iPhone 11 call volume very low

Electric Toothbrush 1 maybe 2 minutes brushing over the earpiece speaker grill at the top of phone.

I had very low call volume on 11 pro max, at first I thought I might have a hearing deficit. I tried every software tweak I could find. I was about to purchase a new phone, then decided to research low call volume one last time. I was skeptical of the electric toothbrush fix, but it worked! It's almost now too loud now, I now tend to back off the volume to around 3/4 level. I was truely shocked that it's now fixed. It wasn't an Apple conspiracy after all.

Some people say they use a wet electric toothbrush, I just used a dry brush.

Hi there rtovarjr,

If the volume of your receiver is lower than expected, these steps from If you hear no sound or distorted sound from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch speaker can help resolve what's happening:

1. Remove all screen protectors, films, or cases from your device. 

2. Check the speaker opening to see if it's blocked or dirty. On iPhone only, make sure that the receiver isn't blocked or dirty. 

3. If necessary, clean the speaker or receiver opening with a small, soft-bristled brush. Make sure that the brush is clean and dry.

4. Go to Settings > Sounds (or Settings > Sounds & Haptics), and drag the Ringer and Alerts slider back and forth a few times. If you don't hear any sound, or if your speaker button on the Ringer and Alerts slider is dimmed, your speaker might need service.

5. If you hear sound, try making a call with your iPhone and turn on speakerphone. On iPad or iPod touch, make a FaceTime call. If you still can't hear, or hear static or crackling, then your network or reception could be the issue. Try to call again later, or from a different location.

If this continues after following those, then we would recommend contacting Apple Support next to look into service options. Reach out using this: Get Support

Take care!

I tried everything but nothing worked. But finally I took Alchohal prep pad and did deep cleaning of speaker. Prep pad got black stains while I cleaned it. And it worked !! Now voice is coming crystal clear . Try this .

Just fixed this on mine go to Accessibility > Audio & Visual > Turn off Phone Noise Cancellation (also cleaned speakers etc) and its fine now :)

I have had the same issue as everybody here, as in my earpiece speaker volume was so low I had to use my phone on speaker phone for calls. Videos, music, games, ringing tones all fine. Tried all the suggestions here including toothbrush, changing settings, hard reset - all to no avail.

Found this video on YouTube and at 1min it suggests resetting all iPhone settings - this worked!!! Now it’s almost too loud

https://youtu.be/-JGH7NxJkYA?si=-6ur64dWfxhWLfsZ

Hope this helps someone else

I had the same issue and my issue was fixed after removing the screen protector

I had this issue with iPhone 11, tried the toggle flight mode on and off a few times tip and it has worked!

This just happened on my iPhone 10. Turns out that I had just recently replaced the screen protector glass myself, and didn't notice that there is a cutout on one end of the protective glass. This cutout goes on the top/upper side of the iPhone's screen. So I put the glass on incorrectly/upside down, and it was blocking the internal microphone that's right at the top side of my iPhone. Reversed it, and all is well again. Maybe that's what some of the folks are running into as well within this thread. Hope that does the trick for you!

Wow, same here on an iPhone 12! I have the monthly AppleCare+ on this phone, which came in handy when my earpiece seemed to not work at all. I thought I had the problem detailed here, (my original 12 was acquired during holidays in 2020/2021) but had long-since missed that (premature) cutoff date. Went to local Apple Retail Store, and they had to replace the whole front, apparently? Sound worked GREAT in earpiece, but just as I was walking out the revolving door, the phone decided to tell me that Face ID had an issue, so I turned around and they spent another hour or so trying to fix it to no avail. SInce I had been to this store with the phone the month before with another (camera) issue, I hit the 3's-a-charm limit where they decided to just replace the phone, and since the problems seemed to be on the system board at this point. Anyway, got my new 12, restored fine (I use laptop, not any cloud nonsense!) but now the earpiece is low-volume useless junk almost as bad as what prompted trip 2 of 3 in the first place (yeah, did not think to try it at the store - after all it was BRAND NEW out of the white OEM box). Seriously?! My closest Apple Store is almost 2 hours away - this is insane (and who the heck is gonna mail their phone and have none at all for a week+?!). I am stuck using Speaker only now for calls, which is RIDICULOUS. Now I gotta spend my time going BACK to the store AGAIN? This is NOT the Apple I've known, and it keeps getting worse every year/release since October 5, 2011...no one is "eating their own dog food" (not really/fully) in Cupertino anymore. It's just push, push, push something out every year, come heck or high water and no matter all the bugs. That's what dot releases are for, right?! Welcome to the Microsoft way.

I am having the same issue as several others with the volume on my iPhone 11. The problem started when I did an update like 3 updates ago. I think there is an issue with the volume in one of the updates.

I am having exact same issue! Girlfriend pleaded with me to update phone a few weeks ago (drives her mad that I never trust updates!) ..... and what do I get out of it .... being yelled at by my same girlfriend because I can never hear her... this is actually not a terrible issue, I suppose ;)

But for real, I can't hear anyone talking on max volume....

I'm having the same issue. When sliding the sound and haptics slider it can hear it just fine. But when in a call or trying to listen to a voicemail the volume is so low I can BARELY hear it. I have tried restarting and many many of the other tips here. I don't know what the issue is but seems to have started with the last update, or maybe the previous one (I don't get many calls). The volume on EVERYTHING else is just fine. Notifications, playing video, etc etc no problem at all. I've checked for blockage and all that also. When in a call or listening to a VM speakerphone works fine.

When I use my iPhone's built in speaker to make or receive a call, the volume is very low. It works fine on "speaker phone" and in the car using Blue Tooth. I have tried to adjust the volume during the call and the increase is barely perceptible. I have tried to reboot the phone with no success. I have tried toggling the "switches in "Sounds and Haptics" in Settings and no success. Can it be resolved by own , or should I just go to Apple Store?

I’ll add my iPhone 12 Pro Max to the list, just barely able to hear, fine with the speaker though.

I am assuming Apple wants us to upgrade to a new phone and it appears that is the only solution.

Clever plan, Apple.

Same issue here on my iPhone SE, iOS 17.4.1. The volume is so low that I can’t even listen to my music. What the heck is going on here? It’s clearly quite ridiculous to have deal with a problem like this. What’s the fix?