iPhone stuck in "headphones" mode

I have had the same problem for many days now and tried everything I had read in different forums regarding this problem. Nothing helped me!!!

I agree that this problem has to do with overheating as it is already posted! Today, I did something that helped me solve the problem at least until a permanent solution will be available to us.

I reduced the brightness level almost to zero and this keeps my iphone cool enough not to enter headphones mode. I know that this is an unfortunate situation but it's better than being stuck in the headphones mode.

PS. YouTube still has some problems even under these conditions. We look forward to a permanent fix, of course!!!

Heating is the problem! Just put your iphone in your refrigerator when it gets stuck in headphone for 1 min. and it will return to normal. apple needs to own up to this problem and fix it asap!!!!!!!!

The problem is heat related, but at a level below that which activates the heat warning screen. A few seconds in the freezer, applying the back of the phone to a cold window, etc. cycle you back to ringer. Many of the proposed solutions here are merely other ways of cooling (blowing, sucking, alcohol, even the heat sink of plugging in the earphones). Certainly, the headphone switch can get stuck, often due to lint, when the headphones have been inserted then removed, but the spontaneous switch from ringer to headphones mode by iPhones that haven't seen a plug put into the jack in months IS NOT A LINT PROBLEM.

Clearly, a fix is needed, whether a software disconnect of the headphone jack, fix of the code controlling this problem, better heatsink, whatever. I call on Apple to acknowledge the problem, and if they don't currently have a fix, at least promise one.

I'm having the same problem, but I'd like to warn people about my experience. My 16g 3g iPhone was doing this, and it got to where I couldn't get it to work properly at all. Rebooting, cleaning the jack, etc. Nothing would work. I even tried a q-tip and alcohol... DON'T do that, because it triggers a liquid sensor in the iPhone, and the genius bar will think you got it wet.

I took mine to the genius bar and had a good experience. I just told him what i had done trying to fix the problem. They switched my phone out for a new one, and one week later, the new one is doing it too! Very frustrating.

I have not noticed a heat issue. Certainly not one I would say is consistent with the problem I'm having. My old phone never did it no matter how hot it got, until recently it had never done it. Then it started doing it all the time. Almost overnight. This replacement phone is already doing it, but it seems to come back quickly. YouTube videos seem to kick it into headphone mode about ten or fifteen seconds into the movie.

This is really frustrating.

As far as I know since I have this problem for over 4 months and have done everything mentioned in this thread to solve the problem, it doesn't seem to be a software related problem. If it were a software problem all iphones under the same firmware would have this problem.
Therefore one would assume that since it’s a hardware problem by replacing the headphone jack flexible circuit the problem would be fixed.
Unfortunately, even though I replaced the headphone jack part of my iphone 3G with a new one, the problem is still there. My next move is to replace the motherboard when I have the chance to do it.
Those of you whose iphone is still under warranty do your best to have it replaced with a new one!

I searched for nearly 2 hours. I didn't have ear phones plugged in or headset. It just happened....

here's the answer:
You need to stop the Ipod process somehow. Don't know how mine got stuck bc I didn't even have the ipod going.

How I did it - I have mine jailbroken and have the app SBSettings. In that app you can stop processes. Stop the ipod process. It immediately fixed it.

I did everything but headphone stuck was persistent.
Then I deleted all third party applications from iphone. Now, it seems problem have gone.
I do not think it is heat issue, i believe it is firmware issue and most of the apps causing this problem

When you say, "it switched back" do you mean, without any intervention besides cooling down, the audio mode switched back to normal Ringer mode? Usually, I have to go into the alarm clock app and sample an alarm tone to kick the audio back into Ringer mode. I even tried a similar trick selecting the phone's ring tone, but strangely that didn't work. I haven't tried cooling my phone in the refrigerator, like one user mentioned, but I've never noticed my phone switching back automatically after a cooling period. In any case, this problem is completely unacceptable.

Panda attack, it usually switches back without intervention, sometimes it needs sampling an audio tone or plugging the earphone once and unplugging it.
It's a bit random. But the one constant, is that the phone gets stuck when there's heavy usage or high ambient temperatures.
And regarding the heat issue, I don't know if it's a problem with excess heat being generated or a part's sensibility to normal heat levels, I would guess it would be the latter. But again a software issue is also implicated somehow.

I sent an email to Steve Jobs detailing this issue. While I did not get a response back from him, I did have an Apple Customer Service Representative call me to discuss it. After directing the man to this thread and having him read through the issues, his response was, "based on the metrics that I can see - and you can't, this is not a widespread problem. As a matter of fact, it looks as though it is only a few people and they are posting repeatedly." I called his attention to the fact that it had over 45,000 views for the topic and he brushed that off. His solution was to "use a bluetooth" or "use the headphones" but that since the phone was out of warranty, there really wasn't anything to do. He did call at&t for me to try and move up my upgrade date so I could buy a new phone sooner. Which, they wouldn't do, even though my upgrade date is in June, just 3 months from now. Anyway, he did acknowledge that it sounded like a bad chip or heating issue and that sometimes "those things just happen." I was certainly impressed that they called me. But, unimpressed that he offered no solution other than to hold out until my upgrade date and buy a new phone. I even went through the laundry list of thousands of dollars of Apple products I have purchased over the years - all to no avail. So, doesn't appear as though any of us are going to see a fix or replacement phone for our troubles. For now, I am back to carrying around my headphones and holding my phone against my air conditioning vent in my car. I am very disappointed.

Alice,

Let me know how it went.. I have been lately experimenting with the "Adjust ring Tone" fix to see if it can restore the ringer mode even when the device is warm. This is the process of checking and changing the current ring tone to another and has been reported elsewhere on this board as a fix.. it is not permanent though does seem to restore functionality temporarily at least.. very strange bug..

Would really like to find the solution to this.. mayby iOS4...?

Paul

Real quickly like i'll just like to add a few things to this issue.

I had the same issue, but it was only dealing with phone calls, everything else worked fine, but making a phone could only be done through speaker phone or headset. *MOST ANNOYING* THING EVER, ever.

Most of the fixes mentioned (besides the cottom swab thingy, because if you have a warranty, not a good idea) will work eventually at some point. At first unplugging it and pluggin' it back in worked buuuutt, that eventually became insufficient. So I tried everything mention on this thread besides the swab and finally one more plug back in and out worked, but just to let everyone know --

You'll know it worked if u got the headphones in your ear and when u unplug it, you'll hear it pop or somthin like that. If you hear that, you can be confident when you make a call, you'll hear it through your phone speaker as intended.

Also, being 24 years old, i basically had headphones on my head my whole life, and not taking away from Apple's build, but in my experience, "jack sex" can be pretty bad, doin to much wiggling and so forth can possibly do more harm than good. Just thought i'll add that lil two cents.

Best of luck to everyone

Message was edited by: inkredibro