iPhone 12 Pro: Facetime / speakerphone microphone audio cuts in and out

Yeah, it's an annoying problem which is hopefully fixable through software/firmware update and it has to do with echo cancellation.

I just tend to ask people if they can please put me off speaker or use earbuds (wired or wireless, doesn't matter). That fixes the problem.

Some newer Samsung phones also have this issue btw, but the problem sounds differently there. Let's hope someone at Apple reads this and can easily reproduce it. And yeah this is very easy to reproduce :-)

Apple doesn’t read these forums, but I’d encourage you to submit feedback directly to them which is what a handful of us have done. That way you know that at the very least, someone from Apple will read it.

Yep, can confirm that the 13 pro has this issue. At least, I do anyway. I upgraded from XS to 13pro and FaceTime my sister who also has XS. The audio on her end cuts in and out when I talk when I prop my phone up. We never had this issue before when I still had my XS.

That's interesting. Maybe there's more audio compression on the 12+13 which causes more background sounds to go to the other person?

It's also interesting that a hardware swap would fix the problem (@Therealbryanlim). It seems to be a software problem. But it's only a problem for you if the other party is on speaker phone. I've experienced it a lot with someone with an iPhone 11 when she puts me on speaker phone. It may depend on how loud the other person's speaker phone setting is too.

I found that the problem is worse during regular calls than during Facetime (Audio) calls. The fact that Facetime Audio can do stereo sound is really awesome and makes it much easier to understand the other person for some reason.

Maybe i should clear the air on my issue as I’ve noticed slight differences in our issues.

My issues was more like the Original Poster’s issue where on regular calls, the other party can barely hear me, it cuts in and out. Other party can only hear me if I use speaker or AirPods. But for me, mine was like this all the time, with or without cases and with noice cancellation turned on or off.

However on calls such as WhatsApp, there were no issues at all.

I probably had this issue since I got the phone and hoped it was to be solved via software updates. Unfortunately it did not and with one month left till my warranty ends, I sent it in to apple.

Here’s where things got fun, the Apple Authorised Service Provider , diagnose a Bottom Mic issues. They sent my phone for repair but however to my surprise during repair, Apple diagnosed no issues. The unit came back to me as is, and the issue still persisted.

I called Apple Support and gave them a hearing on how they wasted 2 weeks of my time without a phone. And they asked me to write down in detail and send it in with my phone once more.

Finally the second time, the AASP changed my logic board and the issue was solved.

i have and assumption that there were some flaws in probably the antenna, of what’s transmitting my voice over the cellular waves via the bottom mic.

Also, one thing to note that when I was at the AASP, I hear two other iPhones during the diagnostic tests ( they play some sounds with different pitches to test your microphone). So I asked them if this is a common issue with the iPhone 12s, and they tried to brush it off by saying they see a lot of problems with iPhone 12s so they can’t possibly say.

Hope that clarifies!

I also have this problem except it doesn’t matter if the other person is on their speakerphone or not. What matters is if I am using speakerphone on my IPhone 12 Pro. They will hear me cutting out even if they are on a landline phone.

This isn’t just iPhone problem… My iPhone 12, my wife’s iPhone 11, my 2021 1iPad 11’ pro does it too. My older iPhone 8 and 2017 iPad 9.7 Pro does not have this problem. My iPad Pro 9.7 and iPhone 8 all have 15.2 OS and they don’t have this problem, the iPad 11 Pro, iPhone 11, 12 all have 15.2 OS also but they have this same problem. Seems to be the phones and iPad’s built in the past three years or so are the ones that have this problem.. I’m like some of the other folks said it seems to be a 1/2 duplex system and not full duplex. As long as both parties aren’t talking at the same time it doesn’t do it. And yes it is extremely aggravating ….. I also had a 2018 iPad Pro 11 and it did not have this problem either.

Basically the 15.2 OS on only my newer devices iPad and iPhone do this, the older devices with same OS don not…

It's not full duplex vs half duplex but rather echo cancellation which causes the other (speaking) person's phone to mute if there's a background noise on my side.

The problem seems to be much better when I'm using Facetime Voice and the other person has me on speaker. The fact that Facetime Voice is in stereo (when on speaker) makes it so much easier to understand the other side btw.

Well I take it back, tried my wife’s iPad Air which is like 2016 or so, which has OS 15.2 does this stupid cutting out too. I thought it didn’t but tried it today FaceTime my daughter and it cuts out too when both people try to talk at the same time ..

I’ve been having this issue as well for over 1.5 years now. I’ve been to the in store apple Genius Bar at least 5 times they’ve reset my phone, gave me a brand new iPhone 11, cleaned my microphones, did not restore from back up, etc. literally tried everything you guys have already mentioned. I called apple at least 10 times and just went back and forth again resetting my phone and iCloud and they wanted me to take screen recording of the issue (even though you can’t hear audio on screen recordings). They would constantly say they never received the screen recordings (I tried sending it to them 3 times and then finally gave up). They don’t want to acknowledge this as a problem and are hoping we just give up on contacting them. I don’t know what to do about this anymore. It’s so frustrating please help apple

My 12pro max is the only iPhone in the family that cuts out on FaceTime. It’s so annoying!! I can call on my husbands phone and we don’t have a problem but my big “fancy” phone has issues that are apparently unfixable! It’s too sensitive! I can’t even put my hand at the bottom of my phone when I talk. Even my Marco Polo app is affected by it. If I flip my camera around and turn my phone away (screen facing away) my voice comes through better on Marco Polo. Otherwise there is too much background noise that picks up. Also I am on FaceTime all the time because I have 9 young grandchildren out of town. It’s loud and very active when on FaceTime so I really need this to work. These phones are a fortune! Help!

I have the same problem since I got my phone. My family lives in another country and since this I haven’t been able to enjoy a nice FaceTime call with anyone. I called costumer service they “ran the software” for glitches and everything was ok. They suggested a re-set my phone to new and start all over again. Which I have done it. Very frustrating to say the least. You go to the Apple Store you are just one more. So there is really this deal with it. Disappointing

I’ve had the same issue with the microphone. Went to Apple Store 6 times and they replaced everything internally and to make a long story long, they have replaced the phone physically twice and I just got this phone this week and it’s doing the same thing. I’ve read everything, Apple Support has tried everything….I so miss the 10. Never had this issue and this is frustrating. I’ll be calling Apple support. I’ve even deleted everything and manually installed each app which took forever but I’ll try anything and second call, mic dropped🤷‍♂️

The bottom line to all this…. I really feel that Apple knows they have a problem!!!!

and I don’t think they have any clue on how to fix it!!!!!

they could start by going back to their iPhone 8, which didn’t have this problem, and do a process of elimination as to what has changed.

but they don’t want to do that…. It will interrupt their profits from all the versions since.

Speaker phone on iPhone 12 Pro ***** glad the phone costs $1200

CAN WE FIX THIS APPLE?