Turn off volume turned down on iPhone

Just wanted to update the thread that as of 28.11.2020 this has not been resolved. I used iPhones since 2012 and I used them for 2 things:

• Listening to music (doesn't work now as explained in this topic).
• Reading emails (doesn't work now, see thread).

I have already bought Android phone and migrated everything over in an afternoon. This 14.2 update really quickly separated people that use their device for work vs. people that use it as jewelry. There's more of us in my social bubble that simply forked out couple hundred bucks because that was cheaper than to deal with this kind of incompetence. I was used to see this kind of incompetence on Android but as of this date, I can listen to music and read emails on Android, while I can't do that on Apple.

Same problem. During an intense workout my phone just drops the volume and gives me this annoying popup. I decide what volume I'm listening to music, not apple! If this is not fixed soon (meaning that I can disable it) I will 100% switch away from apple products. I don't need a nanny in my smartphone!

OMG APPLE - WHAT ARE YOU THINKING WITH YOUR VOLUME CONTROLS????

IOS 14 auto turning down volume is HUGELY IRRITATING.

When you combine this with the fact it is not possible to adjust the volume using physical buttons on the AirPods like it say, on a 20 quid pair of headphones from China...... and I’m left having to reach for my phone EVERY FEW MINUTES ..... ridiculous.

(Please note apple - talking to Siri to adjust the volume is just plain weird when on the tube)

ARE YOU TRYING TO RUIN THE PHONE?

I’ve paid for a premium iPhone and i expect not to be bothered with such nonsense. I use my phone with speakers and it’s up to my own liking how loud I want it to be.

furthermore, please provide direct access to the BT control screen in Control Center. There is no logical point, UX wise, to ask me to go through a second screen for the BT device list panel, when there’s so much space to have a single click BT control screen access. Optimise it,

please. Thank you!

This is absolutly unacceptable! I had nothing against your former way of implementing this functionality, which I used btw, but this is in no way acceptable! Who are you to tell me what to do with my ears! Most of your userbase and myself are not children and can and will decide what is best for us by ourselves! I enjoy music every day and have expensive equipment which I feed trough this phone of mine. If you now try to take away my user experience by governing my behaviour without me beeing able to have a say in it, I am fully prepared to take ios out of my setup and change my phone.

This is so disgusting, that they would force control over users in this manner. I was not even using headphones when it turned down, I was on my speaker.

I care way more about my hearing than the EU, I can take care of it just fine, and this is not for someone else to tell me what to do, and especially not FORCE me into doing something I have not consented to.

About 2 days. People that rely on this for work have no time to deal with this incompetence. I'm already on Moto G8. Android experience is terrible, but basic functionality works, unlike iOS. When Apple fixes this, I might switch back to iDevice eventually, but not immediately.

...and the release notes for iOS 14.3 don't mention any changes to this new "feature" (cough. handicap)

This is a deal breaker for me, extremely disappointed in Apple. Again, the disappointments keep adding up for me. They're treating us like dumb toddlers, making irreversible choises for us, taking away features that were present when we purchased the phone. If I knew they were up to this, I'd never have purchased an iPhone.

I'm going to have to sell my iPhone second hand, and go back to Android.

Apple is plain wrong in thinking that everybody strictly uses their Apple earbuds. Many people connect their phone to an amplifier, either in the car, or at home, or any soundsystem.

When you connect any audio-source to an amplifier, you need to make sure your output signal is as hot as possible, in order to have a good SNR (=signal-to-noise ratio). Any circuitry has a so called "noise floor". The DAC circuitry (Digital-to-Analog Converter) of the iPhone is quite good (in comparison with cheaper phones). But only when you make use of the full range dynamics of the DAC.

If your audio source (iphone) outputs only a weak signal, then you need a lot more amplification to reach the desired SPL (sound pressure level) in your sound system. Amplifying a weak signal, means amplifying the noise floor too. So the SNR (signal to noise ratio) gets a lot worse, resulting in poor audio dynamics. Amplifying a hot signal (max output) makes sure you can retain the full dynamics of the DAC, as intended by the designers of the DAC circuitry.

