microphone does not work on iphone 12 pro

One possibility is feedback through the noise cancellation feature. There are 2 mics on the phone, one at the bottom, the other on the back. If both mics hear the same sounds at the same volume it it assumes that it is noise and suppresses it. This feature works if you are holding the phone to your ear. To test this either cover the back mic or turn off noise cancellation in Settings/Accessibility/Audio-Visual. This can also be caused if you have a portfolio-type case that you fold back when on a call.

Another possibility is the people on the other end are using a speakerphone with the volume high and the sound from the speaker on their phone is going back into their microphone and and “switching” the line from listen to talk. Many cell phone calls are half-duplex, where only one end of the call can talk at a time. Have them turn off the speakerphone and hold the phone to their ear to see if that solves the problem, or lower the speaker volume. It can also be a matter of positioning the phone, if it is placed so the sound from the speaker reflects or echoes into the mic, so have them move their phone around.

For me the problem solver was removing the case:

Same problem with FaceTime audio (while using video) on my brand new iPhone 12 Pro: audio on the other side cut in and out (using the speakerphone on both sides of the call). My very old iPhone 6Plus was working just fine for this type of call. Apple Support was very helpful, discussed SIM card (not the issue), upgrade to 14.2.1 (didn't fix the prob), turn off the noise cancellation (didn't fix). Finally thought it was the mic: After I switched from speakerphone to wired (lightening connector) earpods I have for my for my work iPhone 7, the Apple Support person thought the sound was much better on his end. So, did various tests.

Long story short: for me the problem is the case. Speck Presidio2 Grip. When I removed it, no issues at all with the audio on the other side of the video call/using the speakerphone. Put the case back on, problem started again. I had the same style case for my old phone/no probs, but seems like iPhone 12 Pro mics don't work well with this particular case -- at least so far for me that seems to be the problem.

I have the same issue. The problem I found was when I hold the iPhone with my pinky finger under the phone, my mic drops. It only happens when I cover erroneously cover the left speaker with my pinky. The mic must be located down there and extremely sensitive. Due to the sensitivity, iPhone 12 pro cases are extremely hard to find.

guys check if it's your iphone case. my friends were having so much difficulty hearing me on facetime and i tried all types of troubleshooting. nothing worked. i removed my iphone case and the audio worked perfectly.

There is a software update for SOME microphone problems; go to Settings/General/Software Update and install 14.2.1 if you don’t have it yet.

Other things that can cause those symptoms are the volume too high on the other end of the call, causing feedback that mutes the phone, a case on the phone that was not specifically designed for your model, or the Noise Cancellation feature (try both with it on and with it off).

Try going to Settings/Accessibility/Audio/Visual and turn off Phone Noise Cancellation. Also, make sure your finger is not covering up the microphone, which is on the bottom edge of the phone on the left (looking at the phone).

I was having the same problem (when using FaceTime my audio was coming through as choppy for the other end) with my iPhone 12 Pro. In trying to figure this out I had watched a video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WuYUBxm3zs) and got some ideas to try. I got online with a friend of mine who has a good knowledge of audio/video operation to try these suggestions. His observation was that it seemed like the mic was not keeping up and could only output part of the audio.

One of the video's suggestions was to turn off the microphone for all the other apps using it and then turn back on. But what I actually did was to turn them off and leave them off. Then my audio was coming through fine! So certainly NOT a long-term solution but more of a clue about what is happening. I'm curious for folks to try it and see what results they get. To turn off the mic for all the apps that are using it go to Settings => Privacy => Microphone and turn all of these off. And then try FaceTime and see if your audio is now coming through fully.

Update: I went back to the store, explained the issue (microphone/audio doesn’t work). After one week I received a replacement phone (model number starts with N). On the service receipt the following comment was made: “During our diagnosis we found an error: Audio & vibration function, outgoing audio, not working.”

So far, no issues with the replacement phone. Fingers crossed...

As previously posted awhile back, I reset my iPhone 12 to original settings after deleting all data. Then, DO NOT restore from backup. Sign in with your Apple ID and photos etc will reload if you saved previously in ICloud. You will have to manually enter all needed info. Previously downloaded apps from Apple store can be located and again downloaded. NO MORE SPEAKER PROBLEMS. Apparently there is a bug which keeps getting reinstalled from your backups.

Had the same problem in Phone and Camera apps that started to happen after I've paired with second AirPods. The only thing that worked for me was enabling Headphone Accommodations (Settings -> Accessibility -> Audio / Visual -> Headphone Accommodations) as well as toggling Phone Noise Cancellation on/off. Seems to be a software issue.

(IPhone 12 Pro, 14.4 iOS)

Audio fixed!! Maybe?? After 7+ months and 3 replacement 12pros my audio seems consistent and good. Of all things I have tried including replacing the phones the issue may have been on the sim card.

The one item that has stood out in all that I have done is to have the carrier (I use AT&T) push an update to “VoLTE” on my phones sim card that controls the audio signal. Ask to have the VoLTE (Voice over LTE) technology updated on your phone and see if that helps. It lives on the sim card and maybe the version of VoLTE or the way it is being added to card is not consistently working. I'll bet that those of us that have gotten new phone used the same sim card in each new phone???

“VOLT Refreash HD Voice is a suite of services enabled by VoLTE (Voice over LTE) technology. VoLTE delivers voice calls over the 4G LTE network instead of the traditional voice network, providing clearer, more natural sounding audio when both parties are using HD Voice-enabled phones that are connected to our 4G LTE network.”

One 12pro tested at a Apple store with a bad battery/charging system even though the phone itself seemed ok.

Okay so I was the issue where my mic wouldn't work I was onbthe phone with apple for an hour they didnt help so I downloaded a diagnostic app and it told ne to turn off my 5g and go to Lte and instantly the problem wqs solved

Have you updated to 14.2.1, which was released for the 12 only specifically to fix this?

Have you updated to 14.2.1, which was released to fix this issue?

Update. Mine seems to be more related to the watch as I test more. when I turn the watch off it gets 100% clear, with it back on there's still some noticeable noise.