Apple has released its latest iOS update, and it tweaks a feature designed to protect your hearing when listening to music through wireless headphones.
iOS 14.4 has a new option within the Settings menu where you can tell it the type of third-party wireless audio devices connected to your phone, whether it's a pair of headphones, a wireless speaker, hearing aid or a car stereo.
If you choose 'headphone' from the menu, your iPhone will measure volume levels more accurately and will send an alert if you're listening at a level that could potentially damage your hearing.
The ability to monitor wireless devices' volume levels and send notifications arrived with iOS 14.2. But this new iOS version will know if a connected device is a pair of headphones – it won't alert you if your Bluetooth speaker is too loud, for example, as it poses a much lower risk to your hearing.
That's it for audio features, but iOS 14.4 also has some security fixes, so we'd definitely recommend updating. These relate to the operating system's kernel code and Safari's WebKit engine, and could potentially expose your device to being hacked.
The update also helps the camera app recognise smaller QR codes, and shows a warning if the phone's camera components have been replaced by unofficial, non-Apple parts. And of course, there are the usual bug fixes, too.
iOS 14.4 is rolling out globally now.
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