iphone 8 poor/sensitive mic during call

I found this interesting post on a similar mic issue thread for the iPhone X (thanks to brentwoodkennyg):

I sound muffled or underwater, but only sometimes. Other calls are perfect. Tried all of the fixes in this forum - Network reset, LTE off/on, full reset, wi-fi calls off. Noise cancellation off. With and without cover. Got a replacement phone from the Apple store. None of it helped and now I know why...

The issue turned out to be how I was holding the phone. There are three microphones on the X and one of them is located by the camera on the back of the phone. Even though I didn't cover it while holding the X (with fingers and thumb on the sides of the phone, I apparently was close enough to make that mic behave differently. When I move my phone-holding position in the same grip to the bottom part of the phone, the problems vanish. I have run through a series of test with my "complainers" and this seems to pinpoint the root cause. It's either user error or a design flaw, but there is a simple workaround. Hold the phone at the bottom of the case and definitely not near the top. Problem Solved!

Update as to why this works: Apple has designed noise cancellation into the talking side of the phone. (This is different than the noise cancellation in the Accessibility settings - those are for the listening not speaking). Anyway, there is a small mic on the back of the X by the camera. It's purpose is to listen for ambient noise (think crowded bar) and to cancel that noise from what it hears from the mics on the front at bottom of the phone. Those mics hear your voice talking plus they hear the ambient noise (crowded bar). The software "subtracts" the bar sound from what it hears on the front and the listener never hears the bar noise - just your voice. (You can test this by completely covering the back mic hole with your finger - then the listener hears the bar noise and has trouble hearing your voice).

Anyway, this is a really great feature - except that if you hold the phone near the top, it channels part of your voice into that back mic and it ends up canceling out all or part of your voice. So I have to hold my phone at the bottom and things work fine. This also explains problems with folding phone cases and issues when you are holding the phone between neck and shoulder.

Hi - I have an iPhone X and had the same issue, I have just spent all morning on the phone to Apple and in the end it turned out to be my very expensive Snakehive case for my phone. Try taking the phone out of the case and try phoning someone, I couldn’t believe it. Basically there are three mic’s and two of them were being blocked by my case 🙄

Hi all

I've been in IT for 20 years. Just gave my son an iphone 8 for Christmas and it had the "mic issue."

Read through the forums and this isn't a hardware issue. Process of elimination makes it clear it's affecting too many diverse pieces of equipment and different equipment batches to be a hardware problem. Further - the problem only exists on the Apple Phone app. 3rd party apps don't have the issue using the same physical hardware, case, etc.

It's a software issue. Having been in networking and Cisco IPT for a long time - listened carefully during test calls and the voice was clear if shouting or in loud environments but crappy in quiet or normal environments. This points to one thing - noise cancellation and an overaggressive codec involved. Cisco had a similar problem a few years back when they introduced a new HD codec.

Solution - upgraded to the latest 11.2.x release and turned off noise cancellation in Settings > General > accessibility

Instantly the crappy mic worked perfect. Being that it is a software bug -- it's possible that the codec might drift and the crappy mic comes back. In that case you might have to turn noise cancellation back on for a few minutes and then off again -- or reboot your phone.

It's a pain but I can tell you as an IPT professional -- I'm 100% sure this is a software bug.

Apple -- I know you are reading this -- get your engineers to fix it. Please.

It has to do with the blocking of the rear microphone (between lens and flash-light) If you have a folding case which blocks the rear microphone than the "normal" bottom microphone starts to mute and muffle.

Try to make a call with the case open and the rear microphone free.

Gr.,

I purchased X17 iPhone 8 for the company I work for.

2 iPhones had problems where people couldn't hear them.

We always upgrade to the latest ios after I have tested it first to ensure it doesn't have an adverse effect on the apps we use with it.

Apple have replaced both faulty phones and we don't have the issue anymore.

The two phones that we did have issues with were high usage for us at approximately 100 calling minutes per day.

