How to Set Volume Limit: iPhone Feature That Keeps You From Being Startled by Loud Media Sounds

Your iPhone's built-in speaker can get pretty 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 a feature in iOS 18.2 that lets you set a maximum volume for your iPhone's built-in speakers. You can set it to between 20% and 90% of the speaker's maximum power, and your iPhone will play media at that volume, regardless of its current volume.

Setting a Volume Limit on your iPhone will affect the sound on many types of media played, including songs, audiobooks , podcasts , movies and TV shows, and more. However, it doesn't 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 Volume Limit on your iPhone is pretty easy. Make sure you've updated to iOS 18.2 if you haven't already, and follow these steps:

1. Open Settings .
2. Go to Sounds & Haptics , scroll down to the Built-in Speaker section and select Volume Limit .
3. Turn on the Maximum Volume Limit toggle on the following screen.
4. Finally, drag the Maximum Limit slider left or right to set the maximum limit percentage. You can do this in 10% increments.

When the maximum volume is set, your iPhone will play audio at the specified volume percentage whenever you play media. If you want to play media at a different volume, just turn off the Maximum Volume Limit toggle .

While occasional exposure to high-volume media is fine, prolonged exposure can cause hearing loss. Limiting the maximum volume of your iPhone speaker not only prevents loud sounds from startling you, it can also help protect your hearing.

You can also reduce your exposure to loud sounds through AirPods or other headphones. Just set up Headphone Safety on your iPhone and it will limit the volume to a decibel level you specify.