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iPhone 4 mic only not working in phone app!

Hello

I have an iPhone 4 with iOS 4.1. Today people on the other end in calls couldn't hear me. Thought it was the mic that was broken but when using other applications like skype or voice recorder it works perfectly. I have tried to use the speaker and headset but it doesn't work in calls also, so i think this is a software error. Does anybody know how to fix this?

Message was edited by: Oddason

Ipone 4, iOS 4

Posted on Nov 16, 2010 1:13 PM

Reply
155 replies

Nov 16, 2010 3:56 PM in response to Oddason

you can try rebooting your phone by holding the sleep/wake button and the home button ignoring the slide to turn off button and wait tell the apple logo appears.

you can try restoring the phone from backup


you can try restoring the phone as new

other then that you will need to take a trip to your local apple store and get a replacement

Dec 27, 2010 11:25 AM in response to sn4p2k

I started having this issue just yesterday. I don't have any water damage and haven't dropped my phone. I'm not sure whats going on. It was working fine and then, my friend called and I could hear him perfectly and they could not hear me at all. I'm in the process of syncing and backing up my phone and then going to restore. hopefully that clears it up. We just had a HUGE SNOW STORM in New Jersey/New York and my cars are snowed in and I can't get to an apple store. So I have to wait to get my phone fixed/replaced. I'll post back once I finish restoring, to let you guys know if that worked or not.

Mar 4, 2011 1:11 PM in response to figgs

ALL THE FOLLOWING IS MY SUPPOSITION ONLY - MOVING AND INSERTING REPEATEDLY THE MIC JACK WORKS FOR BRIEF MOMENTS

Ok, I have the same issue but I fortunately discovered WHY.
In MY case [could be yours but also could not] the problem started with some malfunctioning of the vibration. Once in a while the vibrate thing stopped vibrating. This means in the part of the phone where the mic/phones jack goes there's a vibration module that isn't working properly. This causes the vibration module to jog and move excessively when it works, and I left my phone vibrating due to many and many calls on my bed cos I was doing something else.
All the vibrations probably caused the very close microphone/phones jack hole to have the final part to be faulty, so that if you plug in the mic/phns with strength and move the jack when it is inside you start hearing something. If you press it a lot, you'll see something changes, and if you try to make the final contact of the mic/phns hole come UP towards the top of the phones -just to to be clear: to go OUT of the hole, to be pulled instead of pressed in- you hear other changing. PROBABLY that final metal part has been made loose and so the communication works only when it returns into the first, factory brand-new position. With the sound recorder you can record and HEAR easily; skype does work but the phone has some more direct connection with the jack/hole and that's why it does not work. It seems like it switches extremely fast between phones and normal phone speaker. An headphones trigger or exclusion command in the settings probably could fix it. So it's a mix between a software and an hardware problem.
Try moving and inserting repeatedly the mic jack.

Jun 12, 2011 4:22 PM in response to nickinnorway

I too am having the exact same problem.


On May 30, I had this problem for the first time. I was on a phone call, when all of a sudden in the middle of the conversation, the other party couldn't hear me. After a few re-attempts to make the call 'work', we were able to complete the conversation over FaceTime without any issues.


For the next 2 days, my phone was a useless brick in my pocket. Skype/Evernote/Voice Recorder all work great, and I could hear the other end just fine. I rebooted, I restored from backup, my next step was going to be to take it to the Verizon store and leave AT&T..


The morning I was planning to visit the Verizon store to change networks and get a new phone, I received a phone call and the phone was working perfectly fine again. Baffled, I assumed the problem was solved.


Fast fwd to today (June 12) I was on a call this morning with my bank, and all of a sudden the other end couldn't hear me. I had the entire call on speakerphone, so I wasn't touching the device. I ended up having to end the call as the other party simply couldn't hear me at all. Every call I've tried to make for the last 5 hours, has resulted in the same problem: they can't hear me. I've been in different parts of LA all day, so I've been on different cell towers, so I don't think it's the network. Again, Skype/FaceTime/VoiceRecorder all work fine. There is clearly a defect with the phone app (or something running in the background that is causing a conflict of sorts) that is causing it to mute out our voices.

Sep 21, 2011 12:30 AM in response to AXDESIGNERPR

*** is up that that? I have the same issue on my wife's phone. Only started last night. Stopped working in a call between us. I just stopped hearing her. Or more correctly her voice wasn't going out.


Tried other apps and they all work fine; talking Carl, voice recorder, I don't use skype but my voice app works, as does shazzam!!! But not the phone.


We've looked at it again today and still no go. But talking Carl and shazam fine.


I just tried the above "tip" about squeezing the top of the phone during the phone call. Sure enough call didn't work, touch the top and whammo! But a second later it was dead again. Make you feel it's a wiring issue. But everything else works fine.


What's the go with that?

Nov 24, 2011 1:30 AM in response to Oddason

Hi. I have the same issue. About 5% of the time it will work for the start of a telephone conversation, but 95% I get nothing. All other apps that use the microphone work perfectly, no noise, no crackling or anything. And also I still can't be heard when using the Apple earphones/mic.


So clearly not hardware, methinks.


Stupidly I waited for the ios5 update, which didn't fix it but now my phone is out of warranty, and if any of you have tried to get an iphone fixed under insurance knows it is a long-queue'd nightmare. I refuse to pay to fix a fault that is clearly not my own.


Anyway, I really hope that Apple will fix this issue soon.


A few notes about the posts above - if you're getting crackling or low volume or any apps besides phone don't work - you've probably got a slightly different issue. Also, I tried that trick of putting in/pulling out the mic jack and it did work - although it could be just a coincidence.


If anybody finds a software patch or fix for this issue please reply to this comment with it!


Cheers lads.

Nov 25, 2011 2:58 PM in response to alexadelaide

I have the same problem. My iphone 4 has worked flawlessly for 1 1/2 years and now all of a sudden, I am getting the same issues - start a conversation fine (or not) and then the person on the other end of the call can't hear me at all, but I can hear them perfectly. This is with speaker, mike, headphones - it's all the same. The jiggling the headphones in the mic did help a bit, temporarily but then I cut out again on the caller. I also noticed that if the other person can't hear me, I can "bang" the phone on a surface (lightly), I can get "my voice" back. So i think there is something internal that is affecting the phone. I am not sure the exact time this all started. I did just upgrade to ios5.0.1 recently, but I am now wondering if this is really started when my son knocked my phone off the counter. I'm thinking that is really the culprit and something is shorting out internally. It's so annoying because I can't use my phone for calls anymore. Not sure what to do - i really don't want to reset my phone because I don't think it'll work. Did anyone else get it to work after a reset?

iPhone 4 mic only not working in phone app!

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