant only 12 models so I’m going to test it on my 11 pro max and pro max and report back.

so many users never saw this because their iPhone 12 series shipped with 14.1 and unless you install 14.2 and then factory erase your phone, which I did, you’ll still be able to turn it off. Yikes

I talked about this annoying setting since the beta of 14.2.

On my side, I downgraded to 14.1 (iPhone X). It's impossible with my car, bluetooth receveiver and speakers with this new "functionnality".

I hope it will be improved quickly...

It’s not legally required. Full stop.

This is something Apple decided to do. If it’s not fixed by the time I’m ready for a new phone, I’ll switch to Android.

I don’t listen to headphones. I plug my phone into speakers. If the volume is not maximum on the phone, I can’t properly adjust the volume on my speakers. I’m cooking, my hands are dirty, and suddenly my phone goes silent.

i have had the same issue's, for some reason my bluetooth connection to my car thinks its a headphone. i have also tried everything on this group chat but still cant do it.

i have however found something (NOT SAYING THIS IS CORRECT, guessing i will find out later)

settings/screen time/content & privacy restrictions. then turn on the restrictions. under 'allow changes' there is 'reduce load sounds' change this to 'dont allow'

as i say i dont know if this will work until i am back in my car later, but anything is worth a try.

I COULD BE WRONG

The post by urbncwby76 is the truth..

My headphone safety was turned off too, but it turned the sound way down while my phone was connected to external speakers, which it thinks are headphones..

it is insane that Apple is increasingly treating us like children or sheep!!

I'm sick of it

Exactly! EU laws suggest: “All personal music players and mobile phones sold in the EU must now have a sound limit of 85 decibels (dB), but users can increase it to 100dB.”

Nowhere does any law or regulation anywhere dictates companies to turn volume down on people’s headphones (or in Apple’s case speakerphones as well). I don’t mind Apple warning me day and night with notifications that I don’t care for but they have no right to forcefully lower it against my will.

I'm on the same IOS version and find it incredibly annoying, not to mention somewhat patronising as it seems to suggest that I am unable to decide how loud I can listen to music for , I mean, what happens when I go to concerts or live performances next, will it refuse to work for a week as I exposed myself to loud music of more than half an hour? I tend to use the bluetooth in my car (which has not got Car play) and for the system to turn the volume levels down at some arbitary point while I'm driving is irksome to say the least, and to not be able to disable it frustrates me no end. Rant over

Here are a few things that have helped me.

1) Run your volume on your phone around 1/2 when connected to a BT device. Yeah I know, I used to run mine a 2 clicks below max but I think the phone is guessing based on how loud you have it turned up. ( the idea that the phone really knows how loud you you have an external device is suspect to me)

2) If you transferred from an old phone to a new, it carried that older data over. Go to Health, Hearing, Headphone Noptificications, and Data Sources & Access, Delete your phone and all older data points. This is not a pernanant, as the phon will just started collecting that data again, but if you keep your device volume lower and just turn up the BT device more AND once every few days clear out this data again, you might stop it from just dropping your volume.

This isn't a fix, but a workaround until this is addressed.

I’m a electrician and I need to have my music loud while connected to my job site speaker. I just bought an iPhone SE last week and this safety measure is such a pain while working on a job site. Would be great if it was an option for some people to turn this off instead of having their volume turn down every half hour.

This is exactly what I’ve been doing. Annoying having to proactively do this on a constant basis to avoid these ridiculous notifications/volume reductions.

Anyone here with iOS skills know if it would be possible to create an automated Shortcut that with one click would automatically delete accumulated hearing data in the health app?

I have this problem when listening on my motorcycle. I wear ear plugs to prevent the wind noise and have my Sena set turned up loud. How apple can presume to know what is best for us on all product lines is crazy. They are causing more danger to me on my motorcycle than not having this Nanny feature.

apple support told me I can’t downgrade and that I should’ve seen the update notes. They never disclose anything properly before basically forcing updates.

I left feedback and encourage everyone to do the same. Maybe they will do something

icychaos wrote:

I have this problem when listening on my motorcycle. I wear ear plugs to prevent the wind noise and have my Sena set turned up loud. How apple can presume to know what is best for us on all product lines is crazy. They are causing more danger to me on my motorcycle than not having this Nanny feature.

apple support told me I can’t downgrade and that I should’ve seen the update notes. They never disclose anything properly before basically forcing updates.

I left feedback and encourage everyone to do the same. Maybe they will do something

Actually, with every iOS update on the update page, before you download the update is see more button, which if you tap it, takes you to the full lists of new features and fixes. You have to take the time to tap it and see what's included. If you had, you'd have seen this:

iOS 14.2 includes the following improvements for your iPhone:

- Over 100 new emoji, including animals, food, faces, household objects, musical instruments, gender-inclusive emoji, and more

- Eight new wallpapers in both light and dark mode versions

- Magnifier can detect people nearby, and report their distance using the LiDAR sensor included in iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max

- Support for iPhone 12 Leather Sleeve with MagSafe

- Optimized battery charging for AirPods to slow the rate of battery aging by reducing the time your AirPods spends fully charged

- Headphone audio level notifications to alert you when audio level could impact your hearing

- New AirPlay controls to stream entertainment throughout your home

- Intercom support with HomePod and HomePod mini using iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, AirPods, and CarPlay

- Ability to connect HomePod to Apple TV 4K for stereo, surround sound, and Dolby Atmos audio

- Option to provide statistics about Exposure Notifications, without identifying you, to participating Public Health Authorities

This release also fixes the following issues:

- Apps could be out of order on the Home Screen dock

- Camera viewfinder may appear black when launched

- The keyboard on the Lock Screen could miss touches when trying to enter the passcode

- Reminders could default to times in the past

- Photos widget may not display content

- Weather widget could display the high temperature in Celsius when set to Fahrenheit

- Next-hour precipitation chart description in Weather could incorrectly indicate when precipitation stops

- Voice Memos recordings are interrupted by incoming calls

- The screen could be black during Netflix video playback

- Apple Cash could fail to send or receive money when asked via Siri

- Apple Watch app may unexpectedly close when opened

- Workout GPS routes or Health data are prevented from syncing between Apple Watch and iPhone for some users

- Audio is incorrectly labeled as “Not Playing” in the CarPlay Dashboard

- Devices could be prevented from charging wirelessly

- Exposure Notifications is disabled when restoring iPhone from iCloud Backup or transferring data to a new iPhone using iPhone Migration

Thanks for completely proving my point lobsterghost. Does this sound like properly disclosing info that we will force your headphone volume down for any potentially connected Bluetooth device?

- Headphone audio level notifications to alert you when audio level could impact your hearing