iPhone Audio Routing Bug: Headphone Switching Issue

I made a video demonstrating the issue: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYwZWkysls8


Wired headphones (Shure SE215) are connected to iPhone.


0:05 - Call Audio Routing set to "Automatic"

0:18 - phone call initiated, audio goes to Headphones

0:29- tapping the audio button to switch to Speaker

0:35 - tap audio button to switch back to Headphones


0:46 - Call Audio Routing set to "Speaker"

0:56 - phone call initiated, audio goes to Speaker

1:07- tapping the audio button to Headphones does not work, audio is locked on Speaker


1:43 - repeat demonstration


This seems like a bug to me. It is inconsistent behaviour of the Phone app's audio button. If routing was set to "Automatic" the audio button worked. If routing was set to "Speaker" the audio button showed the desired option (to switch to Headphones) but selecting this visible option did not result in an audio change as it did in the other mode.


If Headphones is not an option based on mode, then the interface should reflect this. When the interface shows an option and selecting said option does not work, then the interface is confusing.


Not only is there a visual inconsistency of seeing options and not being able to select them, but there also is a logical inconsistency of a button not offering the user a consistent set of options based on some arbitrary situation (the Call Audio Routing setting). Why should one phone call offer toggle-able Headphone/Speaker functionality and not the other phone call? There's an expectation in the user that if the toggling was there before, it should always be there. There's nothing in the interface interactions that would make the user expect otherwise. User push button, button change audio. So simple yet so elusive.


This behaviour has been consistent across multiple iPhone restarts, including restarts after updating the iOS software, which is currently up to date at 16.4.1 (a).

iPhone 13 Pro Max

Posted on May 8, 2023 1:47 AM

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2 replies

May 24, 2023 10:52 AM in response to SravanKrA

SravanKra,


This link you offer as help assumes that the situation is that "iPhone gets stuck in headphone mode or won't recognize your headphones"


That is not the situation. My headphones work fine when Call Audio Routing is set to "Automatic" but when Call Audio Routing is set to "Speaker" my headphones can't be selected. This looks like a Settings bug and my post to this forum is so that other 3.5mm headphone users can test and verify whether the bug can be reproduced.


Thank you for your attention in this matter.




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iPhone Audio Routing Bug: Headphone Switching Issue

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