Iphone Xs max earpiece speaker not working

I am experiencing the same issue. Bought my iPhone XS Max 256GB Gold on the Sunday after the launch day (Friday). I am running public beta iOS 12.1 so am not sure if it is related to that. The top (earpiece) speaker stops functioning during music or video playback during random situations. I have been unable to duplicate it manually. You are right that a reboot solves it or even a simple shut down and restart solves the issue but only temporarily.

I use the following regularly-

iOS 12.1 Public Beta

CarPlay

Facetime

Bluetooth devices

Skype for business

and various other apps

It's difficult trying to narrow things down what is ultimately causing this or is it that the speaker is defective. Not sure. The last occurrence was right after I disconnected from CarPlay. Shut the car off and disconnected my phone and the speaker was out.

Is it limited to 256GB Xs MAX? Is it the Beta 12.1? Is there an app that causes this?

I have reported the issue.

Im also facing the same problem with my new iPhone Xs Max that i baught just 1 week back, when im playing music only down speaker is working, top speaker does not work but when im on the call it work fine,

When i force restart it work fine for some times and after that it does not work again,

I hope its some software issues, any idia how its gonna fix that,?

Back your phone up. Log into iTunes from your Mac or PC and do a Restore using iTunes. Make sure you have the latest version of iTunes. Log out of iCloud on your phone then do the restore. Mine has been working for 3 days straight.

I am having the same issue. The reboot is a temporary fix, but it just comes back. No sound out of the ear piece speaker. It may be happening in between Bluetooth connections. I connect to my car and then I’ll play a YouTube video and notice the sound being gone except the main speaker. This is too annoying to have to reboot just to fix it. I imagine it’s just a software issue, but a small update would be great in the very near future. I heard people using the updated version of the beta are still reporting issues with it.

DJ_GMONEY

You mentioned after restoring via itunes , your phone is working fine for 3 days ( this was posted on the 5th of October), but your post on the 8th shows you are still frustrated cuz of returning 2 phones and the third has the same issue. My question is : did the top speaker failed again after the fresh itune restore and after going well for 3 days staright ???

My replacement phone had scratches on the screen so I returned it. When I got the 3rd device, I experienced the same speaker issue. But the 2nd device was working after the restore from iTunes. I have had folks tell me the iTunes restore worked for them for a few days but then the issue returned.

Have you tried the itune restore for the new replacement (3rd one) ?

I had the same issue and I just did an itune restore yesterday night , suprisingly after doing it the phone seems to work smoother and of course the speaker issue is fixed but it is only one night , I feel optimistic cuz of the smoothness of the IOS after the restore ! Fingers crossed it wo fail again cuz it will be really frustrating like you mentioned. Anyway plz do the itune restore on ur latest replacement and keep me updated and I will keep u updated as well. I hope some one from apple is wtaching this thread !,,,,Common I bought 2 of those phones one xsmax for my wife and ne xs for myself , thats a huge amount of money, my wife ’s is working perfectly fine , so it is most probably a software issue .

anyway Ill keep u posted and plz do the same . As you said, in case mine failed again ill ask for a full refund not a replacement and stick to my iphone x and thats it

So far mine is still working but i did something one of the Apple support guys had me do with my 2nd device prior to the iTunes restore. press volume up, then volume down, then hold the power button until the Apple logo appears. Don’t slide to shut off. Just keep holding the power butto til the logo shows up then release it. It’s a hard reset of some kind. No data loss. Since I did that I haven’t had the issue return but it has only be 2 days. I will definitely keep you posted. I made a YouTube video and some folks replied and said even the iTunes restore only worked temporarily. time will tell. Thanks for the reply.

That ought not be the situation; you might need to make a Genius Bar arrangement to have your telephone inspected.

Try not to stress; in the event that it is an equipment issue, that is the reason there is a production line guarantee.

I’m having a similar issue. When I’m on a phone call I can barely hear the person but if I put it on speaker I can hear them fine. It just started last night so looks like a trip to Apple. Hope I don’t also have to deal with the return process. Good luck!

I’m having the same issue too on my XS Max 256GB. The speaker only works during a call, Not when i’m playing music on any app, playing any games, youtube, or any other app when it’s not a call. This phone is supposed to have surround sound like the X did. Help Apple please. is this a hardware issue or software? I don’t want to have to replace my phone if i don’t have to!

I did a soft reset on my 3rd Xs Max and so far it has been working for a few days. Apple has not addressed this. I have a video up on YouTube about it and have gotten a lot of replies with others having the same issue.

I noticed this issue a couple weeks after having the XS Max. I never play music using the onboard speakers but I'm always using speakerphone for phone calls. The earpiece doesn't work on speakerphone during a phone call but the earpiece works fine if it's not on speakerphone. Rebooting the device fixes temporarily but will sometimes happen twice a day. Hard reset and restore completed but did not fix. Can someone verify that the same thing happens on phone calls when on speakerphone? I can't find an example of that anywhere online.

I experienced the same thing you did. If neither reset worked, my advice is to return it ASAP. I am on my 3rd Xs Max and on the 3rd one, the soft reset has worked so far. I test it daily. I made a video on it on YouTube and it is definitely an issue. Apple has been silent on this so we don’t know if they are aware. Good luck.

Interesting... I thought for sure this was a SW issue... I called apple support this morning and she mentioned she would note my account that I called in during my return period so hopefully if it ends up being a hardware issue, I can exchange at a later date... Maybe or maybe not on that but I'm banking on a sw issue on this one.