microphone does not work on iphone 12 pro

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.

There is no left speaker. The left grille is the microphone. The right grille is one of the speakers. The other speaker doubles as the earpiece when you hold the phone to your face. This arrangement has been true for all iPhones since the iPhone 4.

Hi Lawrence, I see people referring to a beta version of 4.3 beta 2 as a potential fix. Would it be worthwhile trying to get this? And if so, how would I go about it?

I don't really want to send back 3 12 pros tbh as this just means lots of timewasting delays.

I bought an iphone 12 pro max and, I have done all kind off troubleshooting you can think off, starting from noise cancellation toggle, up to restoring iPhone, and I am still having the issue, is it an ios issue or hardware issue, can any one help

Interesting insight! Since I paired a new Apple Watch last week, I decided to review and compare the videos recorded before and after pairing the device. Lo and behold, the mic issues started the same day I paired the watch (in fact, I noticed the issues precisely because of the static sound on any videos recorded with the iPhone camera app, while videos on other apps -such as Insta stories- work fine). Maybe I’ll give re-pairing the watch a go! Will keep you all posted.

Ahmedmk wrote:

I bought an iphone 12 pro max and, I have done all kind off troubleshooting you can think off, starting from noise cancellation toggle, up to restoring iPhone, and I am still having the issue, is it an ios issue or hardware issue, can any one help

Have you updated to iOS 14.2.1, which was released specifically for microphone issues? Have you tried with the phone out of a case?

I have been working with apple for over a week on this issue. For a lot of people, restoring your phone will work if it takes you all the way back to the hello screen and you reset everything up. For me it worked for a few hours then stopped working again. So try the restore, make SURE that it takes you all the way back to the setup screen and you DO NOT restore from a back up, set up all new and then sign into icloud. You may have to redownload some apps but your contacts, texts, etc. will still be there. But for me that did not work so I am working on getting it set up to get a replacement. And keep in mind that if you want a replacement sent to you BEFORE you send the phone back so you are not without a phone, they have to put a $1000 hold on your credit card until they get the phone back.

I set up a Genius Bar appointment (which is pretty complicated in 2020 pandemic Madrid), so I'm hopeful they'll be able to solve the issue or replace the phone (which is a bummer, considering I've already had to replace a faulty Apple Watch Series 6, also purchased in early November). Obviously not a good year for tech production, but I guess I'm grateful that these are these are the problems I'm dealing with in the current global climate.

For what it's worth, I tried unpairing and re-pairing the Apple Watch (as suggested in another post), but it didn't work. In my case, the bug only affects audio quality in video recordings (massive static sounds) and incoming calls (I have to enable then disable speakerphone for the other person to hear me).

i did this last night and have not yet paired my apple watch either. i feel like its even worse today! lol. but thank you for the suggestion! im going to try to get a replacement too. unfortunately im 3 hours from the nearest apple store so thats not an option.

Same! I think it’s a connectivity issue. Like cellular data/WiFi/5G issue. I have the 12 Pro Max and experience the same thing. It’s extremely frustrating. It’s like FaceTime no loner works for me because either the person I am FaceTiming with can’t hear me or I can’t hear them. Any tips and tricks to troubleshoot this would be greatly appreciated.

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.

I have had this problem since my first day of getting the iphone 12 pro. When I'm on facetime or speaker phone the person on the other side will see and hear me talking then all of a sudden it just goes silent on their side and they can see me talking but don't hear anything. I talked to apple support and did everything with resetting facetime and the phone and then resetting the entire phone completely. I was told this was a hardware problem so I should reach out to my cell provider and get a new phone. I did that and got my new phone 2 days ago and IT HAS THE SAME PROBLEM! This is very frustrating, and I did not expect my new iphone 12 pro to have this problem. When will this be fixed? Is this truly a software issue or will this over $1k phone always have this issue?!

Same problem here with my iPhone 12 Mini... on regular phone calls, input audio cuts out and no one can hear me, or they say the sound is degraded (robotic/choppy). Running 14.2.1, case/no-case, multiple resets, noise cancel on/off, speaker-phone on/off... none of the proposed fixes have worked. Hardware-wise, the mic works as expected for voice memo and video.

I will add that it also happens while using my Bose bluetooth headset. Possibly unrelated, I'm not hearing the dialing sound while the phone is connecting, and the first words of the person who answers are truncated. The conditions (location/network) are no different than what was working fine for my iPhone X.

It needs to be stressed to Apple how critical this issue is. I use this phone for work and it's unacceptable that I'm unable to facilitate meetings. The audio failed again today while trying to make a doctor's appointment... I can't imagine where I'd be if it had been a 911 call.

Yes, mine is also a work phone. and because im not near an apple store i have to send this one back and go through the whole process again of ordering the phone. busy time at work too so not convenient at all to be having this problem .

megan_831 wrote:

Moreover, the phone should be able to work with or without the case on.

As long as the case does not cover the microphone on the back of the phone that is used for noise cancellation. That’s why any case has to be one specifically designed to be used with the iPhone 12, as the rear mic is in a different location from earlier phone models. And a folio case should not be folded all the way back when on a call.

Also, as has been pointed out by others, don’t cover the mic on the bottom of the phone to the left of the lightning port with a finger when holding the phone.

Try with noise cancellation both on and off.

And update to 14.2.1, which is a release specifically to fix mic problems on an iPhone 12. It isn’t even available for any phone models other than the 12.

And it is possible your phone has a hardware problem.