How to reverse Digital Crown volume controls on your AirPods Max headphones

You can turn the volume of your AirPods Max headphones up or down up by using a rotatable Digital Crown button found on the right ear cup. Thankfully, Apple permits you to optionally change the orientation of the Digital Crown button when adjusting the volume. Follow the steps in this tutorial to learn how to reverse the Digital Crown volume controls on your AirPods Max.

Controlling the volume

Apple first implemented a rotatable Digital Crown button on its Apple Watch. On the wearable device, the Digital Crown can be turned to scroll or zoom and pressed to return to the Home screen and more. On your AirPods Max, rotating the Digital Crown back to front increases the volume. Conversely, turning the rotatable button front to back decreases the volume.

How to find the model and serial numbers of your AirPods Max

This isn’t problematic if you have the expectation that the default button orientation will work well for you. Should you find yourself accidentally turning up the volume to the max when you intended the very opposite, however, you can change the direction of the Digital Crown button.

AirPods Max Digital Crown direction - an image showing button layout on the headphones

To avoid accidentally turning the volume up when you actually want to turn it down, you’ll need to change the button’s orientation. Follow along with us as we show you how to change the default direction of the Digital Crown button on your AirPods Max headphones.

How to reverse Digital Crown volume controls

You can reverse the volume controls on your AirPods Max by changing the orientation of the headphones’ Digital Crown button in your Bluetooth settings.

  1. Open the Settings app on your iOS device.
  2. Choose “Bluetooth” in the root list.
  3. Hit “i” next to your listed AirPods Max headphones.
  4. Touch the option “Digital Crown” under “Increase Volume By Rotating” and make your choice.

There are two settings at your disposal:

  • Back to Front: Increase the volume by turning the Digital Crown clockwise.
  • Front to Back: Increase the volume by turning the Digital Crown counterclockwise.

The changes take effect immediately.

AirPods Max Digital Crown direction - a closeup of the Digital Crown button

macOS Big Sur doesn’t currently support changing the orientation of the Digital Crown button using a Mac, but we’ll make sure to update the article if the situation changes in the future.

According to Apple, if the volume doesn’t seem to get louder when turning the Digital Crown, try to adjust headphone volume on your phone. Don’t forget you can perform various functions by pressing the Digital Crown, such as invoking Siri, controlling media playback, managing phone calls (to change call volume, turn the Digital Crown while on a call) and more.