How to turn off Headphone Safety on iPhone

You gotta go to your device in Bluetooth and classify the device as something else like a speaker

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

yes my point to is iOS developer engineering have totally overlooked the differentiation of headphone to Bluetooth speaker and gym equipment even DJ’s and sound systems in entertainment, shops etc are now goosed to as goes on time use of higher volume....

I spent 2hrs in tech chat with 2 Apple support techs late last night Uk time so presumably they were in USA.

All they kept saying the 4 devices they had between them they could switch it off but were totally puzzled I couldn’t they went in my diagnostic inspection they link into your phone and couldn’t find a way to after me telling them it’s a geographic location thing as posted on my device in learn more....still not fixed

we ended the chat with a iOS engineer is gonna call right away.......still waiting 🤬🤬

ios14.2 is when this got implemented

iOS14.2.1 has a sort of fix but this update is only for iphone12 though... tut tut Apple!!

The answer to all of this has actually been posted very far back. This can and may affect all users. The ability to turn on or off headphone safety disappears if the user performs a factory reset WITH 14.2 already having been installed. It is not simply 14.2 that causes this issue. A user can update from 14.1 to 14.2 without triggering the safety. The phone has to have 14.2 installed, then the user would have to perform a factory reset, thus triggering the headphone safety “feature.”

You can't turn it off, at least on iOS 14.2.1 in the EU.

Apple has lost a long-time customer over this, at least insofar as no fix is presented prior to the next gen phones coming out. I did not spend over 1.500 EUR to have my phone dictate to me what I am allowed to do as a mature adult.

I have owned, always in the largest-available (i.e. most expensive) capacity, the iPhone 4, 5, 6, 7 Max, X Pro, 11 Pro and now 12 Pro Max, as well as a 5th gen iWatch.

I hate the Android OS and far prefer iOS devices, but this is more of an annoyance to me, particularly as the frequency with which the volume is turned down is INCREASING (twice during my 60-minute run today, twice during my run yesterday, at least once per week, generally far more often).

I hope Apple thinks about this, as I am sure I am far from the only disgruntled customer they are producing with such attempts at "protecting" users from themselves.

UsernamePlus wrote:

This isn’t anything to do with regulations. There’s no Global Music Regulation that affects the whole world. There’s no regulation in any country that says that phones cannot output to a hifi above a certain volume. Other manufacturer’s phones don’t automatically force the volume down.

In researching this on Android devices, apparently at least on Samsung devices when the limit is reached for headphones or Bluetooth devices (like Apple, their phones make no distinction between BT headphones and other BT audio connections) the volume is lowered and the warning displayed, and the warning must be dismissed and the volume turned back up.

According to EU regulations, the warning must reappear and be acknowledged by the user at least every twenty hours.

Note this is not a law per se, it is a "guideline" - but manufacturers that do not comply must go through a very expensive safety validation process for their products.

The limits appear to be:

Exposure to sound levels shall be time limited to avoid hearing damage. At 80 dB(A) exposure time shall be limited to 40 hours/week, whereas at 89 dB(A) exposure time shall be limited to 5 hours/week. For other exposure levels a linear intra- and extrapolation applies. Account shall be taken of the dynamic range of sound and the reasonably foreseeable use of the products.

https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32009D0490&rid=7

Here's an article describing the issue from 2015, long before iOS implemented it (I've no idea how they avoided it for so long):

Media Music Now Blog: European Commission controlling the volume on our MP3 players, iPods and other personal music players

Indeed, 2013 appears to have been the implementation mandate date (the EU is less than clear about publishing their regulations):

The new standards stipulate that all personal music players sold in the EU after February 2013 should have a default set volume level of 85dB. Mobile phones which can play music through headphones are also affected by these recommended sound limitations.

However, consumers can also choose to override this limit and increase the volume level to a maximum of 100dB. If they do so, warnings about the risks of listening to music above safety levels must be repeated every 20 hours of listening time.

[ … ]

…these new technical safety standards - effective from February 2013 - were drawn up by the EU standardisation body, the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardisation (CENELEC).

