You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!
When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.
When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.
💡 Did you know?
⏺ If you can't accept iCloud Terms and Conditions... Learn more >
⏺ If you don't see your iCloud notes in the Notes app... Learn more >
⏺ If you can't accept iCloud Terms and Conditions... Learn more >
⏺ If you don't see your iCloud notes in the Notes app... Learn more >
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]
You're welcome if I helped prove your point. For whatever reason, I don't have the inability to turn off the notifications or arbitrary reduced sound level on my iPhone 12 Pro Max with iOS 14.2. Why I don't and others do, I have no clue.
Once more that know-it-all attitude. Think people don’t know better to expand update details and read?
“Headphone audio level notifications to alert you when audio level could impact your hearing”
DOES NOT mean Apple will send you a notice and FORCEFULLY turn your volume down.
Sending a feedback to Apple on their website is like howling at the moon. (which I did btw) It will change nothing. Apple became a company that only cares for its shareholders, not users.
Yep. Only happening on my new iPhone 12 Pro Max which is a US version purchased in the US. No idea why I’ve lost the option to disable the notifications on this new model but not my older XS Max while both both are running the latest iOS version. Ridiculous.
lobsterghost1 wrote:
You're welcome if I helped prove your point. For whatever reason, I don't have the inability to turn off the notifications or arbitrary reduced sound level on my iPhone 12 Pro Max with iOS 14.2. Why I don't and others do, I have no clue.
I believe it's regional.
Thanks for reaching out to support about this.
Were they even aware of this issue? It makes no sense why I have two iPhones (XS Max and the new 12 Pro Max) made for the US region and purchased in the US (i.e., not subject to European regulations regarding audio limits) and only the new 12 Pro Max is missing the turn off notification (and auto volume reduction) option.
On the headphone notification screen of my 12 Pro Max that I can’t disable notifications on, it states “...in certain regions these notifications cannot be turned off due to regulations and safety standards”. The US has no such regulations and/or safety standards related to this that I’m aware of. And the fact that my XS Max has the turn off notification option makes me think that possibly a batch of the the new 12’s are somehow being interpreted as being non US models and subject to European regulations.
I already wrote an email to Apple about this. Please share any updates you receive from Apple support regarding this matter. Thanks in advance!
It says right there. It can not be turned off. Some regions and gov’ts require it to be kept low but allow people to bump it up to 100dB if they choose to. Apple’s own “genius” interpretation assumes that they have to force your volume down (in the middle of a workout or commute) and nag you every 24 mins when listening at 100dB.
My wife and I ordered our two phones ten minutes apart. They were both shipped to the same address and came from the same address. Hers has the option to turn off the notifications and mine does not. The only difference between our phones is the color. We both have 12 Pro Max 512gb running now 14.2.1.
Well, keep an eye on it because it might disappear. My phone had the option turned OFF when my 12 pro started taking the volume down. It happened while I was driving. When I looked at it again while researching, it now shows me statistics and the option to turn it off is now gone. Purchased through ATT.
In particular regions the regulations and safety standards do not allow the option to turn the notifications off.
however if you go into the health application and go to hearing you can delete the data it has read, that enforced the limit on the volume.
by deleting this data, your phone will have no reason to reduce the volume, you’ll have to repeat each time you reach the 7 day limit.
im afraid that’s the only way to stop it, if you are based in these certain regions
I would really like to know what those regions / countries are and which law or regulation tells apple to forcefully turn the volume down after exposure limit is reached. I did a lot of research and couldn't find a single law / regulation dictating such a drastic action from Apple.
I tried this technique last night and again this morning after seeing it posted on Reddit. Both times it didn’t work. Still received the same notifications and the dreaded volume reduction. This is so stupid! Apple, fix this!!!!
Just gor two iphones 12 pro max. Same problem! Do they really think they are our babysitters! Fix it now!! Add ability tо switch off Headphones Safety Notifications Now!! If not, I will really get Android!!
EU and some other places require that a phone has a sound limit, which the user has to manually go above. It's nothing new, it has been here for years and as it stands, the regulation actually makes sense. When you start listening to something over headphones which you just connected, it doesn't start screaming at you at max volume. If you manually go above this limit, you'll get a notification that prolonged exposure to loud noise can lead to hearing damage. ONCE. You'll get that notification once. That's all that is required. The notification isn't supposed to lower your volume or keep popping up periodically, several times an hour.
Apple's implementation is absolutely backwards and I'm not even sure whether this implementation technically complies with the regulation. The audio playback can start at 100%, even after you've just connected your headphones, and you do not get any notification when you go over 80% volume. You'll get a notification after some time of listening and the device will lower the volume. This can easily keep on happening every 15 minutes, which interferes with basic functionality of the device and makes it unfit for purpose, because it doesn't affect just headphones, but also speakers and hands-free sets.
But I do not listen on Loud level!! My phone HAS To Be on maximum level all the time because I use bluetooth adapter, that has its own volume regulator not connected to iphone!! I have Fiio Q5 bluetooth amplifier. It regulates volume by itself! And in order to have big range of regulation I MUST have level on maximum on iphone. And then I adjust level to normal on my bluetooth amp!!
What isn’t clear is how Apple is calculating the db level. How does it know how loud my headphones out Bluetooth speaker are? It can’t. And if it is guessing based on the set volume that n my phone how does it know the volume level of the actual content which can vary wildly. Are they using the iPhone microphone to measure, because I see no indication the mic is on and that’s a big security no no.
my examples have come when using a Bluetooth speaker. At low volumes. If I have the iPhone volume control beer max it seems to log high db. I do this on purpose because I’d rather send the speaker a louder signal and make the Bluetooth amplifier work less and it keeps distortion down.
So in my case Apple is guessing I’m at 90db when listening to a podcast while trying to take a nap.... so it’s pretty **** quiet.
This isn’t protecting me from anything. It’s just annoying.
How to turn off Headphone Safety on iPhone
