Solved: How To Turn Up The Bluetooth Volume On iPhone?

Bluetooth technology has revolutionized how we listen to music today. The technology has enabled the production of wireless headphones. As wonderful as the listening experience may be, most people tend to complain about the low volume of Bluetooth headphones.

How to turn up the Bluetooth volume on your iPhone?

1. Use the volume up button on the side of the phone.
2. Slide down the ‘Control Center’ from the top of the screen and slide the volume up. 
3. Open the Settings>Sound & Haptics>Headphone Safety>Reduce Loud Sounds>Off. 
4. Open the Settings>Music>Volume>Set the volume bar to maximum.
5. Open the Settings>Music>EQ>Switch to Late Night.
6. Open the Settings>Music>Sound Check>Off.

The low volume has more to do with your iPhone than the headphones. To turn it up, you have to go into the settings and enable maximum volume. We breakdown exactly how you can do that. 

Why Is My Bluetooth Volume So Low On The iPhone?

Apple is known to make consumer-friendly products. Their iPhones and AirPods may be more expensive than the competition, but the products deliver on consumer demands and needs.

On its iPhone, Apple has preset volume to ensure that consumers aren’t exposed to sounds at a high level. All so, you don’t end up damaging your hearing. 

High-end Bluetooth headphones, such as the AirPods, have powerful speakers that can produce sounds well above 80 dB. Listening to sounds at 80dBs or higher for a long period can result in hearing problems and eventually hearing loss. Apple has limited the volume to prevent this from happening.

However, it gives users the option to toggle the settings to take advantage of the output of their headphones. This way, users that want to experience loud sounds can, while those that are careful about their hearing can limit the volume. 

How To Turn Up The Bluetooth Volume On Your iPhone?

Turning up the volume should always be your first step. There are two ways to do this on the iPhone: 

• Use the volume up button on the side of the phone.
• Slide down the ‘Control Center’ from the top of the screen and slide the volume up. 

You can turn it up to your desired volume. If you feel that even at maximum, the volume is still low, you can try the following to increase it. 

1. Turn Off  ‘Reduce Loud Sound’ 

Apple introduced a new feature in iOS 14 under ‘Sound & Haptics’ which automatically reduces the volume when listening to loud sounds. This particular set comes with a scale that limits loud sound between 75 – 100 DBS. When the phone detects sound at the preset DBS, it limits the volume. 

To turn it off, you need to do the following:

1. Open the ‘Settings’ app.
2. Scroll down to ‘Sound & Haptics’ and click on it. 
3. Click on the ‘Headphone Safety’ option.
4. You will notice the ‘Reduce Loud Sounds’ setting on, turn it off. 

You should now notice a considerable change in the level of sound produced by your Bluetooth headphones. 

For iPhones running on iOS 13 or earlier, the process is slightly different. You need to do the following:

1. Open the ’Settings’ app. 
2. Scroll down and click on ‘Music’.
3. Select the ‘Volume’ option.
4. Make sure the volume bar is set to maximum. If not, your volume output was limited.

Both these processes will result in the same. They are just different because of the fact that Apple recently introduced their ‘Reduce Loud Sound’ setting. The setting gives more control of the level of sound you want to expose your ears to and is welcomed by most consumers. 

2. Change the EQ Settings

You’ve probably heard that fiddling with the EQ setting helps improve the sound. It does, but slightly. You won’t be blown away by the change, but if you listen close enough, you will notice it. 

Changing the EQ settings on an iPhone is easy. All you have to do is:

1. Open the ‘Settings’ app. 
2. Scroll down to ‘Music’ and click on it. 
3. Click on ‘EQ’.
4. Switch to either ‘Flat’ or ‘Late Night’ if you want louder audio.

While you are there, you can also turn off the Sound Check option.

1. Go to ‘Settings‘.
2. ‘Music’.
3. ‘Sound Check’.
4. Turn off the toggle.

Music lovers tend to change EQ settings from time to time based on the type of music they listen to. You can toggle through the various settings to see which one you like the best.

3. Disconnect and Reconnect to Bluetooth

It is possible that the connection between your iPhone and the headphones is causing the issue. Refreshing this connection can help with the sound volume. Follow these steps.

To unpair your device:

1. Go into Settings
2. Bluetooth.
3. Find the device you’d like to remove and click the (i) icon next to it.
4. Click Forget This Device.

To pair your device:

1. On your device, go to Settings.
2. Bluetooth, turn it on.
3. Place your headphones in discovery mode and wait for them to appear on your phone.
4. To pair, tap your headphones name when it appears onscreen.

4. Force Stop the App

Sometimes both your phone and the headphones will be fine, but the app might be glitching. Follow the steps below to fix that:

1. Open your App.
2. Swipe up from the bottom of the screen and hold your finger near the middle of the screen until all of your open apps appear.
3. Hold your finger in the middle of the screen a little longer to bring up a minus sign in the upper-left corner of the open apps.
4. Press the minus sign to close an app.

5. Turn On ‘Hearing Aid’ Mode

Enabling this feature can sometimes do the trick, so let’s test it out:

1. Go to Settings
2. General
3. Accessibility
4. Hearing Devices
5. Turn on Hearing Aid Mode 

6. Turn Off Noise Cancellation

Let’s try disabling one more feature to see if it can help with the audio issue. This thing is pretty useful, so try disabling it temporarily to see if it makes any difference.

1. Settings.
2. General.
3. Accessibility.
4. Audio/Visual.
5. Phone Noise Cancellation.
6. Disable the Noise Cancellation.

7. Restart your Phone

Good old restart can help with any software glitches that sometimes do occur. Follow the steps below:

1. Press and hold the Volume button and the Side button until the power off slider appears.
2. Drag the slider, then wait 30 seconds for your device to turn off.
3. To turn your device back on, press and hold the Right side button.

8. Update your Phone

Your phone, and its Bluetooth function respectively, won’t be able to function properly unless your iPhone is fully up to date. To check for updates, do the following:

1. Go to Settings, General, then tap Software Update.
2. If you see two software update options available, choose the one that you want to install.
3. Tap Install Now.

9. Clean the Headphones

Ear wax and gunk build-up are common in earbuds. As it builds up, sound no longer travels at a high frequency, resulting in low volume. Your only solution is to clean the headphones, removing the gunk. 

10. Charge the Headphones

Headphones with low batteries will preserve the battery by limiting volume. If you notice your headphones batteries are low, charge them before using them. 

11. Stay Close to your Phone

The wonderful thing about Bluetooth headphones is that they give you the freedom to move around with your phone. However, once you move further away from the phone, the sound quality will suffer. Make sure you stay close to the phone for optimum sound. 

Tip: For better audio control, look for the devices with the feature called Absolute Volume Control, it is added in the Bluetooth spec AVRCP v1.4

Related Post: Fixed: Why Is My Bluetooth Volume So Low?(Android/iPhone)

Final Thoughts

You don’t necessarily need high-end headphones to enjoy music and other audio on the iPhone. The methods we have mentioned should help you understand how you can make the most of the Bluetooth headphones you have by increasing its maximum volume. 

If you’ve tried all the methods but still face volume issues, it might be due to damaged or defective headphones. In that case, we recommend you contact the manufacturer and see what they can do to help.