EU standards not mandatory

The EU standards are voluntary. Yet, the Commission has expressed that EU standards usually become the new means of measure within the industry.

hear-it: New EU standards for personal music players and mobile phones

It is actual law in France (the linked text is in French):

https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/jorf/id/JORFTEXT000027799648/

This web site states it is not an EU law, but to avoid having different models for France and elsewhere in the EU, most vendors will just impose the limit across their product line:

At volume settings for which the sound level is greater than 85 dB(A), the user must be informed by a visual or audible signal, and must acknowledge the signal, before he or she can override the volume limit to allow replay at these settings. The warning has to acknowledged at regular intervals. The equipment must default to a setting which gives less than 85 dB(A) when switched on.

https://www.isvr.co.uk/labtests/en50332.htm

Did you read the entire post? To summarize what I read, more and more Android phones are now having it too- & in re: legality of being required- apparently in a few parts of EU- it is not required- but it’s more feasible to do one software for Europe vs writing specific software for the countries that do. If you are in a EU country where it isn’t legally required you can notify Apple engineers via a ticket from a senior AppleCare advisor so it possibly be removed in a future software update.

“Due to regulations and safety standards, headphone notifications can’t be turned off in certain countries or regions.”

...and that is another way in which it is a bug: There are no regulations or safety standards in the EU and several other affected regions that would require the Headphone Notifications as they are implemented now, so it should be possible to turn them off in these regions, yet we cannot.

It's just a mandate in most of the EU but is actual law in France.

Sadly the actual CENELEC standards are only available by paying a relatively large fee.

https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/IP_09_1364

https://ec.europa.eu/health/ph_risk/committees/04_scenihr/docs/scenihr_o_018.pdf

More on the French law:

https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg15020362-100-falling-on-deaf-ears-a-new-french-law-will-curb-the-volume-of-personal-stereos-to-protect/

What makes this tricky is that while it is a law only in France, the EU and CENELEC findings are encoded into safety regulations.

What this means is if your device institutes these warnings, it passes safety standards.

If it does not, as a manufacturer you have to pay a rather large fee to have testing done to prove your device is in fact safe before it will be allowed to be sold in the EU.

In most cases the easiest and cheapest option is to follow the safety recommendations.

The French law codifies the CENELEC standards.

For other EU nations it is a recommendation, but devices must pass the CENELEC standards to be certified as "safe" to sell in the EU without extensive safety testing of their own:

Now all personal music players sold in the EU after February 2013 are expected to have a default sound limit of 85dB. 

The user can choose to override the limit so that the sound level can be increased up to maximum 100dB. If the user overrides the limit, warnings about the risks must be repeated every 20 hours of listening time.

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-21294537

I give more detail in this post:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/252019254?answerId=254120885022#254120885022

czito1 wrote:

In regards to CENELEC EN50332-3 it describes a standard. It's not a law. If you want to have that standardization on your device you must be compliant and pay for it, but nothing says its mandatory to sell devices with that standard applied. So if in some countries we see that there is a button to turn off that headphone notification option and not in US and EU that shows that it was clearly a decision from manufacturer. If they would keep standardization it would be consistent everywhere.

The French law states products sold have to meet the EU safety specs which incorporate the CENELEC standards.

Arguing this here on this user to user only forum is nice for debate. But debating something with users, all of whom have nothing to do with Apple, or have any ability to effect change make make you feel better, but won't accomplish anything.

Apple isn't here. Apple isn't reading these posts. Apple isn't going to respond here. I am an Apple Fan Boy for sure. In this case, while I live in the US and don't have the issues people are facing with Headphone Safety, I do see how the implementation of this leaves a bit to be desired. That said, you and everyone else needs to contact Apple and let them know the issues you're facing. Disagreeing with anyone here is a waste of time.

• You can call Apple.
• You can use the Contact Support button at the top of the page.
• You should at a minimum use this feedback link to get your message to Apple where it will actually be read --> Download iCloud photos and videos - Apple Support

Using Airpods , if i turn off the Reduce loud sounds button i get turned down every 20 mins . If I set it to 100 its 90 mins . 90 then its 3 hours ....85 and i cant here my airpods outside ....Now then , I have some wired KZ pro headphones (£20 on amazon ) . I can set it to 90 and it is as loud as the airpods with no restriction ( better sound to as they are hi-res )they dont turn down as it states 40 hours listening time ..... I can only conclude that the phone may be sending 90 db to your headphones/speakers but they are not converting that to what you hear , making a mokery out of what Apple thinks is safe for you .....

I’ve attached mine to Bluetooth action automation so yes. It does need manual intervention to run that automation. I have added another script for volume set to max with that.

I don’t think you can bypass that, Apple has a different view what ‘automation’ means than I do. But still it’s better to run that automation twice a day then adjust volume 5 times during 1hour drive.