Help center

• Install the app on your iPhone (iOS 17 or later) and create your account. That makes you the parent of the family.
• Add a family member with a name and birth year. Each child gets their own account without an email or password.
• Walk through the permission steps: Apple Health (measured sound levels), Motion & Fitness (posture and drop detection), Notifications and, if you want, Location for dropped or left-behind earbuds.
• For a hard volume limit, also turn on iOS “Reduce Loud Audio” (Settings → Sounds & Haptics → Headphone Safety). Apps can't lower other apps' volume, so this iOS setting does that job.

• On your phone, open the member and choose to pair a device. You get a 6-digit code and a QR code.
• On the child's iPhone, install the app, choose the child option and enter the code or scan the QR.
• The code works once and expires after 10 minutes. If it runs out, simply create a new one.
• For children under 13 you confirm parental consent during pairing.
• A second parent can be linked to the same child. The parent who created the member stays the owner.
• If the child's session is lost (new phone, app reinstalled), create a new code and pair again.

Every sound level carries a label. Measured values come from Apple Health, which calculates headphone exposure for supported earbuds; they can arrive minutes or hours late. Estimated values are calculated instantly from the volume setting and a curve for your headphone model. When measured data arrives, it replaces the estimate in the charts and the estimate learns from it. Details on How we measure.

• Posture works with earbuds that have head-motion sensors. If yours don't, the app tells you and hides the posture features on that device.
• Start a session for homework, reading, gaming or desk work. Posture is only checked during sessions.
• Calibrate once: sit up straight, look at the screen and hold still for a moment. You can recalibrate at any time if the earbuds sit differently.
• Walking, lying down or loose earbuds pause measuring instead of guessing. That time doesn't count against anyone.
• Children see a simple green or yellow band, never angles.

• Children get gentle cards first, for example when it has been loud for a few minutes. Parents are told only if it continues.
• Each parent sets their own quiet hours, daily maximum and channels. Critical alerts, such as a possibly dropped earbud, still come through quiet hours.
• Concert or event mode: turn it on at a concert or a match. For 6 hours, parents don't get every noise alert; events stay in the history.
• Not getting notifications? Check iOS Settings → Notifications for the app, and Focus modes.

The Apple Watch app shows your own level and weekly dose, your posture score, the active goal with its reward and the latest cheer, and a one-minute break. Parents get a family overview: who is listening and who is too loud. The watch gets its data through the paired iPhone, so keep the app signed in there. Add the goal complication to your watch face for a quick look.

Long-press the Home Screen, tap the plus button and search for Earbunny. There are widgets for the weekly dose ring, a family member's status and the active goal, plus a Lock Screen ring. While a goal window is open, a Live Activity shows progress on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island.

• Plans: Free (1 person, 7-day history), Family (up to 5 people, monthly or yearly, 14-day free trial) and Personal.
• Subscriptions are billed by Apple and renew automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the period.
• Cancel or change: iOS Settings → your name → Subscriptions. Deleting the app doesn't cancel a subscription.
• Refunds are handled by Apple through reportaproblem.apple.com.
• New phone or reinstalled? Open the subscription screen in the app and tap “Restore purchases”, signed in with the same Apple Account.

• Download: Settings → Download my data gives you a JSON file with your data. Parents can download a linked child's data too.
• Delete: Settings → Delete account. This can't be undone. The same email can open a new account 24 hours later.
• When a parent who owns a member deletes that member, all of that member's data is deleted.
• Deleting your account doesn't cancel an App Store subscription; cancel it in iOS Settings as well.

More in our privacy policy.

The earbuds aren't detected

• Make sure they are connected in iOS Settings → Bluetooth and that sound is playing through them.
• Put both earbuds in, open the app once, and check that Motion & Fitness is allowed.
• Posture and drop detection need earbuds with head-motion sensors; the app tells you if yours don't have them.

No sound level appears

• Levels appear only while headphones are playing; the phone speaker doesn't count.
• For measured values, allow Apple Health access to headphone audio levels (Health app → Sharing → Apps).
• Check that the child's app is signed in and that the dashboard shows recent data: it always says how fresh it is.

Background monitoring stops

• Turn on “Monitor in background” in the child's app. iOS then shows the location indicator in the status bar; that is expected.
• Don't force-close the app from the app switcher, and avoid Low Power Mode where possible.
• iOS decides how often background updates run. Opening the app always brings data up to date.