iPhone 4s mic issues

This is clearly not an issue for all iphone 4s, at least from testing those of friends and having conversations with others. It is however an issue for me. I have hard/full reset multiple times. I have recovered and I have tried as "new" phone. Not sure if software or hardware but cleary an issue with this phone. Very annoying... I'm going to Apple tonight to try and get a replacement phone. Not sure it will help or even if I'm going to get one. We will see. I'm all about problems with technology but OWN THEM and then FIX them and keep moving forward. I'm hoping this is a small group of phones (early phones) so maybe a new phone will address the issue. Not sure.

HUGE PROPS to APPLE, at least the store I went to in Dallas. Outside of my appointment time scheduled and the actual appointment time being 55 min's of wait time....the second they took the phone, swapped it and gave me a new one took about 3 min's. They said, "we are very familiar with the mic issue. It is a broken mic that hit a random (few) batches of phones over a specific time frame, blah blah." Not sure if I got a replacement from the same batch of phones yet but I will know soon enough.

Just for the record (for Apple statistics study) I am having similar problems with my iPhone mic, modem firmware 04.11.08, runing 5.0.1 OS, service by AT&T. It is a 16-GB phone with 7.5-GB free memory. So it is not a memory issue. The phone worked OK for about 1-year and then began acting. I did a full restore and prior to the full rstore I did many resets: the phone would work for a short time after the reset or the restore but then the problem re emerges. Also, the mic working with the "Voice Memos" (under Utilities, is not a guarantee that it works during a normal phone call. This more than anything indicates (to me) that it is a software / firmware problem, rather than hardware problem only.

I stopped by the Apple store and they were very accomodating agreeing to replace it if it continues to act after a full restore. I am planing to stop there tonight and replace the phone. Also, not like the other comments in this thread, I have had the mic problem during phone calls with or without the headphone. Either using the mic directly or via headphone the same problem !!!

Thanks.

I suspect that each of us are seeing different issues with different causes. Just yesterday, I could not hear my husband on his, yet two tests later it was OK. Because things are not consistent, it is very hard to track down.

Well I turned off Siri and everything worked fine. I waited a week and turned it back on and the trouble continued. It seems to be a problem with Siri. Every time I call Apple they say they have never heard of this problem. I tell them it is on the forum and has been going on since the Iphone 4S came out. They continue to say they do not know about the problem. I am taking my phone back to Apple to get a replacement and see if they have one that works.

I'm also experiencing really poor sound quality and echoe on Telus's network in Canada. I'm using an iPhone 4S 16 GB model. The audio sounds compressed and everyone I talk to notices that I am on a cellphone. I had better sound quality on my iPhone 3G! Disappointing.

My iphone 4s has the problem described in this thread. About 80% of the time when I first call a person, I can't hear the ring or the person when they pick up (and I see the timer start). I call back - on second try it works. This has been the case since I got it at the end of November 2011. Last week, I had a problem of not hearing any sounds. My phone would not ring when someone called or alert when someone texted. I could see them calling - just not hear them. When I turned the ringer on/off - no bell sign appeared. All other sounds didn't work either (the swoosh for email, etc.) When testing sounds in Settings - I could hear the sounds - they just wouldn't happen for the various triggers (phone, email, text). So I got my iPhone 4s replaced today. It rings and makes sounds. But I still have the problem of calling initially and not hearing the ring or the person on the other end. On the second call I get through. I sure do wish Apple would pay attention to this issue.

This is a apple hardware issue and has happen on all iphone ever since it came out! So if you have issue on the mic on your phone and still under warranty, then get it replace or you will to be SOL.

return your phone back to apple to get a new one if you are still under warranty! If not, then get ready to paid 150 buck for the replacement.

I solved my iPhone 4 mic issues after 6 weeks of runing around between the Apple stores, AT&T service provider, calling Apple Tech support etc. There is no doubt, in my mind, that at least 75% of all reported problems originate from the same cause as mine. I am wating to hear back from Apple on how they would like me to post the solution for this problem (if they do ?) and provide training material to their Apple stores technicians, such that they can service their loyal customers better. As soon as I hear back from Apple, I will be glad to post the solution here. I am an electronic, RF and antenna engineer with many years of experience.

