iOS 6 on iPhone 4: earbud mic sensitivity

I'm having this same issue as well with my iPhone 4. I even tried restoring and reloading iOS 6 again. It didn't work. I also tried a different pair of earbuds, as well an entirely different kind of earphones with mic (Applie compatible). It still didn't help. I just got an iPhone 5 and it has the same problem but not as severe. Apple must have screwed something up with the update.

I am also having the same issue I have iphone 4 and when I use any headset with a mic it's way too loud I can hear myself much louder than the other person it's not even feasible to use. Apple please fix I use constantly for conference calls and is a major issue.

I too am having this problem. It's bugging the heck out of me! I wish I could go back to the last iOS version.

I'm having the same issue. Very annoying. I hope for some update to fix it.

Yep. Same here. Very annoying. Hope there's a fix soon.

I just called Apple and they are not aware of this! It is happening to me. iPhone 5 with the new ear buds and my iPhone 4S earbuds. Same sensitivity issue. Everybody I talk to now complains about background noise my mic is picking up. We need to start calling to complain. There is no issue in apples mind.

Same problem here. Basically can't use my headset because the person on the end can hear absolutely everything, including my breathing, my footsteps, my keyboard clacking as I type....

Iphone 4, Bose headset and Shure headset.

I may have found a temporary fix????

When on a call with my headset, I click over to speaker phone and then back to my headset. I lose all of the annoying sensitivity in the mic and it sounds just like it did with iOS5. Can someone test this and confirm?

That technique works for me. In the process, I may have also discovered that this only seems to happen when I take the call without the headset and then put the headset in.

Once the problem is happening, switching to speaker and back fixed it for me.

Thanks for that |Mook|, I really needed that fix. I use my headset for almost all my calls.

Works for me, but don't know why. Still what the heck ... does the job 🙂

I can also confirm that if I'm listening to music when a call comes in, the problem doesn't occur 🙂

I have the same background noise issue. I just recorded some tests, and keyboard taps on my laptop and even footsteps are amplified very loudly. The "fix" above made no difference.

Same here, tried switching to speaker and back, made no difference, it's still way too sensitive. Not fixed in 6.0.1 either 😟

Will have to report it to Apple iphone feedback.

Ditto. Iphone 5 with 6.0

Same thing here. The mic is so darn sensitive that I can't talk to someone without them thinking I'm in a war zone.

Relieved to hear this is a common problem. Same - everyone I talk to complains that they can hear every little background amplified and it's deafening to them.

My imperfect fix is to mute the phone while they are talking and unmute only to speak. The mic seems to be a litlte better when I'm talking, better at amplifying my voice more than background sounds so the background is less disturbing.

I will try the speaker trick, however, and I will call Apple to complain, if they are not aware of this problem!