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SoCalSkippy Author

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

Aug 4, 2018 6:49 AM in response to pearlfromlondon

Hi Pearl,

Thanks for the comments. A bit of lateral thinking really, I knew if I played something in iTunes first and then looked in the settings for music there should be an output for the app.

Sep 21, 2018 6:51 PM in response to SoCalSkippy

Thank you so much! I tried your advice and called myself from a landline, but it didn’t work. However , after a few tries I reversed it and used my iPhone to call out (to the landline) and it worked!!!

Dec 10, 2018 5:50 PM in response to bigdalla

Thank you so much for this... I accidentally dropped my phone in some water and didn’t know what to do and I was freaking out, and also didn’t want to get in trouble for doing so😄, I tried this and it fixed it immediately, thank you so much

Mar 23, 2008 6:51 PM in response to th3_r3n3g4d3

thanks! it worked for me

Nov 5, 2008 9:17 AM in response to SoCalSkippy

i tried to plug and unplug several times, i restored my iphone from itunes, i reseted my iphone with home and lock button but it didn’t work...any soloution?pls

KJB1985

Level 1

0 points

Dec 1, 2008 8:20 AM in response to BKLinTX

I have the same problem, but none of the above fixes does anything to help.

Any other ideas?

Dec 18, 2008 6:50 PM in response to ima747

ima747 you are a genius,

thanks It works great

Jul 15, 2009 3:05 PM in response to budokaiboy

budokaiboy wrote:
q-tip trick worked for me 🙂

Did for me too, thanks.

sgmiller

Level 1

0 points

Jul 23, 2009 5:02 AM in response to iphoneuser429

1) Had the problem

2) Panicked

3) Try about five of the methods suggested here (blowing, plug/unplug, etc)

4) Suddenly started working....no idea why

Simon UK

Level 1

4 points

Aug 14, 2009 8:38 AM in response to nickepekka

Same problem here,
Only happens when I come back from a run, I use the phone in an armband and it does get very warm. I take the headphones out and it sticks in headphone mode!!!!!

Aug 16, 2009 11:57 AM in response to awillimd

EDIT: If the iPhone is already very warm then it has to cool down before it works. Anyway this is so sad and Apple should fix this.

Sep 17, 2009 10:07 AM in response to SoCalSkippy

I started having "headphone mode" issue about after 3.0 upgrade (or some minor upgrade afterward. iPhone switches into headphone mode while I am on the phone!
Seems to be a bug ignored by Apple...

Sep 19, 2009 3:04 AM in response to Hannaht

*....unfortunately don't work to me:(*
*This is not the final solution!!!! If somebody has some diferent idea, tell us!!!!*
Thanxxxxxxxxxxx

Sep 30, 2009 6:12 AM in response to nickepekka

*I totally agree with you! The M@#$% Fu*¨&%$ Apple is simply turning their backs to the problem. I'll sell mine, since I have no more warranty. thank you brother!!*

Oct 8, 2009 11:59 PM in response to SoCalSkippy

I'm stuck in Panic mode. Nothing seems to work. It's 2AM and I am trying to think who would carry compressed air and be open at this time of night.

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iPhone stuck in "headphones" mode