In short: If the Apple Music volume sounds low and quiet, “Sound Check” might be turned on in the Apple Music app. Turn the “Sound Check” off in settings and the volume should be louder. Other common causes include selecting the “Reduce Loud Sounds” option or not using the “Lossless” audio quality.
Whether you feel like the song volume drops after a few seconds or the overall sound is too low on Apple Music, you can solve the problem. Here are 5 common problems and their solutions.
1. The “Sound Check” feature is turned on
The most common reason why Apple Music’s volume sounds too low is due to Sound Check, which is an option found in settings under music. But what is Sound Check exactly?
Sound Check is a feature that allows different songs to play at the same volume. Basically, it adjusts the loudness between songs and makes the volume between each song consistent.
Some songs are created louder than others. Inconsistency in volume between tracks could be caused by a difference in the quality of the file, recording, or genre of music being played.
So, if you are listening to several songs and one has much louder content, Sound Check will adjust the average loudness of all tracks to be approximately the same.
The thing is, the Sound Check feature often makes some songs sound quiet because the volume is slightly muted and dampened, making the volume sound lower.
How to turn off Sound Check on iPhone or iPad
- Go to Settings.
- Tap Music.
- Turn the Sound Check off.
How to turn off Sound Check on Mac
- Open the Apple Music app.
- In the menu bar, choose Music > Preferences or Music > Settings.
- Click the Playback tab.
- Deselect Sound Check.
Nine times out of ten, each song on your Apple Music app should run at its original volume and should not feel like the sound is too low. Give it a try, and I hope this simple tip works.
2. Volume turned down due to the “Headphone Safety” feature
Another reason why your Apple Music volume seems so low is due to the “Headphone Safety” feature. If you ignore headphone usage warnings, the volume is turned down automatically.
To protect your hearing, your iPhone will measure headphone audio levels. If you exceed the recommended 7-day limit, a notification is sent and the volume is turned down automatically.
After you receive a notification, the next time you plug in your headphones or connect them using Bluetooth, your Apple Music volume is automatically set to a lower level.
You can turn the volume up again if you choose. If you don’t want your iPhone to automatically lower the volume of Apple Music for you, you should turn off “Reduce Loud Sounds”.
- Go to Settings.
- Tap Sounds & Haptics (iPhone 7 and later) or Sounds (earlier models).
- Tap Headphone Safety.
- Deselect Reduce Loud Sounds.
Once the “Reduce Loud Sounds” feature has been deselected, your iPhone will no longer limit the maximum decibel level and reduce the volume of Apple Music automatically.
Important: Depending on your country or region, Headphone Notifications may be turned on by default, and in some countries or regions, you may not be able to turn them off.
3. Not using “Lossless” audio quality
If you’ve unchecked both the “Sound Check” and “Reduce Loud Sounds” features but your Apple Music volume is still too low, you may not have been using the “Lossless” audio quality.
Many Mac users came up to me regarding this issue. After starting a song on Apple Music, the sound volume drops between 20% to 40% after 4 or 5 seconds. Annoying.
Short answer: Set your streaming rate to be Lossless or High Quality. Not sure why this works but it does, and I can recreate the problem when I do not choose these types of streaming rates.
Long answer: Open up Music, go to the menu item Music > Preferences (or press your Command key plus a comma). Go to the Playback tab which can be found between the General and Files tabs. Check the “Lossless Audio” checkbox. In the Streaming dropdown, you will notice three options you can select. Select either the 2nd or 3rd option, namely Lossless or Hi-Res Lossless to make the problem go away.
Once I made the change, the volume went up to normal. It will use more data though. Again, I can’t explain why this works, I just know that it works, so please give it a try.
Just be sure to select “Lossless (ALAC up to 24-bit/48 kHz)” or “High-Resolution Lossless (ALAC up to 24-bit/192 kHz)” in the streaming dropdown menu.
4. The “EQ” option can lower Apple Music’s volume
Often, the EQ (Equalizer) option can lower the Apple Music volume. To increase the decibel of songs played on Apple Music in a consistent manner, turn the EQ option off.
- Go to Settings.
- Tap Music.
- Turn the EQ option OFF.
While it’s true that selecting and adjusting the Equalizer can result in better music types for some songs, it can also hinder the volume of songs in Apple Music.
5. Other applications reduce Apple Music’s sound quality
Many Apple users found that some heavy-data apps, like Facebook in particular, can affect the volume of Apple Music negatively and “hijack” the audio output.
There are two ways to solve this issue. Either you turn off Facebook’s In-App Sound or close the app that may be running in the background together with Apple Music.
To disable Facebook’s In-App Sound, launch the Facebook app on your iPhone. Tap on the hamburger icon (three horizontal lines) from the bottom right and then tap on Settings & Privacy.
Next, tap on Settings then tap on Sounds. Toggle OFF In-App Sound.
To close the Facebook app running in the background, swipe up from the bottom of the screen and hold on iPhone X or double press the Home Button on iPhone 8 and earlier.
Your iPhone screen will show a list of apps running in the background. Swipe up the Facebook card to close it. This should fix the volume issues in the Apple Music app on your iPhone.
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