Iphone 8 voice quality issue

Have finally solved the voice quality issue on my 8 plus. A tech at Consumer Cellular found the solution. Go to Settings, General, Accessibility, then under hearing, turn off Phone Noise Cancellation.
The other thing that also improves the quality is to turn on Speaker

This fixed my problem on the iPhone 8. I’m also on AT&T. Thank you so much!

*Settings > General > Accessibility

Under “Hearing” turn off Phone Noise Cancellation.

Folks,

Like to share our experience with voice audio quality issue on the iPhone 8, the specific issue, anyone you talk to is having problem hearing you, like static, drop outs and various other problems. The issue does not happen all the time, seem to build up to the issue, good quality at first then over time it gets worse and worse. Others are staring to report this issue. The iPhone 8 itself has no problem with hearing the other end of the call's audio.

https://www.macrumors.com/2017/09/25/iphone-8-plus-owners-static-sound-calls/amp /

https://forums.att.com/t5/Apple/Poor-call-quality-on-iphone-8/td-p/5287444

What I have been able to determine is it LTE issue, if you turn off the LTE feature on the phone and force it to 4G only the audio is fine, also making a wifi call or Facetime audio or video calles as long as it using wifi to make the Facetime call it is fine (IE turn off Cellular data). VoLTE seem to be the the issue, even turning off VoLTE and just doing LTE data does not always clear the problem. I did a bunch of testing and was able to isolate the issue.

Spoke to Apple and they are claiming no issue, they test the phone using the onboard diagnostics and it shows no issue so they refuse to replace the phone. The Apple tech kept saying as long as the diagnostics do not show an issue there is nothing they can do. Also kept repeating that Apple and AT&T continue to work on voice quality over the network, it is something we have to live with until the network is improved. This happen no matter if the phone has full bars or 1 bar, does not matter if you call another cellphone or a land line, everyone on the receiving side hears bad audio.

We were going to demonstrate the issue to the apple tech, and they could care less they kept repeating like a broken record, if the test show everything working the phone is fine, and any audio problem with a call is most likely the network.

In our house we have an old iPhone 5, iPhone 6 and iPhone 6s took the SIM card out of the 8 put into all the other phones and no audio problems what so every. Only the iPhone 8 had the issue. So that tells me the network is working fine.

We have had iPhones since the first, along with iPads and Laptops and always got Apple care even though most times we never had to use it, however, when we had any sort of issue with iPhones Apple just replaced the phone no questions asked. My son replaced his iPhone 4 times, because of display clicking, home button not working all the time, the power on and volume buttons intermitting working. This is the first time we ran into an issue with Apple absolutely refusing to replace the phone, they even refuse to just swap our SIM into another iPhone 8 to see if the problem stayed with the phone or moved with the SIM or as they claim it is a network issue which AT&T needs to address. What is interesting to note, no one on Verizon, Sprint or T-Mobile is having the issue.

After talking to Apple and AT&T they seem to know about this issue but are refusing to do anything at this point, They want you to do a network reset on the phone, reload software from scratch, turn off VoLTE or LTE all together. Doing this does seem to temporarily clear up the issue, but I suspect it will come back when you do not expect it. I am thinking it has something to do with the new LTE modem in the phone, and the new EVS Audio Codec which requires updates to the LTE network which AT&T has yet to do.

http://wccftech.com/iphone-8-8-plus-and-iphone-x-supports-evs-audio-codec-for-im proved-voice-quality-and-galileo-gps/

It would be interesting hear how many people are running into this issue.

In my case it was the wallet-like flip case that was causing the voice quality problem. Upon receiving calls It was covering the mic at the back [besides the camera].

Changed the case, problem solved !! Yay!! 🙂

I had this on an iPhone 8 Plus, problem was the leather wallet case, when opened back on itself to make a call it caused my voice to sound muffled. Took the case off and used the phone naked and problem gone. Something to do with the little mic between camera lenses being interfered with by the case. Turning off noise reduction made no difference for me.

Try Settings, General , Accessibilty, then turn off Phone Noise Cancellation. That worked on mine.

Same problem here on my iphone 8 on EE network in the UK. Tried all the suggestions (settings, new simm, hard reset, etc) and eventually ended up at Genius Bar in Apple store and they diagnosed a faulty bottom right microphone and gave me a replacement handset. They said microphone can’t be repaired. online fault testing with Apple didn't find this but as soon as test was run in the genius bar they found a microphone fault.

