iPad 9th generation stuck in headphone mode

My ipad has been stuck on headphone mode for 2 days. I have a 9th generation iPad. I have tried plugging headphones in and out, I’ve cleaned the headphone jacked, I’ve reset the ipad multiple times, although I cannot hard reset in this model whatsoever, I’ve tried checking for water damage and turning on airplane mode. Could somebody help?

Posted on Feb 25, 2026 7:33 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Feb 25, 2026 8:51 AM

All iPad models can be hard reset. Not sure why you are unable to.

click here ➜ https://support.apple.com/en-us/102642


With that said, simply restarting the iPad should clear the stuck headphone issue in most cases.


Are these headphones wired or bluetooth? Does the headphone icon the iPad screen show the bluetooth icon?


If there's nothing in the port and inserting headphones and removing them still does not clear the issue, check the sound output settings in control center. Swipe down from the top right corner, then tap on the icon on the top right corner of the music control widget and make sure iPad Speaker is selected there.


If it's connected to bluetooth headphones, then you'll need to either turn off bluetooth, or turn off the headphones in question.







4 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Feb 25, 2026 8:51 AM in response to B2brat

All iPad models can be hard reset. Not sure why you are unable to.

click here ➜ https://support.apple.com/en-us/102642


With that said, simply restarting the iPad should clear the stuck headphone issue in most cases.


Are these headphones wired or bluetooth? Does the headphone icon the iPad screen show the bluetooth icon?


If there's nothing in the port and inserting headphones and removing them still does not clear the issue, check the sound output settings in control center. Swipe down from the top right corner, then tap on the icon on the top right corner of the music control widget and make sure iPad Speaker is selected there.


If it's connected to bluetooth headphones, then you'll need to either turn off bluetooth, or turn off the headphones in question.







Feb 25, 2026 10:07 AM in response to Phil0124

Hi! It suddenly fixed itself after I learned how to hard reset it and did so repeatedly around 4-5 times. I’ll check if it goes back to headphone mode after a while. If it doesn’t, I’ll be fine I think , but if it does, I’ll probably have to get a professional to take a look.

The icon on the volume bar are some overhead earphones, no bluetooth, although I do use bluetooth headphones and have never used wired headphones on this iPad until today while trying to fix it. Also when I try switching from headphones to iPad speaker, there is no iPad speaker option, as I have tried that aswell.

I suspect it was either debris on the headphone jack, or interior damage. It couldn’t have been water damage because I do not recall splashing anything other than the screen with water, even then, that was months ago.

Feb 25, 2026 10:08 AM in response to Phil0124

Hi! It suddenly fixed itself after I learned how to hard reset it and did so repeatedly around 4-5 times. I’ll check if it goes back to headphone mode after a while. If it doesn’t, I’ll be fine I think , but if it does, I’ll probably have to get a professional to take a look.

The icon on the volume bar are some overhead earphones, no bluetooth, although I do use bluetooth headphones and have never used wired headphones on this iPad until today while trying to fix it. Also when I try switching from headphones to iPad speaker, there is no iPad speaker option, as I have tried that aswell.

I suspect it was either debris on the headphone jack, or interior damage. It couldn’t have been water damage because I do not recall splashing anything other than the screen with water, even then, that was months ago.

iPad 9th generation stuck in headphone mode

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