Can’t hear a phone call through headset

This literally just started happening to me. I'm on 13.3 on a "new" (refurb) i7 from AT&T, but had it for a month and everything was fine. In fact, yesterday, everything was fine -- today, headset works for everything except apps requiring the mic. Changed the dongle and headset (all Apple equip.) and reseated all parts, rebooting (incl. hard boot). It seems like it recognizes the speakers but not the mic, and so won't use it. I tested it on voice memos: Similar, but different: Will play (output) through the headset, but NOT listen through the headset mic (only hears via the phone body). Phone (as in calls) won't even output through the headset, and defaults completely to the in-board mic/speakers. Pretty clearly a software issue of some kind. I tried pressing all sorts of potentially relevant buttons per all sorts of potentially relevant "fix it" sites -- no joy. Really PITA!

I finally gave up on wired, lightning connected headsets. I tried multiple lightening to 3.5mm adaptors, multiple headsets, including Pioneer Rayz which are directly connected to the iPhone via a Lightning Cable. All provide great sound, but the microphone function doesn't work on phone calls. So I finally bought a Plantronics Voyager 5200 - Bluetooth Headset via Amazon. It works very well for phone calls. Finally! For music, and other apps, I will use any of my multitudes of other headsets. But I use my iPhone all day long to make calls related to work. So it seems like the Plantronics will be my solution. I am not thrilled about only being able to use Bluetooth. But at least it works.

BTW, for Fathers Day, my 3 sons have ordered me AirPods Pros. They haven't arrived yet. So I'll get to see how they compare for music and calls with the Plantronics.

This is the most frustrating 2 half weeks with this issue. I bought new earphones new adapters re set my phone to factory settings three times and spend more than an 1 hour on the phone with Apple. My Iphon11 is 3 weeks old. The only solution is to send the phone back for a service. Apple really dropped the ball on this one in a big way.

Same problem - Iphone12 pro-max. Running v14.3.

Wired Sennheiser headset with mic - works fine when playing music, and can hear the dial tone when phoning, but the actual phone call audio is only through the phone and not headset.

Totally frustrating - requires apple software fix.

I was having the same problem and noticed that both my ipad and my iphone 12 were connecting to the headphones. I turned off the bluetooth on my ipad which I never had to do previously and then reconnected the headphones through bluetooth to my iphone and then the calls started to come through and I had the option to use the headphones.

So, somebody posted on here recently that the _geunine_ apple adaptor resolves the issue. Does anybody else have this experience ??

I have that too

I can listen to music, youtube, etc and I can even hear the tones when I dial a number on the headset but as soon as call is picked up it goes straight to the phone headset.

I updated my phone to the latest software, cleaned out the lighting port and checked the accessibility call option making sure it is automatic.

I was given this headset so I can work from home during lockdown as my work calls are being diverted to my cell phone and it seems to be affecting someone else with an iphone.

Just discovered this problem on my iPhone8 this morning. Went to make a phone call with my earbuds plugged into the phone, and I could not hear any of the phone rings, answering, etc. through my headphones, but could hear it from the handset. I then played some music from my itunes on my phone and could hear them fine on the headphones.

Houston, we have a problem!

Right. This is a difficult problem and I have an appointment to speak with an engineer on Friday between nine and 10. I’m not quite sure that the Apple engineers understand this but after we get off the phone they will and hopefully will be able to fix it.

Same problem. All Apple brand peripherals, dongle and earphones. I hear the touch done when dialing out; however, the caller can only be heard thru the phone speakers.

THE FIX: buy air buds. Most likely an intentional change by Tim Cooke and crew to boost accessories sales. Accessory sales are a big priority at Apple.

I have the same problem i am quite good with tec, have fixed macbooks ,iphones etc before numerous times with various hardware issues . This is definitely software related .

I feel like i may migrate to android reluctantly as i prefer corded headphones especially to make calls on whilst i run my construction based business .

Really disappointing so far, come on Apple you can do better than this .

I am having a similar issue and it's driving me mad!!!

I have a brand new Iphone 11. The verizon rep sold me a Scoshe lightning adapter so I can plug in an aux and charge at the same time. Music and all sounds play fine via this aux but when I accept calls no one can hear me. I can hear them through my car speakers, or over plugged-in headphones (with mic) but they cannot hear me. I have to use speaker phone or unplug the adapter which distracts me from driving.

Not being able to accept calls while plugged into my car is a big problem. Please fix this!

RZ808

Under Settings / Accessibility / Touch / Call Audio Routing, my iphone 8 was already set to Automatic and I cannot use my bluetooth (non-Apple brand) earphones, nor "plug-in" headphones, for a telephone call. You're lucky it works on your 11.

In that menu, did you try changing to the “Bluetooth” option? ... or switching to Speaker testing that and then switching back to Bluetooth?

Maybe its an incompatibility issue with your non-Apple headset? Should not be, IMO, but bluetooth can be finicky?

Maybe, test it with someone else's Apple bluetooth earbuds?

If it works with those, then you have a clue.

I assume that you paired your earphones under the Setting / Bluetooth menu - right?

The Apple agent did tell me that it was a “known issue that would be fixed soon”, so maybe she was actually referring to a bluetooth headset issue and did not realize my issue was with wired earbuds - so my problem / solution was actually different (just that wrong feature setting).

I have the exact same issue with my brand new iphone 11 Pro, even after updating to the most recent version of the software, iOS 13.4.1, and doing a hard reboot. Call Audio Routing in Accessibility is set to "Automatic."

Wireless/bluetooth Airpods work fine for phone calls and all other applications. However, when using wired earbuds/headphones with a lightning connection to the phone, they don't work AT ALL for calls. They work normally for music or other apps, but when a call comes in (or I try to initiate a call) the sound goes through the phone itself and nothing can be heard through the earphones. Unplugging and re-plugging them in does nothing. Ugh.

​Anyone have any idea when this will be fixed?