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Level 1

9 points

Voice Control randomly turns on

I have a problem that is driving me crazy. I purchased a 32gb iPhone 3GS about 3 months ago and I have had an issue with the voice control since the day I brought it home. I have an auxiliary audio jack in my car so I always connect my iPhone to my car stereo to play music. For some reason whenever my iPhone is connected in this way the voice control constantly comes on.

I understand that holding down the home button on the face of the phone is what is "supposed" to bring up the voice control option but that is not the case in this instance. Rather I will be listening to music, or simply pick the phone up while connected so I can change the song (but before I have actually touched any part of the phone) and the voice control will come on - stopping the song and forcing me to hit "cancel" in order to get back to the music. This is incredibly frustrating because it's happening while I drive and what makes it worse is the fact that since the phone is on voice control, and connected to my stereo, whenever I move it the sharp crackling from sound going through the microphone is broadcast through my car's speakers.

I have read through a few threads and there doesn't seem to be any way to deactivate voice control - but I could be wrong. Does anyone have any idea how to permanently shut off voice control? Has anyone else had this same problem? I can't figure out why this would be happening or what I can do to prevent it. Thanks for any help you can give me.

32 gb iPhone 3GS, iPhone OS 3.0.1

Posted on Oct 7, 2009 9:53 AM

34 replies

Jan 27, 2010 10:32 AM in response to poppalocs

And btw, I do not use a case for my iPhone and voice control activates without my headphones/mic being connected to the phone.

Jan 27, 2010 10:37 AM in response to poppalocs

I'm curious: have you witnessed the device activate sitting on a table, untouched by anything? Or is it activating when it's in your pocket or in contact with something? I'm just trying to eliminate the physical contact scenario as one of the culprits. I know for myself, when it's in the case and pressure is put on it in a very specific way (near the button) then it has activated Voice Control. If yours however is firing up without any human contact, then you have a far more sensitive issue, yes?

bd007

Level 1

0 points

Jan 28, 2010 5:13 PM in response to parker81

Exact same problem started happening with my voice control this week. It now auto turns out about every 10 seconds, then forces me to cancel. It renders the IPOD on my iphone useless.

As suggested below, i will remove the case and see if that helps.

Jan 28, 2010 5:47 PM in response to parker81

Just had this start today. Was at the gym and everything was working fine. Then all of a sudden, it just started going to the voice command screen every time I tried to listen to music. Did not seem to happen as soon as I disconnected the headphones though.....Extremely irritating.....Come on Apple, you need to jump on this one right away......

W714

bd007

Level 1

0 points

Jan 28, 2010 11:57 PM in response to bd007

As was suggested i removed my case......i have been using my ipod on my iphone for 5 hours now without a single voice control message.

parker81 Author

Level 1

9 points

Jan 29, 2010 2:04 PM in response to bd007

Just to support the case removal theory I recently switched from an "Incase" protective case to a "Moshi" case and I haven't had the problem since. All I can think of is that the "incase" case was somehow impeding the headphone jack's connection, the "Moshi" case leaves the top completely open so there is nothing get in the way of the headphone connection. I'll probably connect my car audio in on the way home tonight and get the voice control but it's been about three weeks and no random voice control.

k3guy

Level 1

0 points

Jan 29, 2010 9:47 PM in response to parker81

Get the screen changed! I had the same issue and changing the screen fixed it. I don't have much reasoning... just want to share this info.. b/c i know how irritating it is...

cat5557

Level 1

34 points

Feb 22, 2010 3:42 AM in response to parker81

I thought this was just something I was doing as it has been happening to me but only in the last two weeks and have had the phone since Nov. I thought it was the 3.1.3 update at first but remember it happening a few days earlier so that discounts that. It only happens when I have my headphones plugged in and my iPod is playing though it hasn't happened for the last 3 days. It's all very random!

Feb 24, 2010 5:09 AM in response to parker81

This is also happening for me, particularly at the gym. If anyone gets a useful response from Apple, please post it here.

Mike

Skrow

Level 1

0 points

Feb 24, 2010 8:39 PM in response to MikeChristie

Had to sign up just so I can add to this.

For a few months I've been using different earbuds and this problem seemed to happen rarely. I lost my alternate earbuds and switched back to the pair that came with the phone, and now the problem happens constantly while I'm jogging. When the voice control hits up, it doesn't even respond to anything I say. It can take some restraint to prevent myself from launching this POS at the nearest wall.

When it gets like this, it becomes literally useless--music or apps.

I'm so disappointed at the enormous cost of this thing and it's a worse iPod than a 50 dollar shuffle.

Feb 27, 2010 2:31 PM in response to parker81

I'm also having issues with the Voice Control launching randomly when I have my ear buds on listening to the iPod. I turned it off from settings. The problem still happens although not as often, but it still does so I don't consider it fixed. I'm goin' to the Apple Store and talk to one of their 'genuises' and see of they have a solution and not just tell me to reset the factory setting crap on the phone.

basamn5

Level 1

0 points

Mar 2, 2010 12:10 PM in response to parker81

I have the same problem, waiting for an answer!!!!

Mar 4, 2010 10:46 AM in response to parker81

I finally talked to Tech Support and as expected, they asked me to reset the phone back to factory settings. It seems to be working (yey). Although, the Voice Control happened one more time because I was using an ear bud that the microphone was busted so I switched to the one that came with the phone and I haven't had the problem since (knock wood). I went on a train ride to San Francisco which was about an hour ride and the voice control problem didn't happen once. It's been a week and a half and no voice control problem. I'll post again, whether restting it fixed the problem or its still happening. On another note, by resetting the phone back to the factory settings, I was able to use a couple of free ringtones I downloaded from the AppStore. I was't able to use the free ringtones before resetting the phone. I can see it on the ringtones tab in iTunes, but they were greyed out.
If you decide to reset the phone, remember to have the latest iTunes version, backup your phone. When you restore, restore the phone as new and just manually put your music back on. Do not unplug your phone until everything is done or you'll get error messages and have to do it over. One of my apps didn't load back and I didn't care. After the restore, I ejected the phone and plugged it back again to my laptop and it synced it again and reloaded the app. I know it's wordy, but I hope that helps.

Mar 10, 2010 6:45 AM in response to Michael Goran

I left my iPhone on my desk (inside it's mophie case as always) completely disconnected from anything and sitting quietly when went to a meeting. I returned over an hour later and the people who sit near my office told me that they had to close the door because the music was so loud. Multiple times since then (this was 2 days ago) I have seen Voice Control activate while the phone is untouched and wait for a command - a few times this has caused random music to play like the first time. I do not have anything in the headphone jack and seldom use it.
Given what I have seen on this thread I will keep the phone out of the mophie case for a few days to see if this is applying "pressure" to the phone. Why this would suddenly be a problem this week after over 2 months of use I don't know.

Mar 18, 2010 1:48 AM in response to Jason Fiscalini

This is exactly the same as my problem, I actually could have written this it is that similar.
At first I thought it was because it had been in a humid atmosphere or perspiration had affected it somehow, I also thought at first that it could be because it had been shaken violently, perhaps it had jogged something loose inside, now after reading all these post it is seemingly just a technical error, such a shame as the iphone seemed perfect and now it is almost useless in my eyes as i have to leave it switched off all the time.
Get a patch sorted Apple as soon as possible.

Voice Control randomly turns on