If you regularly listen to music or podcasts on your iPhone via Bluetooth headphones, you may have experienced a sudden, unexpected drop in volume, accompanied by a notification that your volume was lowered to “protect your hearing.” This is Apple’s Headphone Safety feature, designed to comply with global health regulations by preventing prolonged exposure to loud audio.
While this feature is well-intentioned, it can be extremely frustrating if you are connecting your iPhone to a Bluetooth speaker or an older car stereo that requires the iPhone’s volume to be turned all the way up to function properly. In these cases, the iPhone misidentifies the speaker as “headphones” and ruins your listening experience.
You can turn this feature off, or reclassify your Bluetooth devices so the iPhone knows they aren’t headphones.
How to Turn Off Headphone Safety (Depending on Region)
Depending on where you live, you may be able to simply toggle the feature off. (Note: Due to strict regulations, this toggle is completely disabled and locked on for users in some regions, such as the European Union).
- Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
- Scroll down and tap on Sounds & Haptics.
- Tap on Headphone Safety.
- Toggle off the switch labeled Reduce Loud Sounds.
How to Classify Bluetooth Devices Correctly
If you live in a region where you cannot turn off Headphone Safety, or if you want to keep the safety feature active for your actual AirPods but disabled for your car stereo, you must reclassify the Bluetooth connection type.
- Ensure the Bluetooth device (car stereo or speaker) is currently connected to your iPhone.
- Open Settings and tap on Bluetooth.
- Find your connected device in the list and tap the blue “i” (info) icon next to it.
- Tap on Device Type.
- Change the classification from “Headphone” to Car Stereo, Speaker, or Other.
Once you change the device type to something other than “Headphone,” iOS will stop monitoring the volume levels for that specific connection, and your audio will never be automatically lowered again when using that device.