iPhone 12 Picking Up Way Too Much Background Noise on All Calls/ Video Recording

Hi all,

Ive looked around at a few threads for a solution to this but can’t see anything exactly matching my issue so-

I have an iPhone 12 and in the last 6-12 months I’ve noticed (and been told) that the amount of background noise picked up on my mic-end on calls (both WhatsApp and normal phone calls) as well as on video recordings has gone nuts!

Say I record an audio message and there might be a quiet ambient noise in the background (like a small, far away fan or someone talking quietly metres away from me), it is massively intensified when I listen back to recording. The recording picks up the slightest noise, even like a car going past literally outside my house and bumps it up tenfold.

Many people have told me they have trouble hearing me because of the noises when to me on my end…they’re not loud!? And I’m sensitive to noises! So trust me it’s not loud!

I’m on iOS 18.3.1 but it’s been like this the last few updates.

It’s driving me nuts and it’s annoying to have to wait to find total silence to speak to anyone on a call or voice recording.

BG noise reduction is turned on in settings, always has been.

Any suggestions?