iphone thinks headphones are plugged in even when not - how to fix

made a video tutorial

FIX headphone iphone - YouTube

If nothing works, such as q-tip trick, un-plug in and plug in of the headphone, bluetooth speaker trick, the Setting/General/Accessibility/incoming calls (audio routing for newer software)/set speaker, then headset, turning on shazam, activiate siri...etc. TRY THIS, 1) have someone call you, 2) turn on to speaker mode, 3)turn off the speaker, 4) plug in your headphone, 5) un-plug headphone. This should work!

So I had this issue and did ALL the tricks on youtube. ALL of them DID NOT work. But this did work. You can follow all the steps he did but what I did was a bit more basic. I went to Setting/General/Accessibility/audio routing -set speaker.

Then I used gmail to call myself but I'm sure you can have someone just call you. It should answer in speaker mode. (Having someone call YOU is important because I called someone and this did not work.)

When you answer the phone and its on speaker mode hit the home button and go to podcasts or Spotify or anything that play sounds(I used podcast) then while the phone is still on the call in speaker mode play something and you should hear it on the speaker simutaniously as the phone call. then while its playing the audio hang up on the phone call.

This was the only thing that worked. I was so excited that I actually signed up for an account after 10 years with an iPhone just to post this.

Hope this helps.

Had the same problem. Couldn't hear incoming calls, Siri, or music through the phone speaker, though speakerphone worked fine. When using airplay, "Headphones" was an option, even though nothing was plugged in.

I tried restart, hard reset, and cleaning the headphone jack. I was just about convinced I had a hardware problem - a short of some kind.

This is what finally worked (found via google in a thread from 2008):

1) Turn off bluetooth

2) Hard reset

3) Turn on bluetooth

Saved me a trip to the Genius Bar.

I had read every single post and tried ALL of the suggestions numerous times to no avail. I saw yours (had to google how to turn on/off voiceover (settings/general/accessability) and tried it. Worked!!! Thanks SO much. I was beginning to feel a little desperate!

After several hours of frustration, and trying EVERYTHING on this forum with zero luck, frustration took over. I walked to the trash can, opened it up & dropped my phone into it.

My dad, puzzled at my decision decided to fish it out, & trouble shoot.

The steps are rather simple, and it works everytime!

1. Plug a headphone/aux cord into the port 7-8 times, once done keep removed

2. After doing so, perform a soft reset by holding both the lock & home button.

3. once the apple logo appears, release the buttons & when it turns on the volume should be set to ringer

If you plan on using headphones & again, and none of the other methods worked, unfortunately you will have to repeat this procedure after every use, but its better then paying to get it fixxed.

Okay, so here I am FREAKING OUT because I JUST got my new iPhone 6s Plus and I drop it in the bath! So I immediately take it off, take off the case, and dry it. I realize... it's stuck in headphone mode! I clean it with a q-tip, put headphones on and off, and then turned it off and on, did the whole call and uncall, did the Spotify thing... yep nothing works. So I watch and watch, and EVERYONE is telling me to hold down the power button and home button. They said it turns it off. So I just ignored it. I finally did it, and it turned out to be my fix

I've been trying to get this issue fixed on my iPhone 6 almost all day. I never use headphones and my phone has never had any water or physical damage. I tried SO MANY things and what finally worked for me was this.. HOLD DOWN THE VOLUME UP AND DOWN BUTTONS AT THE SAME TIME, WHILE STILL HOLDING THESE DO A HARD RESET. SO ALL THE STEPS YOU WILL DO AT THE SAME TIME ARE HOLD DOWN THE VOLUME UP AND DOWN BUTTONS WHILE HOLDING DOWN THE HOME BUTTON AS WELL AS THE BUTTON ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF YOUR PHONE. ONCE YOU SEE THE WHITE SCREEN WITH THE APPLE YOU CAN LET GO OF ALL BUTTONS. THIS SHOULD FIX THE ISSUE! I really hope this saves someone a lot of the hassle I've been through!!

Ask cliche as it sounds, if you think it is water damage, put your phone in rice and brightness all the way up. Make sure your screen doesn't turn off. If you don't wait too long after dropping it in water (or snow like I did), play music full blast and when the water is gone, music will start playing. I did this and my phone was fine and playing music in 20 minutes. Leave it as long as you can. If this doesn't help, you may have to pay to fix it:(

There might be something in the headphone jack, maybe lint, dirt, or something else in there.

You might be able to get it out by connecting the headphones 5-10x or spraying compressed air into the jack.

If that doesn't do it, try resetting or restoring the iPhone.

Thank you so much for sharing this! I was a little skeptical, but nothing else worked so I tried your solution. (No offense, but it seemed a little risky!) I had barely turned the paper clip and I heard a "click" and the problem was fixed!

Mine just did that too! I read bout putting things in there, I got a toothpick and flicked some lint out! Tried it still was saying headphones, so I put it in there again and just flicked it around in there in a circle for abit then pressed the volume but and it fixed it

I HAD TO MAKE AN ACCOUNT JUST TO THANK YOU!! Late night munchies got me spillin cereal all over myself and apparently my phone too. I read so many different “solved” tips from years ago, up to a recent one from 2017. I know the jack is gone & I don’t even use my headphones, I use Bluetooth ones, but it’s so annoying that if it thinks there are headphones in, there’s no way around that! Your iPhone will play everything over “hearphones” that ARENT EVEN THERE! Omg I was so mad. All those tips & responses thanking each other. NOTHING WORKED FOR ME!! But a simple charger plugged in; changing the ringer volume, I held my breath as I took the charger out, and kept pressing the volume buttons and it didn’t change to headphones! It stayed on RINGER! And it’s magically fixed. Thank you SO MUCH. I have a show starting in 7 hours of my favorite artist, and I have to take videos and pics, and I spent the last 2 hours working on fixes that didn’t work!!! So. I had to make an account just to say thanks for an answer you posted years ago. It saved me today. Thank you.

I tried the paper clip trick but I thought it didn't work. So I tried sucking the air out and I thought that worked but I realized it was actually the paper clip later while messing with it while watching something. So if you want to know if

I tried EVERYTHING else, and this worked right away, LOL! It sounds so ridiculous, but it actually worked! And I didn't get some nasty surprise when I did it - I think one of the metal prongs was just stuck. Thanks for the tip!

I got a bit of rain in mine and it said (headphones)

fixed it by rolling up a thin bit of toilet paper that is quite long and inserting it in, then with a small screwdriver (or a paper clip) pushing it in gently so as much of the paper folded round itself as possible in layers. Left it for a few minutes and removed!

I also used a q-tip removing the majority of the cotton just to make the end fuzzy. After inserting it in the headphone port and a small turn, I got a fairly large grey Lint matching my pockets lint... The headphones must have compacted it up in its sensors. I used it dry, no moisture and it worked perfectly... Resetting the phone just made a mess of my set preferences. :-( it was a physical problem than a software reset issue for me.