iPhone4 Voice Control activates randomly when listening to audiobooks/music

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Level 1

8 points

iPhone4 Voice Control activates randomly when listening to audiobooks/music

Hello all,
I have a problem that is frustrating the **** out of me.
I listen to audio books and songs while working out at the gym or travelling in my car.
*Here is the problem:* *When listening to either an audio book or music, voice control pops up randomly. I cancel it then the track skips forward at a very fast rate.*
*Current Fix:* I then have to rewind back to where the Voice control kicked in. When I do that I am ok for a few mins, then the voice control kicks on again. Rebooting the Iphone staves off the issue for a few hours.
*I am using the Apple supplied headsets with the phone mike built in.*
Do I have a defective Iphone?
I see that a lot of 3GS uses have the same issue. See the following URL.
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2058366&start=0&tstart=0

This is so frustrating. If this is not solved soon, I will go back to my 3GS which has been extremely stable.
Pls help.

MBP 17", Mac OS X (10.5.4), 4GB RAM

Posted on Jul 19, 2010 1:53 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

mike98789

Level 1

8 points

Jul 30, 2010 8:42 AM in response to topspin

It is July 7/30/ 2010 and There have not been any fixes for this.

I have an iPhone 4 (previously had an Iphone 3gs and before that an Ipod 2nd gen) Over 3 Different devices and a multitude of headphones (both apple and non-apple) and I STILL get this problem 20-30 mins in. It seems the voice control "features" is not perfect. It assumes you're giving it a command when you're breathing heavy or something. But even then that makes no sense because then the song starts to skip like you pressed fastforward (which isn't even a command). I originally thought the case I was using was at fault. Then I thought well maybe its the headphones with mic...But I get the same problem with my headphones without mic as well.

It is EXTREMELY frustrating that you can not disable voice control. I've tried several times to do this. I can't even get a good cardio session in.

I'm sure voice control is useful for SOME users, and SOME users love it the way it is. But clearly its not useful for everyone.

Why is apple ignoring this issue?
Please release a patch giving users the option to DISABLE voice control COMPLETELY.

Thanks

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Answer 2

Nov 17, 2017 6:20 PM in response to Danigirl918

It's 7 years later and this nonsense is still happening. I listen to audiobooks, I've disabled Siri and Voice Control, yet about 3/4 of the time I press the button on my earbuds to restart my book, instead I get "Voice Control".

I worry that some start-up is going to come up with a truly brilliant and simple smart phone that cuts out all the nonsense and Apple joins Microsoft and Adobe....

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Answer 3

Aug 4, 2010 9:53 AM in response to topspin

I just recently started experiencing the same problem. It really is irritating.!! My iphone 4 activates voice control randomly without it being commanded too. It also has been crashing programs and goes to voice control randomly. I was in school and my phone goes off by itself full blast playing a song! It was on my carrier case so im pretty sure it wasnt holding the home button. Is this a bug or software issue of some sort? Should i take it to apple and have them diagnose it or command another one? Please some one knowledgeable with this experience give some hope.? Im thinking of restoring the firmware again hoping that resolves the issue.

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Answer 4

Aug 4, 2010 10:41 PM in response to topspin

I am reading the post on this page an lo and behold I am having the same issue with the voice control it really is making me mad ,I used my 3G and never had this issue on my old phone .please apple fix this issue ,at least let people have a way to disable voice control so we can run with our iPhone or workout at the gym!

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Answer 5

gcb529

Level 1

0 points

Aug 8, 2010 7:22 AM in response to topspin

I solved the problem of voice control activating by itself while jogging by putting a small piece of electrical tape over the microphone hole on the iPhone 4 headset cord. It also works by using an old headset without a microphone built in. My theory is that exterior noise or wind activates the voice control.

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Answer 6

gcb529

Level 1

0 points

Aug 11, 2010 10:46 AM in response to topspin

I had a problem with Voice Control activating with no imput from me while listening to audiobooks while walking. I solved the problem by putting a small piece of electrical tape over the microphone hole on the cord for the earphones. My theory is that external noise actived the Voice Control. You could also use earphones without a microphone.

