Level 2

212 points

iPhone stuck in "headphones" mode

Earlier I accidentally grabbed my iPod headphones instead of my iPhone headphones and I think I may have jammed them in there too far. Because now I can't hear any of the keyboard clicks or sounds and when I receive a text message there's no sound either. And when I receive a call it won't allow me to hear the person on the other line unless I put my headphones in or use the speaker function. And when I turn the ringer volume up/down it says "headphones" in parentheses as if it's been set to "headphones" mode or something! Is it possible that I jammed them in so far that my iPhone thinks my headphones are still plugged in? Did I just totally ruin my iPhone? What do I do? Anyone know how I can fix this? Thanks!

Windows XP Pro

Posted on Jan 15, 2008 9:14 PM

Top-ranking reply

Sabz79

Level 1

14 points

Posted on Sep 20, 2016 6:01 AM

I cannot believe I had this issue today - literally 4 days before I get the iPhone7. I went into panic mode and spoke to Apple Support chat online - we spent almost an hour testing voice memos, restoring my phone from backup and as new - no luck. Then we got cut off 😕

But then someone else took over and 'kindly' warned me that I was out of warranty so I would be liable for any hardware costs. YAY! However they told me of the simple trick of getting a cotton bud and gently inserting it into the jack to clear it out. I had no cotton buds so I delicately used a cocktail stick. Five mins later of tiny bits of lint coming out, hey presto! A bigger ball comes out and my phone went back into ringer mode! I could have cried. Literally.

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928 replies

monesti

Level 1

0 points

Dec 28, 2014 1:30 PM in response to DaphneC91

I used one of them air spray keyboard cleaners. Just sprayed that into headphone jacked. Worked for me

Jan 4, 2015 9:14 AM in response to Shaka St. Ange

The plug-unplug & reboot trick didn't work for me at all. However, I placed a call and turned the speaker on, and turned it back off. It worked.

Mar 20, 2015 9:11 PM in response to SoCalSkippy

believe it or not, i cleaned the input with a COTTON SWAB after I made it small enough to fit in.. 😉 all u need is cleaning it.. use ur imagination!

Jun 22, 2015 5:22 PM in response to SoCalSkippy

Some time it's just because dust, or tiny pieces of metal get stuck in the headphone plug , just get a can of compressed air and blow on the plug.

Oct 2, 2015 9:08 PM in response to SoCalSkippy

SSame happened to me today. Immediately this should and will work. Grab an electric duster or air can and use the straw/nozzle (I used a dust remover can)

Apr 12, 2016 8:27 PM in response to SoCalSkippy

Hey I had this problem my self on my iPhone 6s but I found out by taking a hairdryer on cold and pointi it into the jack for a minute or so fixed the problem! Hope this helps!!

Apr 16, 2016 2:52 PM in response to SoCalSkippy

plug in your headphones turn the volume up by one bar unplug it and turn it down one bar it works instantly

Jun 25, 2016 9:44 PM in response to SoCalSkippy

I Had the same problem but used a thick end of tooth pick

in headphone slot to solve the problem. Do not use force

jjust nibble it.

Jun 27, 2016 11:50 AM in response to SoCalSkippy

Sucking the headphone jack. Sounds silly, but tried everything from cleaning the jack, turning phone off and on, and restarting the settings. It really does work!

Oct 5, 2016 6:33 PM in response to SoCalSkippy

I also used compressed air into the headphones input and it worked !

Menoche

Level 1

5 points

Jun 27, 2009 5:36 PM in response to SoCalSkippy

ok I admit.... I was lauhing at the sucking thing..
I tried sucking thru the earphones jack with no luck..
tried it thru the iphone connector.. oh ho... the "earphones" word disappeared but still no sound..
tried it again thru the speaker outlets and oh miracle it came back

Thanks for the tips guys!!!

awillimd

Level 1

31 points

Jul 28, 2009 10:51 AM in response to bigbillpns

My theory is that it is a simple case of the phone overheating as in my case, it only seems to occur after prolonged use or in hot environments. I tested my theory as follows: I placed my phone between my hands or between my legs for about ten minutes to heat it up. I then entered the number pad in the phone mode and punch a few numbers to see if I could hear anything (an easy way to test to see if you can hear anything coming from the speakers). Nothing. I then blew cold air into the headphone jack and a few second later...sound came back. I did the test a second time and, again, the sound failed to come through the speakers when the phone was heated up. Blew cold air through the jack and, presto, the sound comes back. I'd be interested to see if anyone else can recreate this problem like I can. If this is the case, then the various solutions being proposed (q-tip cleaning, inserting and removing the headphone jack several times, etc.) are merely helping to cool down the unit and have nothing to do with removing debris from the jack. I suspect Apple is aware that this is the problem and simply cannot afford to admit to it.

Aug 16, 2009 10:15 AM in response to Dan Mitchell1

I have found a possible fix for the "iPhone stuck in headphones mode". It has got to do with how the iPhone uses its RAM when in intensive use. Heat seems to be a factor but probably just is result of the memory being almost full and the processor working hard. Most often the iPhone will go into headphone mode when playing a Youtube video for a while over WLAN or 3G.

The FIX: Download the "Memory Sweep" application from iTunes Application store. With it you can free 30 mb of memory on your iPhone (you need to free 30 mb as 20 mb is not sufficient). After you have freed the iPhone memory lock the phone. Unlock again and voila the iPhone is now in "Ringer" mode. Underneath the link to the free application:

http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=320954758&mt=8

Apple has to provide a fix for this!! It is a type of software/hardware issue that makes the iPhone think that it is in headphone mode when in intensive use and its memory is running short. Not all iPhones seem to suffer from this but there are loads of people having this problem and writing about it in Europe/US.

Jun 22, 2011 6:33 PM in response to connormac2

I had this problem today and a friend told me I must have gotten it wet (I hadn't noticed but did quickly run through a drizzling rain today) and to blow a hair dryer into the headphone jack for 5 minutes. Worked like a charm.

moniet

Level 1

0 points

Oct 29, 2011 10:04 PM in response to arthuralex77

"Multiple insertions of a headphone did not help, but hilariously sucking hard on the headphone input hole did the trick (at least for now.) Hope I didn't inhale something a toxic but my iPhone seems to be back to normal."

This did the trick! Thanks!

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iPhone stuck in "headphones" mode