The only way you could reduce the problem while in a call was to put the phone on speaker phone.

We could almost mask the issue on the faulty phones by turning the 'Phone Noise Cancellation' off and sliding the 'Audio Volume Balance' 80% to the R (it could have been L, I can't remember sorry). This is under Settings - General - Accessibility.

The best option by far is to send the phone for repair.

I have read a lot of negativity in regards to this issue and understand it is very frustrating when you rely so heavily on these devices. My suggestion is to follow Apples repair process then you should be sorted like we have.

I appear to have (hopefully) fixed mine.

You will know if your mic is ok by going to voice memos and recording then playing back - if thats ok then its not a hardware issue.

Mine was good playback so did following;

1. Removed screen protector - there is a mic at the top at the front also so if not properly fitted can cause issues.

2. Turned off VoLTE - this is supposed to improve call quality by boosting over 4G but was doing the opposite on EE UK 4G

Goto Settings > Mobile Data > Mobile Data Options > Enable 4G and change to Data only from Voice and Data.

Hope this helps others. Had many calls today and all said quality OK as opposed to being asked to repeat words due to poor signal.

Dave.

Paul - remove the entire phone from whatever case you have and try to call someone, mine and a few others on here have found the case was to blame.

Okay I had the same problem and I went to the Apple genius bar tonight. What the genius spotted was the wallet case that I am using folds back onto the back microphone when you’re talking on the phone this microphone apparently used for noise reduction and causes it to go immediately muffled sound when you talk on the phone.... Without the case closed over itself at the back it works perfectly. So in might account for some of your problems because mine was exactly the same worked on loudspeaker worked on the headset but was muffled on the microphone...therefore causing this problem. But I think it’s intermittent because the way I hold the phone it’s not always the same and sometimes the back microphone the one near the camera would be exposed and sometimes it would be closed over with the back cover. I took the cover off and guess what it works perfectly. Every time I gave it to Apple to check I took the phone out of the case and gave them the raw phone so it took awhile for them to work out that I actually had a case. Hope this helps everyone.

Also, becareful how you hold the phone as if anything hand or case is blocking the rear microphone then that will be causing the problem.

I had exactly your problem and it was my folding case was folding over the microphone.

If you read through this entire discussion group, the issue is affecting iPhone 7's, 8's and X's

It's affecting people across multiple regions of the world. It's affecting those on iOS 11 specifically.

All that adds up to it's not hardware -- it's statistically too broad -- it's software as previously described... a misprogramed driver, codec, etc that is overaggressive on noise cancellation. Turning off noise cancellation and updating to the latest iOS seems to resolve it in a workaround way.

Interestingly before iOS 11 the default was to have noise cancellation turned off. In iOS 11 the default was to have it turned on

Ok. I had the same problem and i talked to apple service, they told me to do this:

First upgrade to the last version

Second do reset network settings

Third reset all settings

Last erase all content and settings.

Dond forget to backup the iphone

After every step try to see if it helped.

Seems it helped for now. Try

I contacted the Apple support on twitter by direkt message. They have been helpful.

I erased my phone and tested it. The problem still existed.

So I restored it with my back up and of course the problem is still there.

Apple customer support phoned me and could hear the problem first hand. They have booked me in for a Genius Bar visit on Tuesday. Their suggestion is to replace the unit and they say it is a hardware fault.

I will see what happens on Tuesday and report back.

HAHAHAA..... so I know this is an old post. Buttttt I have the answer to allll of our problems. I also have an iphone8... when holding our phones. Our pinkies. Cover the microphone on the bottom left. Which looks like speaker but it’s not. Anyway it blocks the sound... try not covering it up and watch what happens 😂😂 magic

I had the same problem with my new iPhone Xr.

See my post:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250066528

Getting a new SIM card from my operator seems to have fixed it somehow.

I no longer get complaints from recipients not hearing me or that I sound muffled or distorted.

Try to get a new SIM if you haven't already.

Finally the problem is solved for me with the 11.2 update