This is basic audio engineering knowledge. Apple engineers should know it, but they choose to intentionally ignore the people who don't listen to headphones. Also those who do listen to headphones, now have a very mediocre experience, because the available dynamics (difference between noisefloor and loudest audio peaks) are severely reduced.

With these new mandatory Apple iphone limitations, you have to limit yourself to 80dB if you want to listen more than a few hours a week, which is ridiculously low.

I work in the concert industry, I work continuously with dB levels. I'm going to tell you what makes people deaf. It's not the music through the speakers (if your not so dumb to stand directly in front of the FOH speaker stack). Its people shouting in your ear the whole evening/night, when making conversations. Most studies about concert dB levels don't take this into account. 80dB for music is ridiculously low... In concert situations, and in earbuds.

So people, vote with your wallet. And send Apple feedback, they don't monitor these user forums.

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

Hi Samuel, we all share your frustration, but Apple is NOT listening here, this is just a user forum where users help other users.

It is essential that you address Apple here: https://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html

If you know other people who find this so-called "feature" highly irritating, please encourage them to send feedback too.

The louder the voices, the more chance they will listen and give us a slider to disable this atrocity, burried deep down in the settings.

Update: I just installed iOS 14.3 (public release) as soon as it was available today.

Can confirm that the output level restrictions remain unchanged, no fix.

That means the end of my iPhone adventures for me, back to Android.

Having good quality audio was a key selling point for me. Taking away the full dynamic range, after I purchased their product, is not a smart move, disrespectful to me as a customer.. The arrogance Apple displays here, with their patronizing attitude of knowing what's best for the users, is next-level. I've been using many many macs for 20 years now, it saddens me to see which direction Apple is going now.

Their implementation of T2 chips which make it impossible for faster & cheaper 3-rd party repair services to repair Apple products is another recent dickmove. I am more and more disappointed in Apples decisions, it's a tragedy.

For those who didn't adress Apple yet: don't forget to send your feedback to Apple here:

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

(They are not monitoring this user-to-user forum)

This is an iOS 14/watchOS 7 issue, not device related

Everyone needs to stop airing their annoyance here and submit feedback to Apple where they actually read and take some note of what people are thinking;

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

Again: this forum is user-to-user, only monitored by moderator to take out offensive non-constructive posts.

Please contact Apple here, if you'd like to be heared:

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

Your only chance to get a fix

Do not follow @xJui instructions, they are nonsense. As most others here, he doesn't understand the distinction between "Reduce loud sounds" feature (which is optional) and "Headphone safety notifications" (which aren't). Both are used to limit maximum loudness.

• Reduce loud sounds can be set by a parent to limit how loudly can their children listen to music, because children are incompetent to take responsibility for their lives.
• Headphone safety notifications are used by Apple to limit how loudly can their customers listen to music, because Apple customers are incompetent to take responsibility for their lives.

In short, you can reduce loud sounds, but you are always working with a maximum set by Apple in their headphone safety notifications. You can set your own limit even lower, you can disable your own limit entirely, but you can't cross the threshold set by Apple. It's like when EU tells it's countries they are free and can make their own laws, but those countries can only make laws that follow EU laws. Same with Apple. Hope this clears up the confusion.

This is really f’ing annoying. I use a Bluetooth adapter to listen to music in my car. At 80% on the iPhone and ~20% on my car stereo, it certainly isn’t too loud.

According to the noise sensor on my Apple Watch, my music averages 64dB (the volume of a conversation). Yet the Health App claims its 102dB (the volume of an ambulance siren), and it repeatedly turns down the volume to 50% while I’m driving so I can’t even hear my navigation let alone music.

Apparently using speakers with their own volume control is a totally foreign concept to Apple.

So Apple what’s happening about Sound haptics automatically turning down volume.....surely I should be able to decide what volume I want my headphones this new feature HEADPHONE SAFETY needs to be removed or at least allow the user to enable/ disable either sort this or I too will be going Android