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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

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Posted on Jan 21, 2017 8:59 AM

i tried everything i could think of i sucked on the headphone jack look to see for debris or anything suck and nothing i turned it on and off several times and still nothing so i was desperate i grabbed my blow dryer i set it on high and bam it worked i could hear everything hope this helps you an saves you money User uploaded file

928 replies

Aug 24, 2014 4:34 AM in response to SoCalSkippy

After trying all the fixes in this thread, I had resigned myself to having to buy a new iPad. Hard reset, cleaning the headphone jack with a toothbrush, hair dryer, sucking on the jack, airplane mode - nothing. So I took the threading end of a sewing needle with a little thread wrapped around it (not the pointy end) and I used it to scoop out the dust deep down in the headphone jack. Worked like a charm! Try it if you're stuck.

Aug 24, 2014 4:45 AM in response to Rcrowley32

At the Apple store they used as otoscope to look into the headphone jack. There was a bit of dust, but not much. They use a can that sprays air to dislodge dust.


They offered to replace the phone because of the problem, even though it seems to have resolved after using the vacuum cleaner. I decided not to take a replacement phone since the problem seems to have been from crud dislodged by the vacuum cleaner. But I have a few more months until I hit the 1 year warranty period, and if the problem happens again I'll take it to the store to resolve since we'll be able to see if crud was causing the problem.

Sep 9, 2014 12:38 PM in response to SoCalSkippy

I had this problem as well and i saw many others had it, so I tried following the tips people had posted, but none worked and I was getting scared because I had dropped my ipod underneath a running tap, and thought there was irreversible water damage. But in the end it was ok and here's what I did:


- Plugging headphones in and out many times, didnt work


- Used a toothpick carefully, didnt work but took out lots of lint


- Blew on/Sucked (haha) the hole, didnt work


- Used a toothpick with cotton from q tips at the end, didnt work, so I forced the cotton to get stuck inside, and then i took it out, (however I got super stressed because I couldnt get it out at first), didnt work but took out more dirt


- Did a hard reboot of the ipod by holding down home and lock screen, then plugged in my headphones while the ipod was off, then turned the ipod on and played music until the ipod automatically locked itself, took the headphones out, and it finally worked!

Sep 14, 2014 11:22 PM in response to SoCalSkippy

My iphone 5 volume stopped working but the ringer still worked. also when I put the head phones in the volume on the headphones worked.

when I was adjusting the volume on the side of the phone it was adjusting the headphone volume but I didn't have headphones in it.


tried blowing in the bottom of the phone, using a qtip to insert into headphone jack, but all didn't work.


I just updated my phone OS and the volume works perfectly fine on youtube and music as well 🙂


hope this helps.. I think you'll just have to try a bunch fo different things.

Oct 2, 2014 10:34 AM in response to dlo888

iPhone 6 is stuck in headphones mode. Called Apple Care. Was sent to Verizon. Verizon wanted me to go to apple. When they heard Apple sent me to them they did the thing suggested in this thread. Nothing worked and so I had to purchase another phone. When that one comes in I have to send the broken phone to Verizon for credit. Until then I have to use a headset or speakerphone.


Poor customer service by both companies in my opinion. You're putting me in the back of the line to fix a phone I've had for 1 day AND I need to put money up to do it.

Nov 20, 2014 3:32 PM in response to Glenn Kelly1

NONE of these suggestions worked for me! 😟 I have tried
1. putting the headphones in and out pretty much 1469 times (both while the phone was on, off, in locked mode, unlocked mode, in iTunes and out of iTunes)

2. cleaning out the headphone jack (with a toothpick, compressed air, q-tip, used a flashlight)

3. rebooting my phone (manually turning it off and force closing it by holding the home and power button)

I've read every article and watched every YouTube video on this problem and NADA has worked for me - someone help please!!

iPhone stuck in "headphones" mode

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