Your iPhone's built-in speaker can get quite loud. And when the volume is set too high, the sound can startle you as soon as any media content starts playing. Luckily, you can prevent this.
What is Volume Limit?
Volume Limit is an iOS 18.2 feature that allows you to set the maximum volume for your iPhone's built-in speaker. You can limit it to between 20% and 90% of the speaker's maximum output, and iPhone will play media at this volume, regardless of its current volume level.
Setting Volume Limit on iPhone will affect the sound on many types of media played, including songs, audiobooks, podcasts, movies and TV shows, etc. However, it does not affect phone calls and FaceTime, Find My sounds, alerts, ringtones, alarms, or other system sounds, because Apple doesn't want you to miss important notifications.
How to set Volume Limit on iPhone
Setting up the Volume Limit feature on iPhone is quite easy. Make sure you've updated to iOS 18.2 if you haven't already, and follow these steps:
- Open Setting.
- Enter Sound & Touchscroll down to section Built-in speaker and choose Volume limit.
- Turn on the toggle Maximum volume limit on the following screen.
- Finally, drag the slider Maximum limit left or right to set the maximum limit percentage. You can do this in 10% increments.
When maximum volume is set, your iPhone will play sound at the specified volume percentage whenever you play media content. If you want to play media content at a different volume level, simply turn off the switch Maximum volume limit.
While consuming media content at high volume levels is okay occasionally, long-term exposure can impair hearing function. Limiting the maximum volume of your iPhone speaker not only prevents loud sounds from startling you, but it can also help protect your hearing.
You can also reduce your exposure to loud sounds through AirPods or other headphones. Just set up the Headphone Safety feature on your iPhone and it will limit the volume to the decibel level you specify.
