5 Ways to Improve the Sound Quality on an iPhone

If you're not satisfied with your iPhone's audio quality, whether you're using built-in speakers or headphones, put these tips to good use.

iPhones generally offer excellent sound quality, be it through their speakers, wired headphones, or wireless buds. In some cases, though, you might experience subpar audio quality on your iPhone. And the issue could be hardware or software-related.

Fortunately, if you're running into any audio issues while on a call, listening to music, or watching videos, you can try a bunch of troubleshooting steps. Here, we'll walk you through all of them.

While you can modify a few settings, like fine-tuning sounds and haptics to resolve volume issues on your iPhone, many third-party apps like YouTube Music and Spotify also have settings that regulate or improve sound quality.

In many cases, an app's sound quality is set to low or normal to reduce data usage while not on a Wi-Fi network, but depending on the app, even the quality setting for Wi-Fi could be set to low by default.

For instance, to improve Spotify's audio quality on your iPhone, you can open the app, go to Settings > Audio quality, and select Very High for Wi-Fi streaming. You can also make this selection for downloads, and if you have a good data plan, you'll also have this option available for cellular streaming. Before leaving the settings menu, ensure Auto adjust quality is toggled off to guarantee consistent quality.

The process for enabling high-quality streaming in other third-party music streaming apps is fairly similar. You can also enable high-quality streaming for Apple Music by heading to Settings > Music > Cellular Streaming and selecting High Quality.

You can also enable and adjust the settings for the equalizer by tapping EQ in the Music settings menu.

Sometimes, making certain adjustments or enhancements in iOS might result in worse audio quality on your iPhone. If you've checked your other settings and don't see anything that seems off, you might want to try making changes to headphone accommodations in accessibility settings.

Surprisingly, tweaking headphone accommodations can improve your iPhone's audio quality. To do this, go to Settings > Accessibility > Audio/Visual and toggle on Headphone Accommodations. Now, under TUNDE AUDIO FOR, play around with Balanced Tone, Vocal Range, and Brightness to see what works best for you.

Then, move the slider between Slight, Moderate, and Strong, and make sure Phone and Media are toggled on under APPLY WITH. You can tap Play Sample as you make changes to see if you notice any improvements. Alternatively, you can play music in the background while making adjustments to see changes in real time.

Checking if your iPhone's speakers are dirty might seem like an insignificant step toward improving your iPhone's sound quality, but it really isn't. It doesn't take much dirt or lint to negatively impact the sound coming out of your iPhone's speakers. If you see anything blocking the speaker holes, you can use a toothpick, a small brush, and tape to clear them out.

You can follow these steps to clean your iPhone speakers safely:

It's essential to ensure no liquid gets into the speaker grilles. So, ensure that any dampened cloth you use isn't dripping or overly humid before cleaning any debris.

If you're having iPhone audio issues, specifically while using headphones, there's an uncommon fix that might work for you. You can try activating hearing aid compatibility, which is one of the many accessibility features for people with hearing difficulties.

To do this and see if your iPhone's sound quality improves, go to Settings > Accessibility > Hearing Devices and toggle on Hearing Aid Compatibility.

Although the hearing aid compatibility setting is for improving the audio quality with hearing aids, it can sometimes positively impact sound quality while wearing certain wired and wireless headphones. So, it's still worth looking into and trying.

If you use AirPods (3rd generation), AirPods Pro, AirPods Max, AirPods, Beats Fit Pro, or Beats Studio Pro for audio, you can try using a custom iPhone audio setup to improve sound quality. It uses algorithms to simulate a complete surround-sound experience, which might address your sound problems.

To activate Personalized Spatial Audio, tap the Info (i) icon next to the name of your connected AirPods in Settings > Bluetooth. Then, select Personalized Spatial Audio and follow the onscreen instructions to configure the feature to your audio preferences. Alternatively, you can access this feature by heading to Settings > Sounds & Haptics > Personalized Spatial Audio.

Setting up Personalized Spatial Audio is an involved process with three steps using your iPhone's front camera. First, you have to look straight into the camera and move your head in various angles. Then, for the following two steps, you have to move your iPhone in a circular motion from both sides of your head to the front.

This feature tailors sound to your profile for a more immersive experience. It simulates surround sound to improve upon traditional stereo audio output. There's a good chance this will significantly improve your iPhone's sound quality through your compatible headphones.

Improving the audio quality on your iPhone, be it for headphones or through its integrated speakers, can seem like a complicated process. Fortunately, enabling high-quality streaming and cleaning the dirty or dusty speaker grilles are two great ways to start.

Headphone users can also try enabling hearing aid compatibility, Personalized Spatial Audio, and tweaking headphone accommodations. However, if you feel your iPhone's sound quality is not nearly as good as it once was when it was new, it's time to contact Apple for hardware assistance.

Brandon is a freelance writer for Android at MUO. Helping others with tech is his passion, and he's been doing just that from a young age. He's been writing about tech since 2018.