Proximity Sensor....Otterbox the Cause?

Replaced wife's 3GS with WHITE iPhone 4 two weeks ago. Bought along with Otterbox Defender case (white silicone over black frame) at AT&T Store. No mention of any incompatibilities from otherwise helpful rep. Almost immediately my wife complained about her cheek turning on FaceTime or speaker or hanging up.

I finally did some research and tests tonight. Eventually came across this thread and began to suspect the case. Turns out the proximity sensor is completely disabled by the Otterbox and phone never goes dark. Tried cleaning the sensor and tiny plastic window on case. No improvement, but I was able to confirm that the sensor did work out of the case.

I then removed the plastic window completely and put everything back together again. WORKS PERFECTLY! No need for Sharpie or any other mods. If something comes up, I'll contact the email posted earlier.

I guess the one slight worry over this mod is that water is more likely to get in the phone, but if you looked at the stock case, the earpiece slot wasn't covered at all anyways, so if water was going to get in, it was getting in through the original opening.

Thanks to those who posted fixes here. Good luck to the rest.

I had the same problem with my mom's white iphone 4. i just cut out the part of the screen protector that covers the proximity sensor and it works perfectly now!

just to confirm, I had a speck case with no issues but needed more protection. I knew the problem was the case because when I put the white otterbox on my black 4 I started face dialing. I thought it may be my fault until I decided it couldn't be and read these posts. I went all out and took off the plastic over the sensor, colored the inside sensor area outline black and then the tunnel for the sensor black. Tested working great now, I can just visibly watch it lock out of the corner of my eye now like it used to.

I managed to color like a four year old and though you can barely notice it, it was 50 bucks from at t. I think that I will call them, they sound fairly helpful

oh and just a side note, at t is horrible, not only did they steal 20$ from me on this case, when my girlfriend shattered her screen, they tried to take another $800 from us. The apple store here is very crowded but was WELL worth it for the helpful service and new phone.

Has there been any real fix for this from Otterbox as of yet... I have the Black iPhone 4 with a Red Case and just about every calls gets muted or hung up on. Very frustrating for some protection.

I don't know about a "real fix" but the general solution is to use a black permanant marker and line the inside of the area near the proximity sensor. Seems to work for many.

just got a new otterbox case with the larger cut-out for the 4s, seems to have solved the issue for me

Hopefully this helps someone: I have the white iPhone4. I purchased the Otterbox Defender series white case/hot pink silicone (despite reviews that there was an issue with getting the proximity sensor to work.) My sensor works fine without a case. I was awaiting the arrival of my case, so when my husband recieved his black case/black silicone, i tried it to see if it would work. My

Hopefully this helps someone: I have the white iPhone4. I purchased the Otterbox Defender series white case/hot pink silicone (despite reviews that there was an issue with getting the proximity sensor to work.) My sensor works fine without a case. I was awaiting the arrival of my case, so when my husband recieved his black case/black silicone, i tried it to see if it would work. My sensor did not work. So we decided to wait for my case and try some of the fixes we had seen on YouTube and forum discussions. It arrived today. Just straight out of the box, it did not work. So my husband took an exacto knife and cut out the plastic in the cover over the space for the sensor; that did not work. So he completely removed the plastic cover from the sensor/camera area; that did not work. We tried the "Sharpie" method, but used water-based paint instead of a marker, in case it didn't work, so we could clean it off; it did NOT work either.

I thought of just exchanging my white PHONE for a black one, HOWEVER, interestingly enough, my husband's black iPhone4 sensor did not work in my white case.

So, my options I believe after much trial and error is to either a)compomise my desire for style and exchange my white iPhone for a black one, and my white case for a black one, b)just deal with it and hope I don't hang up on/face-dial/mute too many calls, or c)try one of the apps people are mentioning that supposedly disable the call screen functions while it is in use.

Boo 😟

Yay! A fix finally! Otterbox was incredible. I told them my problem. Even though I didn't purchase the case directly through them, they were SUPER helpful.

They no longer carry the defender case I had....white plastic/hot pink silicone...but they offered me to choose one of their defender cases for the 4S. I got the hot pink case/purple silicone. The purple is not QUITE the purple I expected, but I am not complaining. The fix seems to be the open area for the sensors instead of the individual holes. Proximity sensor works just fine in the 4S case.

4S case does fit a little tighter on my white iPhone 4, and the 4S case is a little snug in my 4 holster, but I am not complaining. Otterbox far exceeded my expectations. Much happier with them than I am with Apple!

I have work around if you have a white IPhone 4 when trying to use it in a case. If you want to maintain the waterproofing of a waterproof case , you shouldn't remove or cut into the plastic anywhere. If you don't want to try the app. ,"Call Guard" ,which Apple told me would void my warranty, then just try using your ear phone/mic assembly that came with the Iphone or buy one if you don't have one. You can also rig up a flap that folds over the front of the lower portion of the display , just below the earpiece ,camera and sensor that swings open and close like a book cover ,using it as needed to keep your face from coming into contact with the screen, (rigid plastic , stiff cardboard )etc. It works on my Otter "Armour Box" waterproof case. The sensor is sensitive to light intensisty levels so the trick with the "Sharpie" might not work either indoors or out in bright sunlight but not both ways. Also turning off the screen during calls helps the battery charge to last longer. I'm looking for an app. that dims or completely darkens the screen for that reason. Plastic blocks uv and reduces infra red light, which is probably why you'll always have problems using it with light sensitive devices ,glass does not block it.

The Otterbox Defender is causing proximity problems on my new Samsung GS4: take it off and all is well, put it on and the sensor problems return. My iPhones don't have this prob, but apparently the Defender case has ridges too high for the GS4 to handle.

I bought an iPhone 4 for my wife and she was having the same problem. The screen protector I put on the screen seemed to be the problem. As soon as I to it off the proximity sensor seemed to work perfectly