Apple is known for its administered and optimized ecosystem. AirPods are amazing and they work best when paired with an iPhone or Mac. There are some advantages to sticking to Apple-only products, but problems arise if you decide to use third-party earbuds. Many reports are stating that wireless headphones are too loud even on the lowest settings on iPhone. Today, we offer some workarounds but, at this time, there’s no definite solution for this problem.
Table of contents:
- Tweak Accessibility Settings
- Try with in-app EQ
- Decrease the single earbud volume
- Report the problem and try with wired headphones
Why is my iPhone volume too loud on the lowest setting?
1. Tweak Accessibility Settings
Let’s get this straight. At this time, there’s no safe way to get Bluetooth volume any lower. It seems like the volume is stuck at 5% and the 1% isn’t available. What you can do is mitigate the problem from the Accessibility Settings.
This includes enabling Mono audio and Phone Noise Cancellation. In addition, you probably want to navigate to Sounds > Headphone Safety and reduce loud sounds.
Here’s what you need to do:
- On your iPhone, open Settings.
- Tap Accessibility.
- Select Audio/Visual.
- Enable Mono Audio and Phone Noise Cancellation.
- Now, get back to Settings and open Sounds.
- Tap Headphone Safety.
- Toggle on Reduce Loud Sounds and select the 100 decibels (further right) option on the slider.
2. Try with in-app EQ
If the music app you use to listen to music or podcasts has an equalizer, you can use it to reduce the volume. This won’t be as noticeable as one would like but it’s an option.
Apps like Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, and YouTube Music all have equalizers so give it a go. In addition, Spotify has the Volume Level option where you can select Quiet to reduce the volume a tad more.
3. Decrease the single earbud volume
Another workaround is to use a single earbud and use a slider to reduce the sound. This can be done in Accessibility settings, as well. Again, we are well aware that this is far from perfect (why have noise-canceling earbuds or headsets when you can use only one bud or headphone?).
Here’s what you need to do:
- Again, navigate to Settings > Accessibility > Audio/Visual.
- Near the bottom of the settings list, you’ll see the Balance slider.
- If you want to use the right earbud, slide toward the left channel (L), and vice versa if you want to use the left one.
4. Report the problem and try with wired headphones
The way Apple handles third-party wireless headphones is preposterous but it’s been their modus operandi for some time and we, end-users, can’t do much but send a report and ask for the resolution. Unless you are using AirPods, the volume problem is going to be there.
The problem, of course, applies only to Bluetooth volume and not the wired options. So, if the headphone jack is available on your iPhone, try wired headphones. If not, you can get the lighting-to-3.5mm adapter and go with that.
We are well aware that this isn’t a preferable option but since there’s nothing else to do we figure this is at least a viable alternative.
You can write to Apple Support. Make sure to send a ticket and explain the problem thoroughly. Although, they probably already got a lot of reports about headphones being too loud on the lowest settings on the iPhone.
Thank you for reading and feel free to share your thoughts, questions, or suggestions with us. We look forward to hearing from you.
Editor’s note: This article was initially published in September 2021. We made sure to revamp it for freshness and accuracy.
