- Find out how to use your iPhone’s EQ
- Understand the various presets
- Read our pick of the best 3rd party EQ apps for iPhone
If you have an iPhone, you will likely listen to music on it. You’ve probably got a decent set of headphones, but you might not know you can tweak your music with the inbuilt EQ on your iPhone!
The iPhone has several built-in presets, but some great 3rd party apps let you make fine tweaks, boosts, and cuts. I’ll show you how to find and use your iPhone EQ and run through some of the best 3rd party EQ apps for iPhone in 2023.
The first on my list is Equalizer+ HD Music Player. The app has an intuitive interface and allows you to integrate 3rd party apps such as Google Drive and Dropbox.
Secondly, Flacbox: Hi-Res Music Player has excellent features such as pre-amp gain, playback speed, and a 10-band EQ. Boom: Bass Booster & Equalizer made it third on this list with a simple-to-use EQ and the ability to integrate other services such as TIDAL.
Our pick of the best 5 EQ apps for iPhone are:
- Equalizer+ HD Music Player
- Flacbox: Hi-Res Music Player
- Boom: Bass Booster & Equalizer
- Music Player X Equalizer
- Evermusic Pro
What are the Best EQ Apps for iPhone?
1. Equalizer+ HD Music Player
This is an excellent app if you listen to music on different apps.
Equalizer+ has a 7-band EQ for you to tweak with several other presets to choose from. You can also import your music from Google Drive and Dropbox, so if you’re the kind of person who likes to upload their own music to listen to later, this is a solid option.
The interface looks great and is easy to use, with cool-looking sliders that let you cut and boost as you please.
Download Equalizer+ HD Music Player for free here.
2. Flacbox: Hi-Res Music Player
Flacbox is worth checking out if you’re looking for more than just an equalizer for your iPhone. The app is compatible with multiple audio file formats, while the EQ has 10 bands to make surgical changes to your audio.
What makes this a unique app are the other features included. You’ll have access to preamp gain, playback speed control, an audio bookmark feature, and more. The app is free, however, does contain some in-app purchases.
Check out Flacbox: High-Res Music Player here.
3. Boom: Bass Booster & Equalizer
Boom is a simple-yet-effective app that gives you control over your EQ with either an 8-band or 16-band EQ that you can choose.
The app regularly updates with new features, including 3D surround sound, TIDAL integration, EQ presets, and also access your media libraries through Dropbox and Google Drive.
If you download Boom, you can get a free 7-day trial but need to subscribe to the app regularly.
Check out Boom on the App Store here.
4. Music Player X Equalizer
If you enjoy being hands-on with your music (particularly those of you who DJ), then X Equalizer will be right up your street.
The app features a customizable EQ with bass booster, DJ crossfader, and 3D audio effects meaning there is plenty to keep you busy. You’ll also be able to play music offline.
That said, the EQ is only 5-band, so if you’re looking to get stuck in with minor and specific EQ tweaks, it may not be the app for you. If you’re looking for something that will allow you to EQ and have a lot of fun with your music, try it.
Download Music Player X Equalizer here.
5. Evermusic Pro
Evermusic Pro supports a number of popular audio formats such as MP3, AAC, WAV and AIFF. You could effectively build your own personalized streaming app!
The app offers a bass booster or the option for a 10-band EQ. You’ll also have access to preamp gain to make your tracks louder.
There are a few other features that will make Evermusic Pro appealing to certain users, such as Apple CarPlay compatibility, offline music listening as well an audiobook function. The one downside is an initial fee of $9.99 to download Evermusic, so if you’re looking for a free option, this might not be for you.
To download Evermusic Pro head to the App Store here.
How Do I Find My iPhone EQ?
You may get lost in endless options and menus if you’re looking for your iPhone’s EQ.
It’s pretty easy to find. All you need to do is follow these steps:
- Open your ‘Settings’ app
- Scroll down to ‘Music’
- Tap on EQ
In there, you’ll see a pretty extensive list of presets (or the option to turn the EQ off). Turning it off will give you a ‘flat’ EQ sound rather than enhancing any particular frequency range.
