Can’t hear a phone call through headset

I ran into the same issue on my iPhone 8. Wired headphones worked fine with music, podcasts, audible etc... but when I tried to use them for a call (receiving or making) no sound at all. At first I bought a new set of headphones and new 3.5mm adapter(listed on Amazon as Apple verified). Still wouldn’t work.

I called Apple support, went through all my settings and had no luck. In fact one of the support staff recommended I just go buy a pair of Apple brand headphones despite the fact I now have 2 working sets of headphones... super frustrating!!

I read through these replies and saw a suggestion of replacing the lightning/3.5mm adapter. Went to Best Buy and got and Apple adapter for $9.99 and my calls now work!

8/30/30 Sunday 6:56pm

Hey All,

I had the same issue...new iPhone SE 2020...

Love my corded dual headset w/mic...but with ‘Apple Certified’ dongles...only stereo playback came through headset. Making/receiving phone calls the SE 2020 defaulted to the speakers & mic in the phone.

Called Apple and got a great tech...ended up sending me to my local Apple Store....with my iPhone and ALL dongles and headsets (many).

turned out that the ‘Apple Certified’ dongles were not actually APPLE. In store tech brought out a real Apple Lightning ton3.5mm dongle...problem solved...ALL my wired headsets w/mics work perfectly in ALL situations...listening to music/audio, YouTube, phone calls (mak’en them or receivin’ them), FaceTime, etc.

So my trusting the advertising and my...ER...Uh...frugal ways buying less than actual Apple dongles was the reason...not software...not the phone...!

Hope this helps!!!

PS...Oh yeah...only $9 each (I bought a few ;-))

So, I tried everything in this thread over a good few weeks - including the recent accessibility options recently posted (route to bluetooth/autoselect speaker). Nothing worked and I was on a non-oem 3.5 to aux adaptor. The genuine apple adaptor just arrived, and hey presto it does indeed now work fine - call audio coming through to my headphones. Be very careful when sourcing 'genuine' adaptors on ebay/amazon etc - most are fake despite their claims. Not sure what the genuine item has that the others do not, maybe the pinouts/connections not provisioned for voice. Any wobble/movement on the non-oem and you lose music too, not so with genuine item... I ordered direct from apple, free postage in the UK 9GBP. Problem resolved. Amen

2/26/21 Friday 12:04pm PST

Hey All...

First...YES...this is a very long thread and the ensuing cacophony homogenizes all the data/questions/complaints/replies/solutions so we keep seeing the same questions again & again.

Second...I'm sure some issues with headphones, headphones w/mic for phone calls. headphones for music are software issue...however: I had this same problem that everyone is complaining about. I bought 'supposed' Apple Authorized' dongles and such thinking these products are 'sanctioned' (per advertisement) by Apple. HOWEVER: What I found was they were not and the problem persisted (as so many here share).

Third...so to be clear about this problem and the solution that worked months ago and ever since...I bought 3.5mm (female) to Lightning (male) actually at an Apple Store...from Apple...and my headsets with microphone....wired, bluetooth or earbuds...ALL work perfectly.

I have an iPhone SE 2020 running IOS 14.4

I can hear whenever & wherever needed...my microphones (on my various headsets) work such that I can talk to, communicate with or record (voice-memos) with zero issues...everytime!

I also have an Apple (purchased @ an Apple Store: 'Belkin 3.5mm Audio + Charge RockStar(tm) that works exactly as intended. I can charge my iPhone SE 2020 while talking on my iPhone...no issues at all.

All these other products ...even though they 'claim' to be Apple Authorized...simply do not seem work and the issue(s) continue and this thread gets longer & longer & longer.

The solution gets buried!

I suggest everyone with this issue try buying directly from an Apple Store! That is my experience and the issue vanished when I applied this solution!

Good Luck All...

==================================>>>

Hi. It's definitely a bug in Iphones and it only happens on calls. It does not happen with Spotify, Youtube, etc. This suggests that the issue is in the SW, not HW.

In my case, the issue only happened when using an unofficial Lightning2Jack adapter. I ended up buying the official one from Apple (more expensive, of course, :) ) and this one works in both calls and music/media apps. This is really strange, it looks like that the IPhone SW works differently when using unofficial adapters.

