iPhone stuck in "headphones" mode

I tried all the suggested solutions, including turned sound on and off in the sound settings menu, moving headphone plug in and out a number of times, blowing dry air, q-tip with alcohol, sucking, hairdryer, but no result. The last thing I tried what to stick a safety pin in the earphone connection and move it around a couple of times on the bottom and ... `voila!.. the pin came out with some greasy dirt on in. Right away, everything worked again.

I think that the problem can be caused by moisture or dirt or both. I would first try with the hairdryer, unless you are sure the phone has not been in contact with any moisture. The next step would be to use the safety pin or a paperclip and thouroughly clean out the bottom.

I have an 8 month old iphone 5, don't use headphones and after ios7 update it stays in headphone mode, coincidence? if I reset the phone or insert the headphone jack and remove it the speaker mode returned but within a couple minutes reverted back to headphone on its own,, checked with a flashlight for lint in the jack, nothing,,

Took it to apple and they replaced with a new phone, they first checked the jack for lint or debris, said the switch in the jack is very sensitive and sometimes gets stuck... So, it could be debris in the jack temporarily messing up the switch or it could be the switch itself.

New phone, all good

My IPhone 5 with IOS 7 got stuck in "headphones" setting resulting in no sound coming out of speakers. This problem occurs when the headphone plug is not fully inserted. I was playing with volume control in control center while trying to remove the headphone plug. This is when the problem occurred. From then on my Iphone was stuck in "headphones" mode.

The solution is to put the headphone plug back into the jack.I am not sure the complete sequence of steps, but by starting and stopping the sound in control center while removing the jack slightly and then moving all the way has the effect of allowing IOS 7 to figure out the setting. While going through this exercise you will notice the indicator in the control center showing "Ringer".

i used one of those clean duster cans, sprayed right into the headphone jack and it worked perfectly.

Just chiming in with my solution for my iPhone 5, which got this problem today after I carried it around outside during a major rain storm:

I tried various air-related tricks (sucking, blowing, blow dryer, sitting it next to a space heater for a long time, etc.) and none of that worked. I tried inserting the cut-off end of a Q-tip and wiggling it around and that didn't work either. But then I decided, against my better judgement, to insert the cotton side and twist/wiggle it around in a way that made me paranoid that I was going to get cotton stuck in there. Voila, that worked, and I didn't get any cotton stuck.

Good luck.

I have an iphone 5s less than a week old. Same problem - stuck on headphones. Tried all solutions that were suggested. Cleaning the headphone jack out with a q tip worked. Nothing else did. Bunch of black grease(?) on the end of the q tip after cleaning.

After trying all the suggestions using cotton swab and alcohol to clean the headphone slot, try using a hairdryer. Let the hairdryer blow directly towards the headphone slot for about 10-15mins using the dryer's minimum setting. Setting the dryer above minimum will get your iphone's aluminum body too hot to hold eventually. It worked for me after gettting sea water into my phone.

One more new solution after all others failed. I connected the phone to my docking station and played music. As the music was playing, I rebooted the phone while still connected to the docking station and playing music. After reboot was complete, with the phone still connected to the docking station, I played music through the docking station speakers. I then disconnected the phone from the docking station and the music finally came through the speakers. I am no longer stuck on headphone mode.

Hi Allan,

When you had the 'stuck in earphone' mode issue, did you get the volume bars when pressing the volume buttons ? Mine does not have the bars, unless headphone connected.

I will try your method tonight anyway so thanks for the tip.

SW

Same problem here wondering why my audio was all muted then noticed the headphones volume was showing up with no headphones plugged in, I have a iPhone 5 with iOS 7.0.3 but thanks to the previous poster I managed to get a Cotten ear bud in the headphone jack on the iPhone and at first had no luck clearing the problem but when I pushed the earbud right the way in and gave it a spin and removed it carefully not to leave any of the ear bud behind I pulled out a small piece of dirt and the volume was restored. Thanks for the posts seems like a unavoidable issue with mobiles these days.

I had this problem today and solved the issue with cleaning out the headphone socket with some alcohol wipes and tweezers.

I got a lot of dirt and grime out but this the "headphone" setting was still on.

I then got a metal hair clip and moved it in and out quickly over the "ridge" inside the headphone socket whilst clicking the side mute button on and off. I did this for about twenty seconds And now it's working fine.

Hope this helps!

What worked for me after a day without sound was turning off the ipad 4. Hope it helps :)

There are some interesting descriptions earlier in the thread about why this might occur

When I realised today that I had no audio for the phone in normal operation but it worked when selecting "Speaker", only then did I come to learn I was stuck in headphone mode. I did the reboot but that didn't work, was all ready to go home and plug in and remove my headphones 3 or 4 times as used successfully by some, when I happened to go looking for the solution to a completely different problem that has nothing to do with headphones or iPhones

I went to watch a video on You Tube...yes as soon as I The Player was on my screen I saw the volume was "off" (left end). I moved the slider right to turn volume up and hey presto we have volume, I press the iPhone volume buttons to check and they work and no pesky reference to Headphones anymore.

Alas the problem is back very next day.....hhhmmmph

My new iPhone 5S was stuck in headphones mode for about 24 hours. Tried a factory reset, erase all content and settings. Plugging the headphones in and out. Nothing worked. I called Apple and they agreed to send me a replacement phone.

The next day I got an e-mail saying the new phone was shipped. About two hours later I picked up my phone off my coffee table and everything was back to normal, no longer stuck on headphone mode. Weird...

So apparently it fixed itself. But I still did return it as I got the new phone the next day.

My phone never got wet or had any moisture at all when this happened. Never was dropped or has any real explanation why it got stuck on headphones mode. I've never used the headphones...

The first problem I have with an iPhone since I've owned every one. Hopefully it will be my last.