As you’ll see, there are a lot of presets to choose from! They’ve been designed to roughly represent the style of music you are listening to and make any boosts or cuts in the typical frequency spots that can enhance that genre.
What Does Each iPhone EQ Preset Do?
There is quite an extensive list to run through, so we won’t go into every single one, but here’s a selection of some of the iPhone EQ presets you may want to use.
Acoustic
Acoustic is designed to enhance music typically led by acoustic instruments. As such, expect nice crisp highs with a delicately balanced mid-range.
Dance
Dance will help push the mix’s low end to give you the punchlines of bassier elements present in dance music while preserving the top end for vocals or synths.
Deep
Deep may seem ambiguous, but it is similar to Dance. Expect a much heavier and more powerful low end.
Flat
Flat is, as you’d expect, a completely flat EQ. This essentially acts the same as ‘off.’ You might find your battery drains more with Flat enabled than if you switched the EQ off.
Hip-Hop
This removes some of the upper mids, which allows emphasis on the beat.
Increase Bass
This option will straight up give you a boost of your low end. It’s not as surgical as some of the dance or electronic settings, but it may be useful if your headphones or AirPods lack a little bass. It will target lower notes on the frequency spectrum.
Late Night
This is an interesting one! It acts similarly to a dynamic range compressor, bringing down some of the higher-volume parts of your music but boosting the lower-volume parts. It’s worth trying, and some people prefer this all around, regardless of the genre they are listening to.
Loudness
Confusingly this doesn’t just make your music louder. It targets bass notes similar to ‘Increase Bass.’ However, you’ll probably notice it doesn’t hit the super low end as much. If you want to boost loudness, try ‘Late Night’ instead.
R&B
This setting is similar to ‘Hip-Hop,’ but it will accentuate some of the higher frequencies, which can be great for vocals.
Rock
This setting scoops out some of the mids while enhancing the lows and highs for a really punchy mix.
Small Speakers
This will raise low and low mid frequencies while reducing sounds higher on the spectrum. This can help if you are listening on tinny or small speakers.
Vocal Booster
Vocal Booster is suitable for enhancing podcasts or any spoken word audio. This targets the frequencies usually occupied by human speech to enhance dialogue.
Why You Should Use The iPhone EQ
You might wonder why you’d even need an EQ on your iPhone. After all, most music has had painstaking hours put into mixing and mastering.
While true, it’s important to factor in that music won’t sound 100% consistent across different speakers and headphone systems. So while a mix might sound great in an acoustically treated studio with top-of-the-range monitors, it could lack certain areas when listened to on a set of AirPods.
This is why a few small tweaks can be beneficial in getting a great listening experience.
Currently, you will be limited to the EQ presets on your iPhone. These are generally good at getting you into the right ballpark, but if you are looking to make more surgical EQ choices, there are some great apps available that you can download and have full sonic control over.
FAQs
Can I use the Apple EQ with Spotify?
At the moment, no, the EQ will only function within Apple music itself. However, downloading a 3rd part app can allow you to tweak your EQ when listening to Spotify or any other streaming service.
If you want to make some EQ changes within Spotify, then the app has its own Equalizer and preset menu.
For more information on how to access the Spotify EQ and how to use it, check out our guide here.
What Is the Sound Check function On My iPhone?
The Sound Check function is built into the iPhone music menu. It will add consistency between tracks by ensuring they are played at the same volume. This can be great if you’re music tends to vary in loudness (for example, if you listen to old and new music) or if you’re someone who doesn’t want to be riding your volume button the entire time you have music on.
To access the Sound Check function, just follow these steps:
- Open your iPhone ‘Settings’ app
- Tap on ‘Music’
- Scroll to ‘Sound Check’
- Toggle ‘Sound Check’ on
Before you go, check out our guide to the Best Spotify EQ Settings For AirPods/AirPods Pro!