Q: iphone 6 headphone jack Issues

Here are two photos showing the headphone jacks mentioned in my previous post.

hendrik, your post and picture are spot on with the issues I am having. The jacks with the metal at the base are the ones causing the issue. I hope Apple addresses this issue and sends us a rubber bumper to avoid the shorting.

I tried the Apple earpods out for the first time last night on my iPhone 6 plus. I too experienced crackling of the audio from slight movement of the earpod cable and Siri randomly kicking in.

Today I plugged in a brand new set of earphones supplied with the Samsung Galaxy S4 and it worked perfectly... I can flap, wiggle and jump about with no problems with the audio at all.

Hope Apple will sort this out soon.

I havnt listened to audio from my phone using the jack since I bought my phone at its release, I have been using bluetooth speakers. Today I plugged in the headphones that I received with the phone and have noticed significant issues with either the jack or the headphones themselves. After reading the previous posts I was excited to learn that I just needed to plug the headphones in until it clicked, and yes, it worked.... to an extent. The feedback I was getting from the cord wiggling was gone but the audio would still cut out. I noticed this first when I was texting, having small hands I need two hands to use most of the features with the standard iPhone 6. I would gently rest my pinky on the headphone plug for support and the light movement from my fingers scrolling across the screen caused the audio to cut. I unplugged the jack, put it back in and my audio was back. I then continued to text being careful not to touch the headphones, it shorted again. I thought maybe it was a multi-tasking issue that could be fixed with an update. I closed all my apps but the audio source and started to clean my house. The audio would continue to short out at random intervals. An interesting thing I noticed, unlike the previous iPhones I have had, when the headphones got disconnected my audio would still play though no sound was coming from the headphones or the built in speakers. My hypothesis is the "tight" bit of the jack that clicks when you plug the headphones all the way in is so small that the headphone connector can come dislodged with the tiniest movement in the right way, however to resume audio unplugging and re-plugging the headphones themselves is necessary. Paired with the shorts with cellular service from iOS 8, I am very disappointed with this new iphone. I am hoping that the audio issues is a software issue and not a hardware issue. I highly doubt Apple will do a complete recall of all the iPhones with the audio issue if it is a hardware issue. 

TThis solved problem with my noise canceling earphone.  Thanks...was afraid I would break something!

I was having the same problem with my aftermarket headphone, took a piece of plastic poked to headphone jack through it to create a washer and problem solved. It's definitely the metal part of the jack that's creating the problem.

Hi Guys,

I wanted to add in my experience here as I have been dealing with Apple regarding this issue for the last week. I have pointed the product specialist I have been dealing with to this thread in hope that it will provide Apple with a better understanding of what is happening.

My iPhone 6 is a 64GB Space Grey model (Not plus). My first phone was diagnosed with the issue at the Apple Retail Store and was determined to be faulty. My second iPhone 6 (same specs) also has the same issue. I have resorted to using an iPod for my music until this issue is resolved.

I will break down the issues and what I have done to diagnose it.

Issues:

- The EarPods make a crackle when the headphone jack is moved either by accident (being in my pocket) or by rotating the jack.

- The Music App will pause songs at random and will need the jack to be unplugged and plugged back in to regain control.

- The volume/pause buttons on the EarPods at random will become unresponsive and will need the jack to be unplugged and plugged back in to regain control.

Diagnostic steps for the iPhone 6:

- Wipe the iPhone and restore iOS 8.0 (This has been done with AND without restoring from a previous backup to rule out any software corruption)

- Tested with Apple EarPods that come with the iPhone 6

- Tested with Apple EarPods that came with the iPhone 5C

- Tested with Sennheiser Headphones

- Tested with 3.5mm Headphone jack to Stereo RCA plugs

- Tested with External Speakers via headphone jack

- Plugged in all connectors as far as they would go in the iPhone 6 headphone port

After trying all the above, the crackle is worse in 3rd party headphones (and speakers) but it is still noticeable with the Apple EarPods.

