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

Willo

Level 1

77 points

Mar 18, 2011 5:21 PM in response to DarL8ing

It's been raining all day here so maybe it is a damp issue. I've also sat here sucking on the jack thinking maybe this thread is full of jokesters. No luck for me. Other threads recommend a restore.

Will continue sucking on the jack until this works again.

Update: Continued sucking and it worked again for a few seconds, then back off. Sucked again and worked again for a few seconds, then back to "headphones" mode. Repeated twice more, same temporary results.

Message was edited by: Willo

Slap690

Level 1

0 points

Apr 15, 2011 6:48 AM in response to Delkow

Thank you for your post, it worked for me! I too tried everything that I had read except doing a restore. Was determined to try everything else first before I tried a restore. (just upgraded to 4.3.1 and didnt really want to waste my time updating to 4.3.2) thanks again

May 1, 2011 9:38 AM in response to SoCalSkippy

My iPhone 4 has NEVER had headphones plugged into it . . . And I'm not able to hear phone conversations without putting the phone on Speaker. The real kicker is I just activated the phone yesterday morning!!! Yes, it's a new phone! I'll be going to the Apple store TODAY.

Amber

mksandhu

Level 1

0 points

Jun 26, 2011 10:30 AM in response to kirincastle

hey i never knew that holding home button for 5-6 secs opens up a voice control thing.... thanx for that.... but yea i am also having this same problem... its sooo iriitating that now i hav almost made up my mind to ditch apple (they hav ditched us first :X) and buy android phone... this is related to HEAT... when evr i use the dumb iphone 3gs for lyk 15 20 mins in a go, it switches to headphone mode...and if i keep it away for 5 minsits back to normal....but this beahviour by a brand as APPLE is really sick... and till now they havnt come up with any solution... i hav read forums dating back to 2007...... 4 years and APPLE has NO ANSWER for this... real shame.. !!! stop buying apple guys

mksandhu

Level 1

0 points

Jun 26, 2011 10:48 AM in response to awillimd

yes it is the heat issue.. and APPLE....plz do something... admit it and try solving it... you are bloody ruining your image..... I AM NEVER EVR GONNA BUY ANOTHER APPLE PRODUCT IN MY LIFE..... I PROMISE... u suck big tym and dnt evn hav d balls to admit it

Aug 5, 2011 9:21 AM in response to Gianni Abramo

3 Minutes in the freezer! Worked a treat!

I did all that headphones in and out for aaages to no avail.

Sucked in and blew the jack like a ****.

Freezer.

Thank god I don't have to take the looong journey to the apple store tomorrow!

Woo!!

Oct 14, 2011 10:14 PM in response to SoCalSkippy

Same problem..may be phone got overheated as i left in car for a long time period. Tried blowing and cleaning the headphone jack..nothing happended. I put the iphone in ziplock and placed in the freezer for about 30 minutes. It worked like a charm !! I can hear now via phone:-)

Oct 30, 2011 9:52 AM in response to SoCalSkippy

Glad my method of sucking is helping everyone, please visit my YouTube video on this and leave me feedback if I helped you out. Thanks everyone for trying my sucking method it's good to see that I have found a solution to the problem.

Oct 30, 2011 2:34 PM in response to d.berlin

Hi like I said before I'm so happy that my method is working for everyone, please look me up on YouTube oldskoolmatt there's a link on this thread to and leave me feedback. I'm posting my method on as many forums as I can to help people with this problem.

Nov 14, 2011 2:51 PM in response to awillimd

I had the same thing happen to me but when I upgraded to the OS 5 it went away. Now it auto updated to OS 5.0.1 the problem is back. It comes and goes. I restored back to before it updated to OS 5.0.1. So far it's ok but I've not listen to anything for any long time to really see if it's fixed. I too called Apple for support and we did a complete restore. Not to mention that went the new iTunes update lost my entire library of music, audio books and movies. They were able to recovery some but not all :( so I still trying to get my iPad 2 and iPhone 3GS to working as the now I'm also having wifi issues.

Nov 26, 2011 11:22 PM in response to SoCalSkippy

My iPod does the same and it also seems to be filled with a million hackers. It started off by slowly turning down the volume one bar every couple seconds. It doesn't repair when I restore even in dfu mode.

Dec 8, 2011 8:12 AM in response to A-Ron723

i am too facing this problem since aout a week now. i tried all sorts of things like restore , hair drying into the jack , brushing it with a dry cotton into the jack , repetedly put in and removed the earphones a couple of times but no effects yet stuck on headphone.. someone please help me out with this :'(

Yen-j

Level 1

0 points

Dec 18, 2011 9:55 PM in response to SoCalSkippy

Can someone help me too??

I face the similar problem

I can listen to songs as normal

But no sound for the keyboard clicks

I can hear my ringtone when i plug in my earphone

But no sound come out when i remove it

Help!!

I just bought my i phone for a few monthsT.T

Dec 25, 2011 5:33 PM in response to SoCalSkippy

I met the same problem too, and tried every experiances were posted here. The mode was changed back and changed to headphone mode in several seconds. Any further suggestions can give me to try it ? Thanks.

frad729

Level 1

0 points

Feb 5, 2012 3:29 PM in response to SoCalSkippy

OMG!

Okay, so I've tried everything anyone posted on this thread and nothing seemed to work.

(tried pluging/unpluging the headphones at least 60 times, tried the Q-tip trick...nothing!)

I took my girlfriend's hair blowdryer, set it to cool and to max...

Presto!!! I can now hear music, I can also hear myself talking when I tried calling myself!

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iPhone stuck in "headphones" mode