How to Fix Volume That Goes Down By Itself

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A comprehensive guide for Android, iPhone, and PC

Co-authored by Eric McClure Reviewed by Luigi Oppido

Last Updated: September 1, 2025 Fact Checked

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Causes

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Fixes: iPhone & iPad

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Fixes: Android

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Fixes: Windows PC

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When you’re blasting your favorite banger and nodding along to the beat, it’s hard to imagine anything ruining the vibe worse than the volume deciding to go down on its own. Luckily, this is almost always a very easy problem to solve, regardless of whether you’re on an iPhone, Android, or PC. We’ll break the solutions down for you.

iPhone, Android, & PC: Fixing Volume Issues

iPhone: Turn off Attention Aware and Sound Check in the features setting before trying anything else.
Android: Android phones have a headphone safety setting that automatically turns the volume down. Turn it off in Settings.
PC: Random volume drops are a driver issue. Right-click the volume icon on the bottom right and select Troubleshoot.

Section 1 of 4:

Why Your Volume Keeps Going Down By Itself

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There are a lot of built-in features that come with modern phones, tablets, and computers that will turn the volume down if it gets too loud. The function of most of these features is to protect your hearing, but some of them are meant to enhance sound quality or prevent eavesdropping.
The software in a phone, tablet, or PC may be running into some kind of bug that messes with the volume settings. Alternatively, the drivers that provide base information for your programs may be out of date, or there could be updates that need to be installed to patch an issue with your volume.

Section 2 of 4:

Fixes: iPhone & iPad

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1
Turn off Attention Aware. Attention Aware is a feature on newer iPhones and iPads that is designed to prolong your battery by turning off or adjusting certain features when you aren’t paying attention to your phone. Since listening to music is usually a task that doesn’t involve actively doing anything on your phone, Attention Aware may be messing with your volume. Here’s how to turn it off:^{[1]
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- Open Settings.
- Tap on Face ID & Passcode
- Turn off the “Attention Aware” setting.
2
Set the Sound Check feature to “off” in the Music app. Sound Check is designed to provide iPhone and iPad users with a smoother listening experience. Basically, it normalizes the volume from song to song so that any uniquely loud tracks are tuned down and any oddly quiet songs are turned up. Users seem to universally report that it makes music seem a lot quieter than it should, though. Follow these steps to shut it off:^{[2]
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- Tap Settings.
- Open the Apps menu.
- Select Music.
- Find the Playback section.
- Tap on Sound Check to turn it off.
3
Reset the EQ settings. If you’ve ever tinkered with the iOS EQ settings to try and get a cleaner sound for the music you listen to, it’s possible that some setting is messing with the volume. Try the following:^{[3]
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- Open your Settings.
- Tap on Apps.
- Select Music
- Turn off EQ.
  - Alternatively, you can just drag every slider to 0 dB and then turn “crossfade” to “off.” That’s the same thing as disabling the EQ.
4
Confirm that the Music app isn’t restricted. If you have any content or privacy control restrictions set on the Music app, it could potentially interfere with your volume levels. Here’s how you can check:^{[4]
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- Go to Settings.
- Select Screen Time.
- Tap on Content & Privacy Restrictions.
- Select Allowed Apps.
  - If the Music app is listed, tap on it to remove it from the restriction list.
  - If the Music app is not present, your privacy control settings are not responsible for the volume issue.
5
Update your drivers if nothing else works. If nothing else has worked, it’s possible your phone is out of date and failing to update correctly. Luckily, you can easily update your iPhone’s or iPad’s drivers manually using these simple steps:^{[5]
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- On PC:
  - Plug your phone into any PC.
  - Open the Apple Devices app.
  - Select your specific phone or tablet.
  - Tap on General.
  - Select Update.
- On Mac:
  - Plug your phone into any Mac.
  - Open a Finder window.
  - Select iPhone or iPad in the Finder Sidebar.
  - Tap on General.
  - Select Update.

Section 3 of 4:

Fixes: Android

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1
Turn off the Headphone Safety or Media Volume Limiter setting. Most Android devices come with a headphone safety feature that automatically turns the volume down to a “safe” level when you put a headphone jack in. This setting is typically on by default, but you can turn it off using the following steps:^{[6]
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- Open Settings.
- Tap on Sound.
- Turn off the Safety Headphones, Media volume limiter, or Headphone Safety setting.
2
Restart your phone to see if any updates are pending. There is no mechanism to manually check for driver updates (outside of USB updates, which are not relevant here). However, your phone will install any missing driver updates if you restart your device.^{[7]
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- If your phone’s volume is still not working correctly, visit your carrier’s local store and get some help fixing your device.

Section 4 of 4:

Fixes: Windows PC

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1
Troubleshoot your audio system with Windows diagnostics. If your PC’s audio seems to be randomly going down, it’s likely that you’ve got some kind of error or bug. Luckily, Windows troubleshooting is pretty good at fixing audio-related problems. Here’s how you do it:
- Right-click the little speaker icon on the taskbar.
- Go to the bottom and select Troubleshoot sound problems.
- Select Troubleshooting audio problems in Windows 11 if you have Windows 11, or How to troubleshoot sound problems in Windows 10 if you have Windows 10.
- Follow the Windows troubleshooting guide to diagnose and fix your issue.
2
Update your drivers and restart your PC. If the audio is still randomly dropping, it’s possible your audio drivers need to be updated. These drivers are typically updated automatically whenever Windows updates itself, but sometimes, things fall through the cracks.
- Open the Control Panel.
- Select Device Manager.
- Look for Sound, video, and game controllers.
- Expand the menu and find your current audio driver.
- Right click the driver and select Update Driver.
  - It will prompt you if you want to manually install a driver or search for one automatically. Use the automatic search. If you still have issues, download the driver for your specific audio interface online and try updating it manually.