How to turn up your airpods louder

Sometimes, your AirPods are too quiet, and you’re not sure why. If that’s the case, here’s how to make AirPods louder. Note, however, that listening to very loud music, especially with headphones or earbuds, can damage your hearing. So, this guide addresses what to do when your AirPods are unusually quiet, not how to crank them to their maximum ear-pounding volume.

Read more: Apple AirPods Max review

QUICK ANSWER

You can try turning up the volume on your iPhone using the volume rocker or the volume slider or ask Siri to increase the volume. If that doesn't work, make sure your AirPods are clean, check to ensure your music streaming app's volume is set to a listenable level, disable Reduce Loud Sounds, remove any EQ settings, disable low power mode, and set the volume balance slider back to the middle.

JUMP TO KEY SECTIONS

• How to turn up the volume on AirPods
• What to do if your AirPods still aren't loud enough

How to turn up the volume on AirPods

If your AirPods are too quiet, you can take some or all of these steps to increase the volume. These might seem obvious, but sometimes it really is that simple.

Using the iPhone volume slider to make AirPods louder

To make your AirPods louder using an iPhone, you can do either of the following:

• Press up on the volume rocker on your phone’s left side.
• Open the Control Center by swiping down from the top-right corner of the screen and then drag the volume slider to the right.

When you’re listening to music or watching videos on your iPhone, the volume rocker will adjust that content’s volume. If you’re not listening to anything, the rocker will adjust the ringer, alerts, and other system sounds.

In Apple Music

If you’re using Apple Music to play tunes on a Mac, you can also adjust the volume in the app itself. Here’s how to do make AirPods louder this way:

• To increase the volume for all songs, slide the volume slider at the top of the Apple Music window to the right.
• If you just want to adjust the volume of one song, select the song, then choose Song > Info > Options and drag the volume slider to the right to increase its loudness.
• You can set every song to play at the same volume by going to Music > Preferences > Playback and enabling Sound Check.

Using Siri

Siri can also make AirPods louder. If you’ve paired them to a device that supports Siri, you can prompt the voice assistant to increase the volume by saying something like, “Hey Siri, turn up the volume.”

What to do if your AirPods still aren’t loud enough

If you’ve tried everything and your AirPods are still too quiet, you can take some other steps. Here are some common problems that can lead to low volume and how to solve them.

Dirty AirPods

If your AirPods are too dirty, their drivers may have gotten clogged with dirt and debris. To handle this problem, you can clean your AirPods to make them louder. We have a complete guide to help you do that.

Off-balance audio

You may have inadvertently adjusted the balance settings of your AirPods, causing one earbud to be louder than the other. To reset this on an iPhone, do the following:

1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
2. Navigate to Accessibility > Audio/Visual.
3. Adjust the Balance slider by bringing it back to the center.

“Reduce Loud Sounds” is enabled

“Reduce Loud Sounds” is a safety feature that protects your hearing. It can be counter-productive at times, however. To disable it using an iPhone, do the following:

1. Open Settings > Sounds & Haptics.
2. Tap Headphone Safety.
3. Turn off Reduce Lound Sounds.

Wonky settings in the Music app

Sometimes fiddling around with the equalizer in Apple Music can cause your audio to sound too quiet. To reset to the default settings on an iPhone, do the following:

1. Open Settings.
2. Tap on Music.
3. Select EQ and then tap “Off.”

FAQs

Yes, if you have paired your AirPods with an Android device, you can adjust their volume using your Android device’s volume controls.

Yes, if your AirPods Pro are too loose, sound may leak out, and external noise may make it into your ears, causing your AirPods Pro to seem too quiet. Remember to choose correctly fitting ear tips and use the ear tip fit test in iOS to ensure you’ve got a solid seal.

It could be. If you use Spotify, YouTube Music, or another streaming app, check that its volume slider is toward the right. Likewise, if you use a third-party EQ app, ensure that you haven’t done anything wonky within it, either.