iPhone 7 Mic Problem iOS 14

this is a helpful answer.

i could follow the way how you explained it now, and found out, that a broken audio IC soldering shows the same effect. also i found out, that this is a very well known issue for the iPhone 7.

furthermore i could have this fixed for around 120 bucks. so i might have a try.

but i have to admit, that your first post sounded a bit different, and also made me feel like you are defending Apple.

i don't know, how many iPhones 7 are used worldwide, but maybe it's likely that some 1000 show the same known issue within a timespan of 2 weeks. for everybody who just updated before, it looks like a correlation.

Just had the phone hardware tested at the Apple store AND Best Buy. It is a hardware problem for us. The failure just happened to coincide with the software update. My daughter (whom the phone belongs to), said that the audio jack had started to have problems just before the update.

We are considering the phone toast and getting a new or used one in the near future.

The tone of the first post was geared toward the people in this thread who think this is planned obsolescence. A bold statement was needed to keep people from chasing or claiming something that doesn’t exist.

With Apple being one of the biggest companies in the world they don’t need to cripple old iPhones for people to buy new ones, that would just cause people to leave Apple for another phone manufacturer.

The audio IC is definitely a weak point in the logic board, just like the glass screen is a weak point in the structure of the phone. It’s a component that will degrade at the solder points due to stress/force being applied to the frame of the phone.

I agree that planned obsolescence on hardware or software level wouldn't be a wise strategy.

Especially as long as Apple manages to make people buy the new model by making the product desirable.

To be fair i understand that people get suspicious easily, since they make bad experiences in many places with that subject.

(As a product designer i might get into a long argument about "obsolescence is really planned" versus "it's the consumers choice for the lowest price which brings all producers into the position to build things as cheap as possible and just good enough to survive guarantee time").

After all, they have reason to be suspicious. Apple isn't a saint either.

I remember that i had to replace my kids' iPod touch, because Apple changed something with Facetime, and from one day to the other the product lost one of it's main functionalities. Suddenly a certain OS (hence hardware too) was required to further use the service for which i paid as a part of the product.

It is disaster! How a fully functioning phone be destroyed with a IOS update? I cannot believe apple permits this! I cannot talk, use WhatsApp, zoom anything with voice. I can use my headphones they are not working too.

Calls apps or fon the mic doesnt work, all resets available didnt address the mic issue, i didnt drop the phone too so no reason for user mishandling. My phone is default to update and since then it has problems, first the camera & video doesnt function then after series of resets it functions but the mic now became disabled.

Same here and it happened to me just today. Only airpods works for calls but it lasts only for few hours and i do alot of calls at day time as i use my fon for business calls. I reset all as i see in youtube but nothin resolved it.

Indeed but not us because we are angry! I think it’s totally absurd. You need a phone to make phonecalls!!

It’s dangerous too, not able to call emergency services if you really need to. They HAVE to fix this bug tomorrow!!

If I use dictaphone: Doesn’t work either

But with camera: microphone(s) DOES work on my device. So it’s not a hardware issue, it’s the software update for sure.

Yes exact same issue and I have a person who works at a ATT store who is seeing this same issue by lots of customer, no coincidence that the new I phone is coming out in a few weeks, this is corporate esp

inoge directed at there own customers certainly not the first time should be a massive class action vs apple.

I had same problem see above. Went to store for a physical checkup and told that I dropped the phone and hence hardware has given up after iOS14 reinstall. Forcing me to buy a new phone. Amazing coincidence!!!

all the best. I had same issue will now have to buy a new phone. As it is out of warranty need to pay £339 for same phone new or get £130 towards purchase of new phone. You will be offered same similar options so be ready.

I am relying on it because it’s working for me with no issues having to use a headset is not ideal but there only a few bucks and if it allows me not to have to purchase a new phone until I’m ready, I’m sure there are some phones that are having issues unrelated to the update mic issue.

I have the same issue. upgrade to ios14.0.1 brought back camera, but not pone or microphone. Worked perfectly before the upgrade.

I have tried every fix out there. None have worked for me.

I have an iphone 7plus.

Has anyone found a solution for this or contacted Apple Support?

Every time I contact them, it’s a rather useless interaction.

More people need to report this as a problem. Only then will it be addressed.

You know, I was considering to upgrade from 7 plus to 12, but after how they escalated this problem for many people, I will no longer support this company with my money.

This is not how we handle customers, Apple. Even if those phones had "underlying hardware issues", why would you leave your customers without an answer like that? You made this product apple, you must be responsible to know it's problems and fixes for possible failures.

Why would you charge $300 to replace a microphone, and a speaker? Each must cost around 10 or 20 bucks, lets say an engineer spends 1 hour with replacing and testing it.

This is a lie, you just want people to buy the newest product. The honest way to do this is to make an anouncment, like "sorry guys, we cant support those phones anymore, because blablabla...".

Yes I know, many people would be sad and freaked out anyways, but you should be clear instead of doing things like this.

Just think about it guys, let's say Apple is not guilty because they live off by the subscriptions you can get - let's say you spend an average monthly 30 bucks to be fair.

Still, if we count with a $1000 budget, you can spend this money in 33 months, which is almost 3 years. These phones (lets say 7 plus was released in 2016) last 4-5 years without a problem. They still make lots of money from selling their phones. If there is no problem with the performance, or any others in the phone, you most likely won't consider upgrading it.

Can they do that? Yes they can. For many people iPhones are state symbols, especially in poorer countries. It doesn't matter what they do, people will buy it, so with pulling out shady moves like this won't make their business fail. Many other companies can't allow the same for themselves.

So that's it, I'm leaving this thread and Apple, I'll spend my 1500 bucks somewhere else. Thanks for reading, have a nice day.