USB C Headphone lead on iPhone 15 SOLVED (sort of)

I just bought the iPhone 15 Pro Max. I wanted to use my EarPods that I used with my old iPhone 12 so I bought a lighting to usb-c adapter. Seemed like the cheapest solution but alas, no sound come out the EarPods, just the phone speakers. The fact that Apple was so stubborn about having a proprietary connector for so long then to finally switch to usb-c and not making sure it worked properly is extremely frustrating. I had to buy all new charging cables for my car, home, and office. I really don’t understand the rationale for the change. I stick with Apple because for the most part they get it right or fix issues right away. Come on Apple!

I too purchased the Apple 3.5 headphone adapter cable to use with a set of headphones I use with my IPhone 15. Used the same headphones on my IPhone 13 with a 3.5 adapter to lightning connector without any problems. I have just started to experience the issue where I try to play music through the headphones and the songs won’t start. I takes a hard reset to make it work. If I stop playing music for a period of time ( not sure how long) I have to reset again to play my music. Sooo frustrating especially when traveling. What will it take to get a resolution from Apple?

You are so absolutely correct. Thank you. And you can use a 3 band mic supported jack as long as you plug it in 3/4 of the way wait for the message to recognize them as headphones and then you can plug it in fully. I just can’t believe I spent 2 grand on a new phone and have to do stupid crap like this to get it to work.

Please see my reply. You can make the pop-up appear again. I faced the same issue as you did. I hope the approach works for you as well. Thank you.

I have this same issue with the headphone. Why? No one from Apple can explain why the headphone adapter does not work.

Same earphone problem as others. VERY DISAPPOINTING when you spend over a grand on a phone and you get the rug pulled out from under you. Will definitely shop other brands next phone

Whelp, I figured it out (for myself at least). For me it was the fact that my 3.5mm male jack that plugs into the dongle has 3 bands (mic supported) and once I switched to a regular 2 band (sound only) 3.5mm wire, all was good.

It seems the 3.5mm to usb-c dongle doesn’t play very well with mic supported wired headphones.

Ok, but what if it doesn’t ask if I am trying to connect headphones or you accidentally press no?? Nothing I do will get the headphones to work 😭 I am super bummed.

I’m having the same issue trying to figure out why my Meze 99’s won’t work with the usb-c to headphone adapter, but my old Apple wired earbuds work flawlessly every time.

I got the Meze 99’s to work only once by taking your suggestion and playing a song in the native Apple Music app. I unplugged the 99’s and haven’t been able to get sound out of them again, even by restarting the phone.

So weird and frustrating.

To fix this issue follow below steps

go to

sound & haptic

>>. Head phone sefty

>> USB audio accessories >>

1st click on forgot all USB Accesories

then enable connected to headphones option.

I had the same problem with a 3rd party adapter, audio would not be directed to headphones. Returned 3rd party adapter and bought official Apple adapter thinking this would solve my problem. When I used the Apple adapter same issue, no awareness on my 15 Pro that there were headphones connected and only audio on the phone (using Apple music). Tried leaving everything attached via usb c to headphone jack and restarted the 15 Pro. Upon restarting I got the message asking if there were headphones attached. I said yes and now I get audio on the headphones. I guess the 15 Pro needed a restart to "see" the headphones. This might be a solution for some.

Why is this problem.