iPhone 5s mic problem

xH4wK Thanks for the link I looked it up...Production week 45. Looks lke a bad batch. Any way to raise awareness of this issue with Apple???

It's more than one week. Mine is from Production Week #46.

Same issue here. Week 45. I am not convinced it will be better with newer phones since a lot here have newer phobes and still have the issue. A batch from 2 weeks(45 and 46) will be out of the stores fast. Popular phone.

Too bad Apple embraces radio silence whenever these problems occur. We can only guess what the problem is.

What I did find out.

When I have the problem with the mic. I am in a room by myself with hardly any noise.

When I am in a bus or any other place with sounds around me, the voice is clear or at least better. Seems that this phone with its noise cancelation only works in noisy/ loud area's.

My husband is on his 4th iPhone 5S, and still no improvement with sound quality. He has spent countless hours on the phone and in the Apple and AT&T stores trying to deal with this situation, all to no avail. Apple needs to admit that they screwed up and that the iPhone 5S has a microphone problem. I believe that this is more widespread than most people know, and that many iPhone 5S users are unaware of this issue because they primarily use a Bluetooth device or the speaker, which both sound great. He has tried everything the techs have advised, including resetting the phone, changing the noise cancellation setting, removing the case, etc... These phones have an inherent microphone problem and Apple just won't admit it. On his last visit to the AT&T store, he was told that he would need to address the issue of a "return and refund" directly with Apple, even though AT&T was the one that took our money! 😠 Now, not only do we want to ditch the iPhone 5S for an Android or Blackberrry product, but we also want to cancel our 15+ year relationship with AT&T. Just 2 more corporations that refuse to take responsibility for their actions and products!!!!

Not sure how widespread that really is. You will only find people with issues on forums and my wife's 5S works fine. It is just mine that does have the issue. As stated in earlier posts just put a tiny piece of clear tape on the back micro and the issue goes away immediately. Problem solved for now until this bubbles up further within Apple support and they become aware of it and issue a fix a response.

mrsbaer

As much as I appreciate an easygoing attitude in life...in general...I just spent a grand on this device. I REALLY don't expect to have to "put a piece of tape on it" and hope Apple comes out with a fix...assuming this is software based, which reading through 10 pages of posts, I don't think it is. If I understand my warranty correctly I have 90 days from time of purchase to have Apple remedy a manufcturer's defect. A "wait and see" approach seems pretty risky.

I too have the exact same issue.

I've had my iphone 5S now for exactly 1 month.

Every time the phone is moved more than 1 1/2 inch from right next to the corner of my mouth, the listener says I sound very distant, hard to hear and like I am in a tunnel.

I tried putting a tiny piece of clear cellophane tape over the back microphone and the problem largely resolved.

So, that Microphone is put in to help cancel out peripheral noise. So I imagine it is a software issue which results from the phone thinking my voice is pheripheral noise when I am more than 1.5 inches from the phone.

So I called My-APPLE today and they are going to set me up for a genius bar. But I demonstrated the tape-no-tape issue to the MYAPPLE guy and he agreed that the affect is horrible but fixed by the tape largely.

So now the question is, if I get a new phone will it be fixed or will this just be a tremendous waste of time.

My guess, either Apple needs a software update or a catastrophic call-back (and that won't happen).

They won't give me a refund since today is technically day 31, but with AppleCare, which I have, they will give me replacement, after replacement, after replacement -- go figure!

So I told them to tell the technicians (who I wager already know). I will come back to this thread if I hear anything.

Good luck, everyone. It is a pain, eh?

EVERY DAY I have the same problem. I have been searching for a solution for days. The Genius's are not trained on this problem. Guy told me he has never seen this before. Told me to reset my phone.

3/4 times I use the phone I am told:

"I'm having a REALLY hard time hearing you right now"

"What?!?"

"You sound muffled!"

"You sound garbled"

"Speak up! I can BARELY hear you!!"

Apple Please HELP!!

Read the entire thread to know a temporary solution (scotch tape!) Apple Geniuses are trained in the art of lying and decieving.

I have the same **** problem people hear me badly Any solotion yet?

I think someone mentioned this, but the problem seems to have disappeared for me by both disabling noise cancellation as well as activating hearing aid mode. Anyone else have this combination work?

Same Problem here. 27 new 5s iphones in our company, every day more employes who are stressed of bad speech quality.. It is unbeliveable... we switched from iPhone4 with antenna gate and 80% defect homebuttons to iPhone 5s and paid much money for a premium smartphone and get a so bad product.

I have tried the tape fix, and turning off the noise cancellation - does not fix the problem. Also looked up the production week - mine says week 81, production time was 2008??? I am pretty sure that is wrong.

Anyone else find solutions to this problem? I have an appointment at 4pm today with Apple...but who knows if the problem will fixed. Just got the phone Feb 7th - from Verizon.

I think it is crap we pay so much for a phone and apple cannot fix it, or atleast provide a proper solution!

Did you try turning off noise cancellation and enabling hearing aid mode at the same time?

I did. Still having issues. I am told I go high to low, and then all the sudden I will get loud again. Ive tried this with the phone by my ear or laying down, speaker phone and not speaker phone...

I do think that it has something to do with the software and the microphone by the camera. If the other mic works fine for siri, for text to calls, to face time and all that...it seems like there is a glitch in the way the microphone by the camera works....maybe it isnt working properly. Maybe it is hardware, but probably more software because it seems people have had this issue with updates...mine was fully updated.