iOS 11 - Voice Memos: Unresponsive Speaker Icon

I currently have the same issue. I found a temporary fix by navigating to Control Center, long press or 3D Touch Music then press the audio routing button and switch from Speaker to iPhone.

I had the same problem initially but since I plugged in an earphone into the earphone jack of the iphone, the problem resolve. Now, I am able to take the speaker on and off and play thru the earphone by touching the speaker icon on the voice memo screen, blue speaker indicating phone speaker is on and white indicating is off and earphone mode.

We only have "iPhone" in our Control Center. We do not have the "speaker" icon in the Control Center. However, we have the same speaker problem in our Voice Memos (native) app. We have been able to occasionally toggle on the Voice Memo speaker from Blue to White. But it does not always change, although it should. Now this is in the iPhone SE. I have my own iPhone 5s and I have never had that problem. Therefore, I am assuming that it is a bug. In any case, I will try the method provided by caseywong and see if that works. If that does not work, then I will try to find out why we do not show the "speaker" icon in the Control Center. Also, I chatted with a rep at Apple and I was referred to the Feedback center. But I have not gone there yet. If I find any answers that have not yet been listed in the Community, I will post them. Thanks to all and have a great day!

Hi tummas47, Thank you for the video and advice. I tried but could not get both the iPhone and speaker icons to appear in the Control Center.

I noticed that when I played back a memo without ending a recording (pausing the recording), and I used the round button next to the red recording button to listen to the memo, I found it easier to toggle the speaker on and off from blue to white and so forth.

The round button that I am referring to is a round white circle with a white arrow inside that points in the direction of the red recording button. At the other side of the red recording button is the “Done” button. So all the buttons are showing as I listen to the recording.

After I listened to the recording, I would press the “Done” button and I could then choose to save or delete the recording.

Sometimes there would be a delay before the speaker’s color changed, and sometimes it depended on how hard I tapped the speaker (whether blue or white).

I noticed that the more you tap the button, the better it seems to work - I think! But still, this problem should not be happening, unless there were changes by the developers. I don’t know.

Hi Mary, anything I’m suggesting is in no way trying to hide the fact an issue is present for the application. Kinda strange the Control Center method doesn’t work. Although the same process can be done by plugging and unplugging a pair of earphones. When that’s done I noticed that the blue speaker toggle works until closing the application and you need to do it again. I know it’s quite a nuisance but if that doesn’t work I’m out of ideas.

Hi tummas47, How are you? Yes, I understand that you are not suggesting that there isn't a problem, so don't worry about that. Maybe the Control Center method could have worked but I was attempting it all wrong - who knows? It wasn't my phone. I was just trying to help someone out. I didn't have much time to try the method, so maybe next time I will do better. In any case, I appreciate all your help and suggestions. If I happen to come across an answer, I will post it. I like the Community - people helping people. It's a great idea and a good way to learn a lot about how to use our devices. It's good to know that there are people out there who care! Thanks again!

We knew Apple made some modification on the speaker icon and confused us. But I found a very simple way to change different speakers. Just DOUBLE TAP the speaker icon and you will know what to do next!

Since iOS 11.2.1 update which was released on December 13th I’ve been testing multiple ways to check if it was fixed. I concluded that on both of my devices seems to have been fixed by this update hope this helps.

Seem like Apple has no solution to this his issue and doesn’t give a **** to resolve it! Probably Apple has more problems with their iOS 11 than just this!😱

Hi, please make sure when trying the control center method that you’re currently in the native voice memo and currently playing a memo. YouTube guide: https://youtu.be/s_IKX91vvrU

Forget to say, remember to follow tummas47's instruction to enter re-routing icon through control center after running the voice memo app.