How to make AirPods louder

If your Apple AirPods’ volume feels too low, a few things could be going wrong. Don’t worry, most potential problems are pretty simple to solve—the volume might not even be the real issue! Here’s how to make the AirPods louder and get everything sounding like it should.

Editor’s note: this article was updated on December 9, 2022 to update formatting and add information on adjusting the volume of AirPods Pro (2nd generation).

How to adjust the volume on your Apple AirPods with an iPhone or iPad

Before you go deeper into troubleshooting, check the current volume level your AirPods. If you’ve got your earbuds synced to an iPhone or iPad, you can press the volume rocker up once to check that the volume is at a high enough level to hear. Don’t go too far, however, or you could damage your hearing. Also, you should make sure your device isn’t muted.

How to adjust the volume on your Apple AirPods with a Mac

If you are on a Mac, press the volume up button on the keyboard or drag the slider that appears after clicking on the volume icon in the menu bar to the right.

How to adjust the volume on your Apple AirPods with Siri

If you have Siri set up on a device, you can ask it to turn up the volume, too, by saying “Hey Siri, turn up the volume.”

How to adjust the volume on the AirPods Pro

If you’re using AirPods Pro (2nd generation), you can swipe up on the stem of one of the earbuds to turn the volume up, and swipe down on the stem to turn the volume down.

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

If you tried turning up the volume to make the AirPods louder and nothing happened, a few other thing problems could be happening.

Clean your Apple AirPods for better sound and loudness

It might sound gross, but your AirPods are in your ears, and that means earwax and dirt can get inside. These earbuds are small and they push sound through tiny openings that debris can easily block. The cleaning process can be a little involved, but we have a full guide available to help you out. In summary. though, you’ll need some cotton swabs, rubbing alcohol, a clean toothbrush, and paper towels to clean your AirPods. Remember to be careful and methodical when cleaning, so you don’t miss anything or damage delicate components.

Clean all sound openings of any built-up wax and debris, and make sure you don’t let dirt fall further into the buds. After that, it’s a good idea to clean the rest of your AirPods, too. Clean the case as well, so you don’t reintroduce any mess from it to the buds.

Use the ear tip fit test on the AirPods Pro

While you’re at it, after everything is clean, you can check to see if your AirPods Pro fits well in your ears. Apple provides a handy fit test for this, and it can mean the difference between music that sounds muffled or not. That way, you won’t actually have to make the AirPods louder for them to sound louder.

In fact, a good fit might mean the difference between your AirPods sounding too quiet and just right, no matter where you’ve set the volume level.

Calibrate the Apple AirPods with your iPhone

If the volume is still too low after cleaning your AirPods, you can try calibrating it with your iPhone. This involves a factory reset, which might sound complicated, but it’s not too tricky:

1. With the earpods in the charging case, open the lid.
2. Keep the earbuds in the case and open the Bluetooth settings page on your iPhone.
3. Next to “AirPods,” click the small “i” icon.
4. Select “Forget This Device,” and then click “Confirm.”
5. Your phone will disconnect from the headset, and now you can reset the AirPods.
6. With the charging case lid open, press and hold the setup button for around 15 seconds (or until the LED flashes amber).
7. This will reset your AirPods and you can now re-sync it with your devices.

If this does not solve the loudness issues, fear not, there are other options you can try, too.

Check the sound settings in your music app

Don’t forget to check the sound settings in your preferred music app—it’s often separate from your device volume. That includes Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, and other streaming platforms, plus media players like VLC. Make sure that you’ve pushed the volume sliders up in these apps, and then adjust the total volume output of your device using its controls.

While you’re snooping around in the settings of your apps, double-check to make sure you did not enable any wonky equalizer settings. If you have turned down some or even all of the level adjusters, this could make things sound far quieter than they really are. If you really want to retain your equalizer settings, we have a guide that covers all sorts of headphones and earphones, including the AirPods, and it includes what (if anything) happens to the rest of your sound settings if you do.

Make sure both earbuds are the same volume

It is possible that one earbud has ended up quieter than the other. To check if that is the case, you’ll need your iPhone handy:

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Tap on “Accessibility.”
3. Under “Hearing,” tap on “Audio/Visual.”
4. Ensure that the left/right slider under the “Balance” section is in the middle and slide it back there if required.

If none of these solutions help solve your loudness issues, you might need to contact Apple for service. Still, it is worth trying out all of the above mentioned options, just in case you overlooked something obvious like the volume settings or a muted device.

Frequently asked questions about the Apple AirPods loudness