My phone (4S 32GB) suddenly developed this issue at the weekend right after I got a blue screen crash and the phone rebooted. Everything came back on fine - or so I thought until I tried to make a call. And no one could hear me. I took the phone to an Apple store last night and they tested the mic using the voice recorder - and not surprisingly, the needle barely moved and they acknowledged an issue.

However, they looked at the event history on my phone and advised that my Phone app wasn't working properly as it hadn't recorded that any voice calls had ever been made or received on my phone since I got it on launch date last year. Whether the blue screen crash had caused this and wiped some of my data, I have no idea.

Anyway, they restored my phone in the store - apparently they do it differently than how we can do it using iTunes at home - and afterwards, my phone was back to perfect working order. However, the genius told me that if I restored my phone from a previous back-up, the error might be within the back-up and I would end up with it back on my phone. Sure enough, that is exactly what has happened so I now need to restore my phone and start as a brand new phone again.

I never thought in a million years this would be software-related but it seems to be in my case. I just thought I would advise of my experience with this issue...

***********************************************Survey*************************** ***************************************************

Dear community:

I am an Antenna, RF / electronic and software engineer with 30-years of experience in these fields. I solved the iPhone 4/4S microphone problem issue and am ready to offer you my services in repairing your phones: That is, if you no longer have a warranty from Apple. Also, I just happened to be a reputable eBay member with 100% track record. Would you pay $40 (including shipping) over eBay, to fix your phone if I provided you with the link ? Of course, if I can't repair your phone, there will be no charge !!

Think about this. As I have a 4S black new with the mic, echo, cant hear the call, speaker comes on but cant hear the call its all noisey. Its a hardware heat issue. I take my case off let the phone cool off and it works. Did it ten time and everytime was the same. The 4S runs very hot. Im not sure how long it take to start the problme or what the heat affects but when its hot with a case it happens often, No case works fine. Heat triggers the problem. My 2 cents. Good luck.

PS my wifes 4 does not have the problem. If she use the hoiuse phone I have the problem, its my Iphone beiing triggered by heast. (Which is why it is hard to dublicate.)

I'll add onto the dog pile...

Sprint // 16gb 4s black // mic intermittently doesn't work.

Its pretty much been an ongoing problem since getting the phone so I've attempted to establish a pattern.

The mic seems disconnected. I can hear callers, they cannot hear me. This happens on both incoming and outgoing calls. To isolate if it were an 'in call' issue I immediately tried using siri after these incidents. Even yelling directly into the mic the feedback light on siri didn't move illustrating that the phone is recieving ZERO input from the mic.

I've eliminated the possability of it being a hardware issue as I can simply reset the phone with a power cycle and it works flawlessly.

I began taking note of the circumstances before the phones issues each time and a pattern arose. The mic would stop working only after my phone has synced up with my in car bluetooth (GM Factory System/2009 Avalanche) and would continue to have the issue until power cycled.

It appears for some reason that switching into BT mode in the car somehow gets the phone off track.. it will work completely flawlessly with a headset, the in car BT, or even a wired set of ear buds and mic, but as soon as I'm required to rely on the phones built in mic I have to reset. BT seems to be the trigger in my case. I shut it off and unpaired my phone from the in car system and had zero issues for 2 days, just didn't use any bluetooth. Re-paired the phone and truck days later, made a few calls, and then when I exited the vehicle... back to not being able to make calls again! The phone simply cannot switch from relying on an auxilary mic back to its internal mic for some reason.

Took to apple store and they were able to recreate the problem in store, but the 'genius' was confident that a new phone wouldn't fix the issue as he admitted to replacing a couple dozen phones already and most of those came back still having an issue. I may just return the phone to sprint and go back to an android device. I love apple products, on an imac right now, carry an ipad and macbook everywhere, backup to a time capsule, have appletv, love the form and function of the 4s... but if I have to power down and reset the phone every time I get out of my truck its no good to me.

Never had this problem with my evo 4g or evo 3d devices... guess if the fine folks at apple don't care enough to fix a glaring flaw in their product I can just go back to android. Unfortunate.

Hey All,

any updates on the calling issues?

i also have 4S and When I make a call I can see that the call has connected but I can't hear the person and he canot hear m, but when I tap the speaker phone, I can hear the person, tap it again and the phone returns to normal.