iPhone 7 Microphone Cutting Out

There is a microphone on the back of your phone, at the top right next to the flash. It's a tiny pinhole. Make sure that isn't covered by a screen protector. It has to be completely open. I had a glass protector partially covering mine. Removing it, solved my problem.

We have a fleet of around 40 iPhone 6’s and 7’s. We’ve had frequent call audio issues with the iPhone 7, where the recipient of a call from the iPhone hears broken audio.

Through testing, we have managed to replicate the issue. If the caller is talking, and moves the handset away from their face (as shown in the images below), the call recipient hears broken audio, every time! This does not happen at all with our iPhone 6 handsets.

We’ve tired adjusting the noise cancellation settings to no avail.

We have found a temporary fix. By covering the rear mic (in between the camera and flash) with tape the problem disappears, every time!

We’ve been to the Apple store and gotten nowhere with the “genius”.

We also have just bought an iPhone 8, and it’s even worse than the 7!

Note: I've posted this elsewhere on this forum in response to similar questions:

Re: iPhone 7 Plus Phone Call Sound Quality

Very well stated mr.aam I have also been dealing with this problem with 2 IPhone 7's since last year. Apple has replaced 1 of my phones, and after multiple restore's on my phones, I am still dealing with this problem on both of them. The fix for me is the tape on the back microphone which is a complete joke, but does work. This is certainly not good advertising for Apple and not what I expect for very expensive phones.

I have had this same problem with my Iphone 7 for months. I'm on my third one (total replace from Apple) and the problem persists. Apple techs act like its a rare problem, even when I tell them about the thousands of posts online about it.

Anyway, I did the tape over the microphone and it worked! YAY! I'm thinking turning off the noise cancellation mike may work also. But only doing the tape worked great. Hoping it stays that way!

Apple customer service totally FAILED on this. I fixed the problem myself by following advice on the internet. Go figure!

I went to them genius bar recently and they changed out the phone for a brand new one. Happy to say the issue is gone. Phone works perfectly.

Guys, Have you tried covering the rear mic with tape, as mentioned in my post above. This has solved the problem for us in the short term.

Wow, I haven't been here for some time.

Let me kindly update you. I will try to keep it short though, as I wrote quite some extensive updates in the past. I know. 🙂

I told you guys about all the tests, the videos and log files I had made with my senior Apple care service guy to illustrate and demonstrate the problem of the mic cutting out on my iPhone 7 as good as possible for Apple Engineering.

That was already all sent to Apple Engineering and they researched it. Many many many lines of code and much more.

Then Apple Engineering wanted my iPhone 7 as well as they wanted to have the device itself of the tests and in the videos to research it's state, the hardware and all, and as such it was exchanged by Apple for another iPhone. Actually a 7 Plus which was a nice gesture of them. But that iPhone 7 Plus has the same problem. Just by holding it still and steady, I can work quite ok with it. So that is my 'workaround'. But using it for example in the car (or other somewhat 'unsteady' & 'wobly' situations) it quite frequently has those mic cutting problems still. So not ideal still.

My iPhone 7 was - as explained above - picked up by Apple and sent over to Cupertino (Apple Headquarter, US) together again with all the information, the videos, log files and all. A nice 'problem-package' for them to work with.

Now, Apple Engineering has apparently cracked the problem. They discovered already shortly after that it was a problem that could be fixed by a software update. Though it was not so easy to just do this as one change on one level can impact another thing on another level. Complicated matters.

The good great amazing news is that we can be well assured now that iOS 11 - that will be released soon - is going to fix this problem once and for all (I am told). Fingers crossed!

iOS 11 is only available as beta at the moment, so I haven't tested it. I don't want to try out beta's. But I am willing to believe and hope for it to be the solution to this really unpleasant annoying problem.

So that's it guys. There's light at the end of the tunnel.

Let's hope iOS 11 will indeed bring this misery to an end, and bring back all the happiness and joy 😉 I want to believe that for now 😀

Take care!

Similar complaints to what I was receiving. Never a problem on my end, but the people on the other end would tell me that they couldn't hear me, to speak up, I sounded distorted, muffled, etc., and was often told that it sounded like I was in a tunnel. I noticed this same thing when I would call my wife from her end (we both have IPhone 7's) It didn't matter if I called them, or they called me. Not sure about the 7+, but the microphone that I am talking about is behind a very small hole which is located between the rear camera lens and flash. A small piece of tape over this corrects the sound problem, but it is a BS fix for a high dollar phone.

I didn't get back to my previous post quickly enough after getting off the phone with Senior AC specialist. So this is the plan of action, go into my local apple store tomorrow and get a new iphone 7 plus.......................................

I will keep you all updated if a new 7 plus from a newer batch has a hardware difference sufficient enough to remedy this audio issue.

Same issue, but when I connect a Bluetooth hands free headset, it is crystal clear. Pretty sure I have an issue with the microphone within the phone itself and will have to send it in to get fixed.

Have you tried covering the rear mic (hole between flash and rear camera) with tape? With has solved the issue (until Apple sort it properly!) 100% for us.

Second time in a month this has occurred. First time it seemed to work itself out. Today calls cut out mid call. Voice memo works fine, Siri works fine. Tried FaceTime and didn't work, regular call got wind tunnel or extreme background noise, slightly better on speakerphone but had to shout in order for other person to hear. Called apple support they said go to Verizon.

Contact AppleCare, get a senior guy specialized in iPhones.

Explain that you have iOS11 final already running on your device and it has no fix to the mic cutting out problem.

Don't waste your time and energy here. Try to keep it efficient. Because you're going in circles now.

When you like to go to the Genius bar on monday, feel free. But keep in mind what I wrote about the Genius bar already versus AppleCare's senior specialists that are only available via phone (and email, when appointed to you).

Relax ttttttaaas. Please canalize your energy in a direction that can deliver results. Take care.

Dear ttttttaaas,

Bad news.

I have done a full restore of my iPhone 7 Plus, not using any back-ups, just the iOS11 only. Even turned the phone off and on after activation.

The mic-cutting-out problem is still there.

Actually my senior AppleCare guy was super interested yesterday and today to find out, and in the afternoon he reached out to me if I installed the iOS11 already. If so he wanted to test it with me to find out if the problem was solved. This evening (The Netherlands) we were able to do as such and after the test between him and me, I could hear in his voice that he was seriously disappointed when he had to conclude that the problem was still there.

He happened to receive half an hour before from Apple Engineering an email, to ask if the iOS11 had fixed the mic-cutting-out problem that we have been addressing to them for quite a long time now. My senior AppleCare guy will inform that it's not the case, that the problem is still the same. So Apple Engineering is already informed that there's no improvement to this issue with iOS11.

We are all quite disappointed.

My AppleCare guy will keep me in the loop regarding next steps or when new information is received from engineering.

May I encourage you and others to keep reaching out to AppleCare by phone. And address this problem.

I am seriously disappointed. Was really hoping for a solution by now. Many many months I've spent on this problem with my senior AppleCare guy. I should not loose faith regarding a fix for this issue, but my 'faith' is quite dented at the moment.

Please share your experiences here and inform AppleCare via phone directly as well, so they receive as much feedback as possible. That's most important. As much direct feedback as possible. Not only this thread, but real conversations with AppleCare people where they can and will log and register all the various users with this same problem.

When I know more, I will post it again here.

Take care for now.

My iPhone 7 had this same problem. My voice would cut out during calls. Finally I found the solution! Go into Settings, Privacy, Microphone, Turn off microphone access for those apps.

That fixed the problem.