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

i bought a waterproof case but it wasn't a life proof because Im not trying to waste money and I was using it in the pool all day and then I saw that headphone thing and had a heart attack. When I saw your idea I thought you were crazy and then I though hey what do have to lose. The second this worked I was never so happy for the Internet. Thank you so much for the help🙂

I just suffered from this problem. what i did is i took Q tip( Air bud) , since it is thick earlier, remove some cotton from it so that it will exactly fit into the jack then push it into the jack till the end and move there( make a circular move or sometime directly forcefully insert into the jack n then remove it), you will notice black material coming out with the cotton, remove it with many attempts and then check whether the problem solved or not....you can wet the cotton sightly but don't make it heavily.

My problem got solved in very short time. Hope this works for you too!

Just created an account to say thanks! I got caught in the rain today and then several hours later my iPhone receiver wouldn't work. The volume adjustment said "headphones" when nothing was plugged in. Based on the advice here, I rolled up a tissue very tightly and stuck it in the headphone jack, then pushed it in as far as it would go using a paperclip. When I removed the tissue, the receiver worked! Thanks for the advice, everyone - you saved me a trip to the Apple Store!

Using a Qtip after removing the cotton from the head and inserting it into the headphone jack worked for me!

Thanks for all the helpful hints. It works for now but I think I am going to take my iPhone 6 to get it looked at under warranty. Issues like this should not be really happening. Should they on a phone less than 1 year old?

mine still isn't working i have tried everything but no, i dropped in the bath. this is the second time i have the first time i manage to shake out all excess water but no luck this time i need urgent HELP!!!

I Had this issue with an old phone as well as my new week old phone, they key to fixing it is a paper clip and patience! It takes a lot of wiggiling and twisting before you get it just right and it's fixed! Make sure the paper clip gets right to the end of the jack

II'll just share my ultimate solution. I too also noticed the little detent balls inside (1 on one side near the rim, and two in a row slightly deeper in on the other side of the jack interior. (A headlamp is very useful when inspecting the inside of this jack.) anyway, I tried exercising the spring-loaded detent balls but found it to have no effect. One ball did appear not to be protruding as much, but nothing I did to manipulate it with the paper clip had an effect. I figured there must be something in the recess with one of the detent balls, but was not coming out by simply pushing on them with the paper clip. So...

1) I turned off the phone to reduce the possibility of damaging it while doing the next step.

2) I used an air compressor (120 psi) with an air gun that had a needle inflator (the kind used to inflate basketballs and soccer balls) on it. these needle inflators always have the air outlet hole on the side of the needle, not the tip. So I simply shoved that into the headphone jack opening, all the way in, and moved it around a fair bit while activating the air gun to blow air all around inside the jack interior, focusing the air outlet on the needle to especially blow on each of the detent balls.

3) I turned the phone back on to test it and it once again worked properly, accurately registering that no headphones were attached, and properly playing my voicemails through the handset speaker. Success!

Hopefully this helps someone else.

Mine was also due to the phone falling on hardpack snow. Crazy that it continues to plague the jack/phone hours afterward, as it does seem to be simply some residual moisture that is the culprit. You'd think it would spontaneously dry on its own within a short amount of time (say, an hour)...but nope! As posted previously I was able to dry/fix it using an air compressor with a needle inflator attached.

You are going to have to reset your iphone so please follow the following steps:

Plug your iphone into a computer ( most likely a macbook of any kind)

1. Hold down the home and sleep button at the same time.

2. When you see the apple logo keep holding in till you see the itunes logo and let go.

3. Then follow the directions on your computer to reset your iphone

Good Luck, Let me know if this helped you!!!

Sucking really hard on the headphone jack worked like a charm for me. I had dropped my iPhone 6 Plus in snow. Nothing seemed affected except the headphone problem. This solution was by far the easiest and worked perfectly. I had already tried paper clips etc to no avail.

No luck for me. I just replaced the kit "jack port + silent mode + volume +/-" and almost everything is ok, but the minijack port appears to be damaged and I got no sound. I tryed everything in this topic, but nothing was useful for fixing it.

The only thing I can do is to try to change the product or buy another and install againg (it only was 1€ + mail costs)

Wow! IT WORKED!

My iPhone 6s did the same thing last night and I was freaking out. First it didn't work and I was very disappointed, but then I decided to give it another try and it worked like magic. Thank you very much.

The 'folded paper clip' method worked for me too when the cue tips and rolled up tissue failed. I didn't have a paper clip so I used a metal BBQ skewer instead. It took and bit of work and I was worried I was causing damage to the jack sticking and prying the skewer around but it eventually worked and there was no damage done. Thanks!

This worked for me as well, I tried the paper clip and other options listed but the Q-tip worked. Mind you I did it after the tissue rolled up and the paper clip. I also tried to connect to a bluetooth speaker option to no avail.

ive woken up and gone to listen to music to find out that no sound is coming out but when I plug my headphones in it works , when I take them out it still thinks that they are there... I've tried to paper clip and cotton bud but neither have worked. Don't know if I'm doing it wrong or what but can anyone help?