iPhone 4 low earpiece volume after ios 5 upgrade

I've had volume problems (wearing earphones) since day one on my iPhone 4S. Sound output sometimes drops to 50% even though the UI shows 100% volume. No amount of changing the settings, locking and unlocking the phone or pressing the volume button does anything. However, I notice that when I get a notification, the sound output suddenly jumps to 100%. Sound sometimes returns to normal when I open a game. I can have sound output jump up and down several times within a few minutes. It's crazy. This makes me thing it's a software bug and not a hardware problem.

Never had this problem in iOS 4 on my 3GS.

I have a 4s, and all of the sudden I have a huge reduction in the volume of the external earpiece. Speaker and earphones work ok. I didnt do an upgrade or even a synch, it just happened out of the blue yesterday. I've tried several "fixes" recommended on several posts , including this one to no avail. So frustrated! If anyone can help please post a reply......

It seems I have the same problem on my iPhone 4

iPhone 4 iOS 5.2

FYI: No plastic cover blocking internal speaker and all Volume settings of my iPhone are up.

Problem description:

A) When placing a call, (Using internal phone’s ear piece) the volume of the “Simulated” dial tone is extremely low.

B) Once connected to the other party, the volume of the person speaking at the other end is extremely low.

C) The other party can hear me loud and clear.

This problem does not appear when:

1 - I use the earphones (headset) supplied by Apple.

2 - I select “Speaker” from the keypad to talk using the “speakerphone”

3 - I use a bluetooth headset.

Important: I realized this issue started when I upgraded my iPhone from iOS 5.0 to 5.1

In order to troubleshoot this issue:

I restored the iPhone several times with no success while on iOS 5.1

I upgraded the iOS 5.1 to the latest 5.2 but the problem persists.

I tried any workaround suggested in the internet (There many iPhones having the same problem)

I already sent a bug report to Apple about this issue.

Any idea please??

Still no idea, unfortunately.

I have no clue.

Like HoyttGringo I confirm that the problem occured when upgrading from iOS 5.0 to iOS 5.1.

I've had an iPhone 4 for 2 years and the problem occured recently.

I sometimes kill all the applications using sound (Video, Ace Player, OPlayer, video games) and the jack sound comes back to 100%. It doesn't always work, that's annoying.

I feel like I'm not as annoyed as other users because my volume decreases to 50-60%, not lower than that. I cross fingers it's not getting lower than that.

I promise that if I find a way to solve it, I'll post a message here.

It is really frustrating...I thought only my piece had a problem, but strangely, around the same time everyone has started facing the same problem. this is pathetic to say the least.

whats even more insulting is the fact that NOONE cares to even pop a reply from APPLE's side...

di you guys create this forum for the heck of it????

It's true. NOOOOOOBODY cares. We're just the outcast priahahs of the apple iphone support forums - forgotten about and forced to wander forever in lonliness and despair for all our iPhone 4 volume malfunction woes.

I haven't listened to any music on my 4S or iPads 2 and 3 for months and months and it's awfully bleak. The forced silence is frankly driving me nuts especially when you consider how much I paid for all these now useless, broken gadgets. Just feeling lucky I hung onto my old iPhone 3GS running iOS 3.1.2

I have been having this exact problem on my 4S. Out of the blue, BEFORE updating to iOS5, the volume on phone calls dropped to a barely audible whisper. Speaker phone worked fine until today, when I tried using Face Time and the other person was not able to hear me but I heard them just fine. Telephone calls and Face Time are heard perfectly fine if I use earphones. Music sound quality and volume are just perfect without the earphones, as well as any sounds/music from the Internet, apps, and games. It's really annoying. I tried the fixes posted here but none worked. Now I have to carry around a pair of earphones just to be able to hear my calls. Apple, please fix this ASAP!! I have had my 4S for about 3 months and it started acting up. Help!!

And, yes, all volumes are set to 100%. I have no covers or plastic covering the earpiece. I wouldn't be TOO upset if the call volume dropped to 50-60%, but it drops to barely 5%!! even if the other person shouts, I am not able to hear them. For Face Time, it's the exact opposite....i can hear them fine (over the default speaker setting) but they can't hear ME. So frustrating!!!

I had the same problem, my iphone 4 ear speaker stopped working for 2 months. All the quick fixes didnt work for me. While making a test call to my voice mail I switched my ringer silence button (the rectangle button) TO SILENT and my ear speaker started working!!! I switched back from silent and the speaker still works 😀 I hope it works for everyone else too!!

Thanks Ailith. It WORKED!!! Unbelievable! 🙂

While making a test call to my voice mail I switched my ring/silent switch to "silent". Then I switched it back again to "ring".

The phone now works perfectly having the ring/silent switch in either position.

I can here now the other party loud and clear.

I wish someone at Apple’s support team follows up on these posts.

I’m hopping this workaround works until Apple issues an update to correct this bug.

I posted on the previous page . . .

About a week ago, my internal iPhone speaker simply started working on its own.

I am convinced it is not a hardware issue, though it does mimic a bad headphone jack internal/external switch problem as in my case, when the internal speaker stopped working for phone operation, the volume was non-existent.

I hope that, whatever the bug is, the Apple folks will eventually squash it.

~Joe

Hi

This issue is making me really crazy. I Have an Ipod Touch 4G that I use to play music on my car connected to my pioneer receiver with the USB cable. Since I upgraded to IOS 5.1.1 I noticed the change on my cars sound. I started to compare with the other sources of the receiver (SD Card, Tuner, etc) and BINGO … the sound coming from my Ipod is substantially lower. I´ve tried the different workarounds and some of them work some times. I also have an Ipod Touch 3G and it works great (Sound Quality and power) running IOS 4.2.1. So the problem is with the IOS 5, not a hardware issue.

found one solution and seems to be stable, adjust the "Sound Enhancer" from "Edit","Reference" in your iTunes to high and then "View", "Show Equalizer" to rock. It seems it will enhance all your music during sync (takes to much time though as it will go through all your songs on your play list). It might help. 😉

I've exchanged 2 handsets now which both develope the same issue, the ear peice volum starts to get so low you can barley hear anyone, I've tried all the tricks on hear on my latest handset but it appears its going to have to go back too.

The worry is that if a fix isnt found they will stop exchanging the handset after your years warrenty is up and then where do we stand ?

Solution Apple please

I had the same problem, my iphone 4 ear speaker stopped working. Thanks for the advice. Seemed to easy but it worked a treat. Thanks.

While making a test call to my voice mail I switched my ringer silence button (the rectangle button) TO SILENT and my ear speaker started working!!! I switched back from silent and the speaker still works I hope it works for everyone else too!!