Q: iPhone 4S - Outgoing call no audio

Been using my iPhone 4 since late last year and upgraded to the 4s three weeks ago.  I'm now having the same audio issues with most of the posters in this thread and have done tons of reading online the past few days trying to figure out the best way to move forward.

I would normally take it to my local Apple Store for at least one exchange, but since I'm working internationally, there isn't one accessible to me anytime soon.  In addtion, I use my phone extensively for work; therefore, I would have to re-install various mobile security platform apps required by my company.  The process of a restore or swapping phones would take a good half day, not to mention spending another hour or two reconfiguring the apps.

I am extremely disappointed with Apple's lack of action in responding to this issue.  Now before you jump all over me, I do want to make it clear that from a customer services perspective, I think it's absolutely wrong.  However, from a business perspective, can you blame them?  They are in a heavy competitive situation with the Android platform based phones and since we represent a small percentage of total number of users who either don't have this problem or don't realize it.   The truth is that it would do more damage to Apple if they came out publically and acknowledged this major issue.  Think of the impact it would potentially have on their holiday sales push.  This is not a small glitch, but potentially life threatening if someone can't even use their phone to call 911.

I understand some posters have suggested that we all take our phones back in exchange for a new one as to make a statement to Apple and I would agree if the issues have been confirmed to be hardware related.  With the risk of getting another bad unit with the same issues, or worse, additional problems like fast battery drain or yellow screen.  Not to mention spending the effort going to the Apple Store or shipping the unit back to Apple; to me, it's worth the wait until further confirmation of what the true issue is.  Also, who's to say that the phone you are receiving is not just another defective phone someone else's returned with the same issue that Apple simply retested but finding no problem (because this is indeed a software issue).

Personally, I believe this is a software issue which Apple will eventually correct with software update patches.  I still remember when I first purchased the iPhone 4, there were all sorts of issues with the Bluetooth performance.  I looked in this forum and many others were having the same issues.  Apple took the same business stance and did not acknowledge the problem.  I even exchanged for two iPhones at the Apple Store and both times it fixed the issue initially, but somehow the problems came back a few days/weeks later.  I finally gave up and went back to the old wired headset.  It took a while, but through various software updates, I found all my Bluetooth headsets started to work fine.

One final comment, Apple really needs to get these issues fixed ASAP; otherwise, people will try other options.  I have both the iPhone 4s and the Samsung Galaxy SII and I have to admit, the Android phone is growing on me.  The apps are getting better and the phones are slimmer with the flexibility to interchange spare batteries.  Since I need two phones for work, I originally had planned to give the Samsung to my wife once I purchased the iPhone 4s, but the Android phones have come a long ways this year from an user experience perspective.  At the end, I wasn't willing to give up my Samsung, so the wife now has the iPhone 4.  I hope this sends a serious message to Apple because I'm certain I'm not the only one who's beginning to prefer the Android.

i can confirm that ios 5.1 beta 2 does not solve the problem.

for me, the problem appears suddenly two days ago.. i don't understand what is the cause...

tried hardware reset, turned siri off, turned 3g and bluetooth off.

audio works only  if i turn the speaker on.. siri stops working completely..  its crazy that audio works while in video-capture mode...

i think if will visit the apple store on tuesday ..

Just an observation, the only time I have had the audio issue is from the phone app. If I call someone from a message thread, it has always worked. If I call from the address book, it works. I'm going to keep tinkering with that and I'll let everyone know. Still think it is software. Merry Christmas all!

Hi brandyn.cook,

I am suspecting the same thing as everything works perfectly fine whenever I place a call with the Skype app.

Apple, you will need to fix the Phone App!

I bought my iphone 4S from Hungarian Vodafone 3 days ago and from the begining it had the problem with the outgoing calls. I noticed that sometimes it worked ok, but right after I used SIRI I did not have audio in outgoing calls. Took back the phone to Vodafone for replacement and when I got the new phone I immediately tried to make a call with the new phone and the same outgoing call no audio problem happened again.

Then the clerk at Vodafone suggested to replace the SIM card and the new SIM card solved the issue for me,

since then I tried several times to make calls after using SIRI, but the problem did not happen again.

So I suggest everybody who has this problem to try replacing SIM card with a new one, that may solve their problem too.

Hi brandyn.cook,

I've had the same issues dialing from the addressbook, so it probably goes beyond just the Phone App.

That being said, the toggle of the speakerphone icon has solved the issue most of the time.

i am having the same issue on my black 4S. Apple said to call AT&T. AT &T had no clue, suggested resetting the network settings on the phone.  Resetting network settings on the phone helped for about a day. Or maybe it is simply an intermittant issue and that had nothing to do with it.

Putting it on speaker phone after enough time to pass for the phone to have connected works usually.

Seems like programming glitch to me.  APPLE PLEASE FIX !!

Unfortunately, as Easygoingal pointed out, I can confirm that the issue still remains when I dialled via both the contacts and message app. Nonetheless, regardless which app that you used to dial the number, the Phone app will still be the one that make the outgoing call (unless you are using a third party app such as Skype that i have mentioned earlier)

Thus, I strongly believe that the Phone app is the main culprit... Hope it will get solved in the next update!

Address book still uses the phone app. Brandon cook is right. When I use Skype voice call I don't get the audio problem either.

I have not had the problem when dialing out using a blue tooth connected earpiece.  Wouldn't that also have been through the phone app?  Unless those are the times Siri said she couldn't help me.

Hmm just thinking Skype uses the net not the network so may explain a lot.  Problem stems from either software or network seeing as a iTunes restore temporarily eleviates the problem for most.

I don't get the problem when using Siri which also uses the phone app. incidentally. Haven't checked calls through Bluetooth yet. Truthfully, I am at a loss and have explored every suggestion and theory. Those working at the Apple support call centre are about as useful as a chocolate fire guard. I don't want to return the phone but I may have to.

Just restored to factory settings. It's working fine and calls are connecting instantly. I am going to leave it like this for a few days then I will resync my information gradually if all is well, to try and pinpoint the culprit app.

I've got an ATT 64GB 4S with similar issues. Like others, the audio stops working on about 1 out of 10 calls which is extremely anoying since this is my primary work phone and I am a remote employee who spends a lot of time in conference calls. I prefer to use a wired headset so my hands are free for computer keyboarding, etc. but that unfortunately seems to make the issue happen more frequently and some other wierd stuff as well (noted below).

Other wierd symptoms:

• with wired headset attached, the phone sometimes automatically switches to speakerphone (this only happens with the phone - other audio like iTunes or Netflix never exhibits this behavior) - when this happens, I also cannot hear the person on the other end
• sometimes a caller can't hear me; other times I can't hear the caller - it's quite random
• sometimes when I am making a call, I will see that the connection is made but will have no audio (no ring, no voice) - this one really seems to irritate people that I call - I think they hear me but I can't hear them - makes me sound like a crank caller (so good for business calls)
• bluetooth headset seems to work ok, but I don't use one enough to say for sure how it fares in the long run

Interestingly, I had very similar (but not as bad) issue with my previous 3GS phone that was eventually corrected by replacing the phone. The Apple techs were as nice as could be but still, what a pain.

I have an 4S from almost 2 months and have problems with outgoing calls since then.Yesterday i made un update to IOS 5.1 beta 2 and the problems disappeared.So I suggest to update to 5.1 beta or wait till 5.1 it will be officially released.