I thought that a replacement handset had sorted it…..however, I've still got exactly the same problem though- intermittent poor call quality where people can’t hear what I’m saying. Tried all options with carrier but getting nowhere. it’s really difficult to pin down as the fault is intermittent…. a call to EE tonight no problems. A call to Apple support shortly after and they couldn’t hear me. apple suggested I go back to Genius bar again....

I have the same problem on Sprint. I HADto turn off the noise cancellation off on my iPhone 8 Plus. It made talking impossible. The person on the other end said that I was “breaking up” and sounded like I was underwater.

Thanks for the fix. Turning off Noise Cancellation fixed mine. I have Verizon so it’s not just AT&T

Hi

Nothing wrong with phone speaker or software only remove your factory install screen protector it’s cover the the top speaker one beside the camera that’s all problem solved

Thanks

Ahmed

If your phone is in a case remove it out of it and then try calling. That was my problem.

I bought 2 8+ and both have a muffled voice. People in the other end constantly ask me to speak louder or complain that they can’t hear. I exchanged one of the phones to see if i just got unlucky but the same problem resurfaced with the exchange. Thinking of returning both phones at this point.

I also have the same issue my voice sounding muffled and low to the caller. I'm on Three UK network, so tis not limited to AT&T in the US, but also in the UK. I've tested all IOS versions even beta versions of iOS 11.2, same issue.

I called Apple support with the same iPhone 8 plus, and they could not hear me clearly and had to switch to speaker in order for them to hear me better. They replaced it without question, but... my new iPhone 8 plus replacement has the same issue. I switched the SIM to my old iPhone 6s, and works fine. They said it's a microphone issue, but I doubt that's the case as WhatsApp, Skype, and others all have very clear call quality.

One thing that has changed is Apple support. When called last week I got this reply " It sounds amazingly good to me." So i tested him, and turned the microphone off, and still said "sounds good. I can't hear any problem.", Yes, you could not hear any problem or even sound, as the microphone was OFF!! I guess this is the new solution.

Hi Mustang,

Thank you for your post about your issues. I have an appointment for the Genius Bar next Saturday and now know what to expect from them as I have had the same issues. I am a beta tester, so when I first called about the problem, they said that as long as I had a higher version using the beta test, they could not assist. That it was probably the beta version of iOS 11.2.5 that I was currently on. Thier suggestion was to go back to the current iOS version of 11.2.2. I had to set up my phone on reset as if it was a brand new phone. The only issue I had was that I had many text messages that I did not download the pictures from, that I would not be able to recover. I of course then had to go to iTunes and look at redownloading any purchases I had in the past. In one way that was a good thing in that I could be more selective of what apps I wanted. If I had not signed into FB or game center, then of course those games I would have to start back on level one. Again not a big issue. So, I did all that even after telling the tech, that I had a feeling based on the support boards that this was not going to create a fix to the sound quality issues I was having. I was correct, 8 out of 10 people I talk to say that I am muffled or sound like I am in a tunnel when we talk.

I find it hard to believe that having an iPhone since the first generation back in the 3 series and this is the first time I have had consistent problems with the quality of sound talking to people. It does not matter what location, I am in or whether I have a case on the phone or not. So I think whether Apple is admitting to it or not, there are problems with the iPhone 8 Plus (the phone I have) sound quality. There you go, that is my story. I have been contemplating going to an Android but felt I would upgrade from the 6+ to the 8+ because I felt there were enough good changes to the iPhone that I would give it one more shot. I am now second guessing that choice. Will see how things go at my Genius Bar appointment on Saturday.

I upgraded my iPhone 6 to an 8 two weeks ago. On the very first day, the people I called complained about not hearing me well -- "I am only hearing every third word you are saying", "you sound like you are in a tunnel (or underwater)", etc.

Ten days ago, I took the phone to a local Apple-authorized support shop, they ran the Apple audio diagnostics apps and also reported no problems. I finally convinced them to call me from a separate room. It took about three minutes of random chatting before they FINALLY heard the problem firsthand. The phone was sent back to Apple and I picked up the replacement ("new" they told me) this week. Today was the first chance I had to make several phone calls and AGAIN those I'm calling are complaining about the EXACT SAME audio problem! According to them, it does seem a little better if I use plug-in audio set, but still not great. Using the "WiFi for calls" option does not seem to matter. I have owned nothing but iPhones since version 4 and am really disappointed to find out this problem is not just with my TWO new 8's.