FaceTime audio cutting out

My gfs iPhone 11’s speaker and microphone on calls has been messing up and when she has airpods connected the sound gets intermittently choppy for a 15 to 30 second period where it goes in and out over and over again every second or half second. When you take the AirPods out it goes away and when you put them back in it comes back. The sound issue happens on both sides of the FaceTime or regular phone call. It doesn’t seem to be an issue with the microphone as you can use the voice recorder just fine. It seems to be the FaceTime portion of the IOS software and how it interacts with the microphone and how it interacts with Bluetooth devices. Now he microphone I think she has a faulty unit because she keeps getting a liquid detected issue when trying to use official charging cords sometimes and she has had other issues with one of her brand new AirPods ( she just had them replaced by Apple) has the microphone not even pick up sound.

I have an iPhone 6s that I have been using with facetime for 4 years and it works flawlessly. I just got an iPhone 12 Pro yesterday and made my first facetime video call. It was horrible. The video was flawless, the sound from the other end was flawless (an iPhone 8) but my speech keeps cutting out. The start of each sentence was fine, but the microphone would cut off after a few words. I went back to the iPhone 6s and everything worked perfectly. Both phones were connecting through my WiFi, and since the 6s worked fine it really can't be the network...it has to be the iPhone 12. Both phones have IOS 14.1

BTW, I also had the same problem when doing a video call through WhatsApp, but not on an audio call.

Let me know if you find a resolution other than it is the phone. My gf’s iPhone 11 was working fine when she got it but a month or two later and she has me on speaker during a FaceTime phone call and the audio from her side keeps cutting in and out. I am definitely under the impression that it is either the phone hardware or the upgrades they made to the FaceTime software/servers. I more so believe it to be the former because the same happens to audio over a normal phone call as well

Same problem here. I bought an iphone 11 pro max last December and she just gave up using it for facetime calls, she uses her old ipad mini instead. So, obviously is not the internet connection, she doesn’t use headphone wired nor wireless, no bluetooth devices at all.... she doesn’t know what’s that lol. Anyhow, I’m in NJ, she is in CA and she doesn’t speak english making it a challenge to make an appointment at the apple store. But, let’s say she get it replaced..... it will continue with the same problem right? What to do?

I have found that the problem is worse with distance. When I facetime with my sister (about 80 miles away) I have to problem, but when I facetime with my girlfriend in Brazil (about 5000 miles away), my iPhone 12 pro is pretty useless, while my iPhone 6s works flawlessly. I also notice that usually when my sound cuts out, I have just heard some sort of echo of my voice (ie. her phone's microphone picking up the sound coming from her speaker and sending it back to me). I suspect that facetime is mistaking that for her trying to speak and thus cutting off my microphone. With a shorter distance (less time of flight, and fewer servers for the packets to traverse), the echo (if there is one) comes much closer to the original transmission...maybe some filtering has changed?

We tried an experiment where she used bluetooth earbuds rather than the speaker and, surprisingly, the problem was worse and I heard echoes of my voice almost all the time. I have no idea how that would happen.

So, my mom (in CA, I’m in NJ) went to the apple store, she is 70 yrs old and I don’t like the idea of her going to the mall in person, Apple: if something covid-19 related happen to her is on you!

Anyhow, they looked at her iphone 11 pro max and couldn’t find anything wrong with it, then after more than 1 hour of troubleshooting they may have found the problem: They say that the sim card she has is for her old iphone 6, her phone needs a NEW SIM CARD Designed for iPhone 11. So they gave her a free sim card (verizon), now she has to expose her self to e crowds again and go to a verizon store to program the new sim card.

Hopefully that will be the solution, I’ll keep you posted.

Bests, JC

I believe the issue has something to do with noise cancellation. When on FaceTime call. I can hear some strange background noise that is only heard via FaceTime.

A phone call on speaker works fine.

A Microsoft teams call works fine too.

will someone from Apple please address this? I don’t believe it’s anything with a sim

card as this happens with a brand new phone and a new SIM card on T-Mobile anything with t

I hope that helps. My SIM card is brand new and I still have the issue. That’s one of the things they asked me when I went to the store, if I had used my old SIM. Mom has my iPhone X with its original SIM and I have no issues with her audio, just the reverse. Also, just a few days ago I learned one of my friends is having this issue and he just bought the 12.

Well, my mom went to verizon to get the new sim card (free from the apple store, they told her that was the problem) and then facetimed me..... same problem, sound keeps cutting off. The poor 70 years old lady has to go back to the Apple store located in a mall in CA to complaint again about the problem. Apple, are you listening???

I have discovered the issue! When you’re sound is omitted through your partners phone on face time, the mic is canceling the noise to reduce echo. However, this is inadvertently muting your partners audio on your end, therefore you are unable to hear them for a brief moment. And sometimes even as long as 10-15 seconds! VERY frustrating! I wish they would fix this or place the speakers/mic on opposing sides of the phone!

The mic canceling background noise! You may be on the right track. My mom (in CA, i’m in NJ) went again to the apple store with the brand new verizon sim card installed and was told the phone was perfect, then she facetimed me from the store and the communication couldn’t be any perfect. The she told me that she didn’t have the Otter heavy duty case on. The she facetimed me back from her condo with the case on and we had the same problem again. I ordered some new cases and will try again once they arrive (she tends to drop phones so we don’t dare to use it without a case).

That might be your problem but I’m still having the issue through airpods. It seems to be mostly triggered by air pods and it goes in and out while sound is playing. It almost sounds like you could say a whole sentence and say the word disappointment is spoke. You may only hear di po nt nt

Yes, I do have issues with the AirPod Pros at times but it’s only with one person, and everyone I FaceTime (obviously) has an iPhone. So therefore I narrowed it down to the noise cancellation being the issue. I read, after posting this, another comment about the case being too tight around the edges of the phone. Well, Low and behold, as soon as he took his case off and went back to watching TikTok‘s while FaceTiming me, I could hear him clearer than ever before. You see; anytime audio is being omitted from the speakers while they are talking, the mic cancels all noise, and you can’t hear them. But, this only happens when there is a certain amount of blockage (like a case, or standing the phone up right on a surface that covers the speakers and mic) and makes it impossible to decipher even one word out of a sentence.

in short: try taking off the other persons case, and have them hold their phone normally (not in their lap surrounded by blankets, or stood up on a table) and see if you still have the issue. For us, it was the case causing the mic to trigger ambient noise cancellation.

So did some more testing. If I mute my end, the audio that was cut off suddenly sounds perfect, no drops of audio at all. It’s definitely related to some noise cancellation. Next test will be to try the same with one case removed, then both cases removed.

you might have a separate problem.

the most common problems I have found with family and friends are the following:

-case is too bulky or “tight” against the iPhone, causing the mic to “noise cancel” and therefore “muting” the iphone users microphone.

-people holding their iPhone in their hand with their pink to “support” the iphones weight whilst holding it, therefore covering the mic/speakers and can lead to echoing and noise cancellation, like the case situation I just mentioned.

-people sitting their phone down upright, not horizontal but vertically, or on top of a blanket while in bed, etc... therefore covering the mic/speakers and again causing the same problem as mentioned twice above.

-Bluetooth headphones... just in general. Lol

other than those common issues, I’m not sure what else it could be, except something more technical and electronically wrong.