As for the different headphones I have tried both sets of EarPods, the Sennheiser Headphones and the Speakers on a family members iPhone 5C and the issues are not present at all. The metal base on the 3rd party headphones could very well be making the crackle worse BUT, the crackle is still present on the Apple EarPods which have plastic at the base.

The headphone port on the 5C sits flush with the Apple EarPods and even moving, rotating and turning the headphone jack in the 5C does not produce any crackle at all.

I have not updated to iOS 8.0.1 or 8.0.2 due to the "potential" issues with loss of signal etc but I am happy to try this. I do not believe however that this is a software issue, but that is not up to me to decide.

The only way I can get the EarPods to work with no crackle or issue is when I physically hold the headphone jack in place pushing towards the headphone port. Anything less and it crackles. Obviously I can't hold it all the time so I will just use an iPod in the interim.

A quick tip for those who purchased via the Online store and wish to get a replacement from an Apple retail store, from my experience, this is not possible. They can facilitate the return for you, but your refund will only come once the Apple Online store receives the faulty item and processes your refund from their end.

I learnt the hard way with now 5 hours of phone calls, 6 hour round trip and I am out just under $2,000 as I had to purchase a new phone and in the end send my faulty one away as the Apple Retail store's system would not let them scan it to replace.

Throughout all this, Apple has been great and the Stores and tech support have been excellent but I am waiting to see a resolution to this problem before I get my phone replaced again. (Note, I was informed that I could return the iPhone to a retail store for a replacement but later once I was already on my way there I was called back to be informed that they may not be able to do a replacement but would do their best).

Good luck everyone, I hope this issue is resolved soon!

Where were you able to find the 3.5mm TOS optical rubber boot that you talked about?

Interested on the progress of this thread but I have to say, my iPhone 6 which I've used a number of headphones (Shures, Velodyne, Bose, Sennheiser) without any issues with the contacts. I think some iPhone 6 headphone jacks have QC issues.

My experience with this issue has led me to this same conclusion. Third-party headphones have a tiny little metal lip that comes in contact with the iPhone 6's metal exterior and creates some kind of unintended circuit. The circuit then presumably sends the phone the same kind of signal as a remote button press would, only in an uncontrolled and random manner. The problem doesn't happen with Apple's headphones, because they don't have the extra little lip, like you pointed out.

The only fixes available to us right now are to keep the metal lip from touching the iPhone's metal casing, by adding some kind of barrier: dental floss has worked well for me!

Hopefully, Apple will address this somehow, though I don't see how. Little rubber rings for everyone? Haha.

Same issue when i put the headphones (4 different ones; 2 apple and 2 third party) into the jack it crackles and cuts in and out all the time.  I feel like I have a faulty headphone port.  Have an appointment for tomorrow at the genius bar which is thankfully only 30 minutes away.  Hope the still have some replacements. This will be my 3rd!! first has dead pixels now this headphone jack port.  I have not been lucky or the QC has been pretty loose.

iphone 6 plus 64gb Space

I had the same issue with my 128GB 6.  I had a pair of Ultimate Ears that worked fine with my iPhone 5 and I would get get crackling, random pauses and unintended Siri activation.  I tried a pair of Apple in-ears which worked fine until the control button stopped working.  (They were an older pair so that could be coincidental).  Finally, I switched to a pair of Velodyne V-Pulses and it's been fine since.  I'm glad to know that it's not just me.

I experienced this issue with my first iPhone 6 Plus I got on release day. After swapping it for a new unit at the Apple store I don't have the issue at all. Appears to be a defect in the first batch that has been resolved.

I'm having the same issue! Every pair of headphones, including the ones that came with my iPhone 6, don't seem to fit properly and are causing the audio playback to cut out and stop constantly. It's incredibly frustrating. I'm going to try to go talk to someone at the Apple store this week.

Went into the Apple Store and had it replaced. There was no issue with the replacement and it was quick. Hope this is the last time and I just had some awful luck. I love the phone but I am a little leary with all these returns. Anyway, new one works great. Hope I have better luck when I replace my iPad 2 this winter.