iPhone XS Max Speaker(in the earpiece) issue

Did you ever do a soft reset, where you click up then down on volume and then hold power button until u see the apple logo? I read somewhere people were having some success with that as apose to just shutting it off and then back on again which only works for a short time. I did the soft reset yesterday. Still working now but it usually takes three days or so for my phone to malfunction.

You have to set bluetooth off When you don’t use it. That solves the problem.

I’m reasonably sure the update fixes the issue. I ran 12.1 beta 5 for the week it was out and my phone never had the issue. All other betas, it happened after three Days or less. I’m on the official release now and hasn’t happened yet. I did have to reset my phone to update though so I’m technically back to day one. Keeping my fingers crossed

This past Friday, I made an appointment at the closest Apple store near me Pittsburgh (about 60 miles). I stated my problem, they acted surprised (who knows, maybe i really was the first one they seen with this issue? Maybe, I dunno. Or, more than likely, Apple does not want their employees to acknowledge a somewhat known issue to the customer). They ran some diagnostic tests from an iPad. The tests came back "phone working 100%" even with the earpiece speaker not functioning when playing a YouTube video before the diag.

In the end, the very helpful "Genius" (My god, that title. Nothing derogatory implied towards the person behind that title but....really Apple? Genius? How about something like Apple "iTech"? At least that title sounds a bit less arrogant for your average Apple store employee.) swapped my phone out for a new one. She was very easy to talk with and even managed to move my screen protector from old to new iPhone. That Apple store gets an A+ for overall satisfaction, from me.

So far so good, I haven't had the issue come back. I've been trying like **** to reproduce the symptoms. Before, I had to leave Bluetooth turned off or I certainly would lose the earpiece speaker within a 24 hr period.

I dunno people, maybe the combination of a new (warranty swap) phone and iOS 12.1 has remedied the situation, who knows. Time will be the judge. If it comes back, I will report back but for now I'm happy.

I restored and set up as new on Wednesday morning first thing. So far so good. I will keep you updated

Very frustrating to say the least. Especially given the phone is 1100$. I restored my phone through iTunes and set it up as new two days ago and the problem hasn’t come back yet but it normally happens on my phone every three days or so, so the verdict is still out.

I’m running the public 12.0.1 and have yet had the issue of “Stereogate” reoccur.

It’s going on 7 days problem free. What I did was - Turn off Bluetooth (IN SETTINGS). Then I restarted my phone; in that order.

I know this isn’t a solution but more of a workaround. I emailed Apple my two cents on the issue through the “Apple feedback” link posted earlier in this thread by....... someone, a moderator I think, I forget.

“Stereogate” will most likely be fixed in an iOS update, I just hope it’s sooner than later!

I just updated to iOS 12.1 yesterday, my speaker has not gone out since. Usually it goes out once a day until I either turn off and then on, or do a reboot.

Has anyone noticed it still happening after the 12.1 update?

I too have an iPhone Xs Max 64GB and noticed the stereo function failing. Mainly, the earpiece speaker ceasing to function when playing any type of media. However, the earpiece speaker works absolutely fine when making or receiving phone calls. A restart, force restart, reset all phone settings and DFU/restore fix the issue for about a day, then back to the same issue. Man, i just want my phone to work as advertised. This version iPhone has given me the most problems out the past 2 models i have previously owned. I started out with the 6s a few years ago. Neither my 6s nor 8 Plus had any problems, they were great phones. BTW, I hear the "stereo bug" persists even in the recent 12.1 Beta.........

APPLE PLEASE FIX THIS.

Mine always comes back within hours usually overnight and I wake up and bam it’s done for and have to reset on beta 5 it did it within hours. So far the longest is still the 12.0.1 it sometimes will last 24-36 hours before happening but beta 1-5 always comes right back within a cpl hours really strange some reason I think it stems from new mail tone and text tone if u out your phone on silent it won’t happen at all it will always play music out top speaker but if u get a text tone or a email tone and a notification tone like if they come in at same time it sticks the speaker on when it’s not working if u out ur hear on the top speaker while music is playing from bottom speaker u can hear white noise and if u stop the music within 5 secs the white noise also stops very strange indeed

This is also present in the Xs model. I replaced my Xs (64gb silver) at an Apple Store the day before 12.1 came out with this issue. Updated to 12.1 yesterday at 2pm on the new unit, and 24 hours later the issue is back. Completed--at the direction of an Apple associate-- a fresh install on my old unit (no backup) which did not help, so don't waste your time. This seems to be a very random and isolated bug and I hope Apple is at least listening and trying to resolve it with haste, but based on occurrence and reoccurrence it doesn't look like it's easy to reproduce...