iPhone 4 low earpiece volume after ios 5 upgrade

I noticed this problem after the upgrade to 5.0.1. My iPhone the headphone volume is ok for telephone calls or playing music, but ALL alerts are barely audible. I wear a headset while exercising and also plug my phone into the AUX jack on my care stereo. When I get message, email, text, appointment, etc. alerts, they are so low in volume I don't hear them or barely hear them. Even while I was talking to Apple tech support, I missed several text message because I couldn't hear the alert. Tech Support wants me to restore my phone to "see" if that fixes it.

Ok, I tried your Voice Recorder solution and it WORKED!

The problem I was having was the iphone wasn't fading the sound (music, app, conversation, etc.) to the headset to play the alert. After trying your solution, it now fades properly so that the alert volume rises up loud enough to be heard.

Thank you!!!

Just to add my experience with this..

I upgraded my wife's iPhone4 from ios4.3.2 to ios5.0 (her phone wasn't jailbroken, mine was.... haha), thinking I was really clever and expecting her to be grateful. However, she came back from work complaining she couldn't hear anyone via her EARPIECE. She had to either put on speaker mode or use a earphones (no problems with ios4.3.2).

Tried everything, change language to brits and back, played music and change to voice memos, put headphones in and out 10x times, blow into headphone port, clean headphone port with q-tip, but no dice...

Even upgraded to ios5.0.1. Not solved.

Then i read in another discussion whereby even brand new iPhone4S had the same problem https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3404857?start=795&tstart=0

They suspect it's something to do with Siri and voice control, switching from speaker to earpiece, whatever....

Finally tried Reset All Settings (under General/Settings), the earpiece sound improved about 40-50%, according to wife, so cancelled my plan to return wife's phone to the telco centre.

Pls backup your iPhone before trying this. It doesn't delete any media, messages or apps, it just resets all settings to Factory defaults, but pls backup anyway.... It may take about 10-20 mins, depending on how much 'crap' is in the phone.

Hope this helps while Apple fix this [definite] software bug...

I am also having the same issue with low audio gain when using the headset. While driving in my automobile I can not hear the other person while on a phone call after update to IOS5.0 I have tried the tips other have suggested no luck.

Contacted so call apple experts they will not admit that there is an issue.

Prior to update and driving on the same roads I could hear with out any problems.

Current updated installed iOS 5.0.1 the same problem is present.

I ask that others post there findings as the more noise we make perhaps apple with consider a fix.

Repeat that what did you just Say?

The 5.0.1 definitely improved this problem for me, in that the fidelity got much better and it's VERY slightly louder, but nowhere near as loud as it was originally. This is a werid problem for sure.

After trying all the suggestions offered to restore the audio gain without success.

I did what I should done first!

Checked the headset. I used another OEM Apple headset and the volume was very loud.

I embarrassed to say that it was my headset that was faulty in my case.

That is not say to that the new IOS 5.0 did not degrade the audio gain.

I upgraded to ios5 the day it was available and noticed no difference in the ear volume... until today. I have no idea what triggered the problem. During phone calls I could hardly hear the other person. The only thing that worked for me was resetting the phone back to "factory defaults". It was a last resort and I was reluctant to do it but I sync with my Mac whenever I recharge so I had a reliable back up. I'm not much of a gamer so I don't know what effect a "reset and restore from back up" would have on games. Ear volume is back to normal now.

I have had the same issue. I have tried every fix listed in this blog and others to no avail. Tomorrow I have an appt at store, we will see what happens. 😟 My girlfriend's phone has the same 5.0.1 and her phone is way louder at the earpiece. I hope their is a fix!!!! Very annoying saying I can't hear you...

I went to Genius store on my 10 month old iPhone and got it fixed. Apparently it needed a good cleaning! The apple guy took it in back, cleaned it with a toothbrush and canned air a few times and it is as good as new. Anyone that has had a phone for a while should try this on the earpiece and speakers. Looks like new afterwards. Thanks apple dude!!! This confirmed for me that it was not a software issue for me because I also tried the other advice with no luck.

Good luck!

This worked for me, thankyou!

Thanks a lot! this worked for me. I have iPhone 3GS and i upgraded the OS to IOS5. My speaker volume was very low after the upgrade and changing the Language settings reset iphone to my original volume.Thanks a lot.

Whilst some people may have found that their low volume problem was a hardware issue (e.g. dodgy headphones, dirty headphone socket, etc), I can tell you there is defintely a software bug/problem of some sort with iOS5.

When listening to music through the headphones at supposedly max volume, the level can suddenly become noticeably quieter than usual. A reset of the phone, or doing the "ringer volume fix" or "language settings fix" as discussed above restores the volume to its normal setting. Not a major problem of course but quite irritating. Never happened with iOS4.

Me too. Following the upgrade to 5.01 the ear piece volume is hardly discernable unless in a quiet area (VERY quiet area). I even switched back to earpieces that came with the phone but they were worse! Im not a music fan but listen to audio books whilst travelling. Prior to the upgrade I used listen to books at about 40% on the slide volume, depending on road conditions etc. Since the upgrade I can only hear (using ear phones) the narrator or a caller when in a quiet room and on full volume which means my phone is useless to me when I travel. Very very dissapointed.

Same problem here: iPhone 4, iOS 5.0.1. Tried all of the "fixes" including resetting the phone. Headphone volume is still too low.

We need an official fix for this!

Last friday (20.) I went to the Apple Store and got a replacement iPhone and headset. There was also a problem with the homebutton, which didn't react proper at all clicks ... AppleCare saved me 141,21 Euro ;-)