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Answer 7

Aug 17, 2010 6:01 AM in response to topspin

I just got my iPhone 4 Friday and this is happening to me as well. It is driving me crazy - I want to throw my phone across the subway in the morning. I can't believe Apple hasn't addressed this yet.

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Answer 8

Aug 19, 2010 11:38 AM in response to topspin

hi

I have a 3gs and i never had/have any problems with the voice control. And a couple of my friends have iphones, and they also experience no problems. So i think it's a random problem and not a structual problem.

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Answer 9

deobald

Level 1

0 points

Sep 13, 2010 5:29 AM in response to johannesvonnimwegen

I've had this same issue with two separate iPhones across three headsets (2 Apple, 1 aftermarket). Hardware degrades. Software should humanely deal with that to the best of its ability. Voice Control should have a cute little "on/off" switch under the iPhone settings just like everything else.

This feature can't possibly be so useful that everyone is forced to leave it on all the time. It comes up with minimal disturbance on my iPhone4 -- basically, if any of the headphones are plugged in Voice Control pops up within seconds, starts playing a song and then skips around the song before pausing for a few seconds and repeating the cycle.

Even if this didn't occur I wouldn't have a use for Voice Control. It's shocking that there's no way to disable it. There's an Android phone in my near future if this bug isn't fixed.

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Answer 10

splooj

Level 1

53 points

Sep 15, 2010 10:28 AM in response to topspin

I have an iPhone 4 and I have the same issue. Voice Control activates on my phone when I plug in to the headphone jack. It seems to mostly happen with external speakers, but has happened also with headphones... It seems to only happen for me when I am plugging in though...

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Answer 11

Oct 1, 2010 12:59 PM in response to splooj

Having the same issue which occurs about 15-20 minutes into a run. Voice control starts popping up, music tracks start pausing, skipping and just generally behaving in such an annoying fashion that I eventually have to pull the headphones off. I had the same problem with the 3gs. I see lots of posts and complaints but no official response from Apple. I wonder if putting the phone in a waterproof case is the answer or is it, as many suspect, a headphone mic issue. Frankly I've never been terribly satisfied with Voice Control because it tends to fail when there's any ambient noise (try it while driving with the ac on). I've never thought it measured up to Apple's normally high standards. I'd rather not have to lock the phone entirely since I like to check my stats and occasionally change radio stations or tunes while running. Does anyone have any idea how to resolve this?

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Answer 12

Oct 4, 2010 9:05 PM in response to Elvis McCartney

I just experienced a problem that seems similar to what people reported here. I was sitting at my kitchen table with my iPhone 4 in my pocket. The dishwasher was running. Suddenly the iPhone started playing music! Either the two machines are communicating with each other in a higher level protocol we humans are not meant to understand, or I am hitting the same problem as others have reported here.

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Answer 13

Leo810qt

Level 1

0 points

Oct 13, 2010 8:59 AM in response to mike98789

I have been having a similar issue. I have the Bose ear buds with the mic. Out of no where the Voice Control interupts the song. I never pressed the button to activate it. When I do press the button, my songs are on fast forward. This is the second set of Bose Ear Buds @ $125.00, last thing I want to do is use the crappy ones Apple gives free.
Have you had any improvements? Any suggestions to the problem?

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Answer 14

spine_k

Level 1

0 points

Oct 14, 2010 4:58 PM in response to topspin

I experienced the same symptoms (music skipping & voice control randomly coming on) while jogging. I'll keep checking the posts to see if they end up fixing this with an update:(

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Answer 15

LucianC

Level 1

8 points

Oct 15, 2010 1:31 PM in response to Houstunnna

I am having the same problem with my new Iphone4. I called support today and I was told they can reset the phone to factory settings and see what happens.
This unacceptable since it seems I am not the only one reporting this issue.

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