Regards.

I just got an iphone 11 pro max and had the same problem. I am running IOS 13.7. At first even the wired ear buds they gave me would not even work for phone calls. I looked at a couple tutorials and this is what I did after a bit of trial and error. In settings under Accessibility there it a feature under "touch" called "Call Audio Routing". I set this to "Bluetooth headset" - even though I have a wired headset. There is no option anymore for just "headset" in the new IOS version. After that I plugged in the wired apple ear buds and made a call. It worked. I switched to my wired headset with the adapter and that also worked. Interesting though, my husband has the XR and is running IOS 13.6. He tried the same thing and can use the wired apple ear buds fine but not the headset even with the same adapter I am using. Doesn't make sense so I don't know if its the IOS difference or what? Very frustrating for sure.

I had the same problem... iPhone SE 2020....but it WAS the supposed ‘Apple’ aftermarket Dongles that were the problem...did not work!

I bought three of the actual Apple 3.5mm male to Lightning female Dongles...and it ELIMINATED...the problem.

been using them for months with my corded binaural headset (w/mic)....all work perfectly!

just buy them directly from an Apple Store!

Hello,

1) Clean the charging port: How to clean your iPhone's charging port

2) Try deleting the Bluetooth connection and connect it again: If you can‘t connect a Bluetooth accessory to your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch

3) See this: If you can‘t hear a person on a call or voicemail or if the sound isn‘t clear on your iPhone

Good luck.

This problem just happened to me today. My wired headsets, connected to iPhone X with an adapter, stopped working for phone calls. I have 3 different headsets and 3 different adapters, and all work great for all apps, except phone calls. I did a hard restart, and multiple reboots, with no help.

SOLUTION: I have 2 sets of the original wired headsets that came with my iPhone (and my wife's). I tried them and bvoth work perfectly for phone calls! So somehow, the adapters and other brands of wired headsets no longer work for phone calls on my iPhone X, but the original Lightning connected wired headsets do work! I prefer my Sony and Panasonic wired headsets for sound and comfort, but at least I can use the Apple headsets for now. At least until then next software upgrade has a fix. I'd love to hear if this works for you too.

It has been posted a few times in here...the _genuine_ apple adapters do work and carry the call volume through to a non-apple headset. This was my experience after many weeks of trying everything else in this thread (see my earlier post)

I have found that resetting network connections in settings, though a pain in the arse because it loses so much information , has fixed my problem immediately.

Hope this helps anyone suffering from the same

I just tried another lightning adapter and that solved my issue. All is good for me now.

I have the same problem - it doesn't work when I have restored the back-up after a factory reset but it works fine before the back-up restore. While, I haven't been able to resolve the issue - this is surely because one of the apps I have downloaded is "disabling" the functionality of using handsfree as well as Airpods.

I am thinking of disabling the mic / speaker access to the apps and then hopefully it would get resolved. Last recourse would be to remove all the apps and then install it one-by-one to see which app is actually interfering with handsfree & Airpods.

Buying a genuine adaptor solved the issue for me (I have an iPhone 8)

I think this is annoying as this only happens because that's the way how Apple design their hardware. They are not following standards and trying to force for their customers to buy everything from their apple brand.

9/5/20 Saturday 2:55pm PST

Folks,

Since buying (3) Apple 3.5mm to Lightning adapter/dongles from Apple @ $9 each about a week ago...all my corded 3.5mm dual over-the-ear headsets w/mics ALL work perfectly for calls, FaceTime, whatever the need.

i am running an Apple iPhone SE 2020 with IOS 13.7...the Apple adapters solved the problem.

PS...I also bought one 3.5mm to Lightning adapter from a company...product name is an ‘OPSO’...bought via Amazon...looks exactly like the Apple adapters:

For example:

OPSO Lightning to 3.5mm Jack Adapter, [ MFi Certified ] 3.5mm Headphone Dongle Connector with Music Control & Calling Function Compatible iPhone 11/11Pro/11Max/X/8/8Plus/7/7Plus Support iOS 11 12 13

Notice the designation “[MFI Certified]”...also...the OPSO branded adapter was basically twice the price of the Apple adapters...

OPSO = $17.99 + Tax + free shipping

Apple = $9.00 + Tax