iPhone XS Max Speaker(in the earpiece) issue

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’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 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...

Hi, you are definitely correct, and iOS 12.1 did not take care of my issue either. t’s too bad that we have to rely on second and third hand information to fix our $1250 phones. Could you imagine buying a car from manufacture X, and then having to go to their group discussions to get a straight answer about the problem you’re having with it? As far as I know no one charges more money for a cell phone than Apple does, and my 256 GB XS Max was $1249. I just bought the iPhone ex last year, but I upgraded anyway, and it cost me a lot of money to do it. Plus I bought the iPhone X outright for my wife. I’ve been a loyal customer, since the 3G iPhone came out, I have purchased many new iPhones for myself, and multiple devices for other people. You would think that Apple would be worried about losing their base customers, yes I understand every sale is important. But how important is it to keep your base happy? No news from Apple about this, nothing that I can find anywhere. In a world of denial, it would be nice if someone led the way with some truth. The other cell phone manufacturers are no better, they just deny also, because they’ve had their share of problems too. What’s it going to be Apple.... denial or some sorely needed truth for a change?!

I would suggest that everyone quit wasting their time replacing their phones, and restoring their software, because if the problem still exists in iOS 12.1 restoring to the same software is going to do zero. The bug has to be addressed after 12.1 because it’s still there. I know I’m only level one in the forums, but my experience with iPhones is level 10. This is plain and simple to figure out... and it’s a bug, it’s a software glitch that they are not owning up to. My hat is off to Apple, with iOS 12, it works a whole lot better than iOS 11, which was a glitchy mess. Except for the speaker issue that is.

Could you imagine the money being wasted because they keep denying what’s going on? I’ve talked to two different senior advisers with Apple, and the closest I got to an admittance of the problem is someone else was having the same issue. Getting back to the wasting of money, apple wouldn’t replace my phone, which was surprising. Thank God for Verizon’s top tier insurance which covered it no problem, and they sent me a replacement phone within two days... What I’m getting at is Apple knows darn well that replacing your phone is going to do nothing, but they are suggesting it anyway, they are also suggesting to bring it in for repair, restore from new, or whatever else they’re suggesting. It’s all a very expensive smokescreen. Thousands of dollars, or tens, or hundreds of thousands of dollars wasted wasted wasted... all because yet another big corporation won’t release a simple statement saying there is a bug, and we are working on it, we ask that you please be patient. My $13 A month insurance with Verizon, will probably be 15 or $16 by next year or the year after. Why wouldn’t it? They have to keep replacing Apples phones!

Here I’ll say it for them... everyone please be patient because Apple is working on a fix!!!

It is very frustrating considering how much the phone costs and the silence from apple is deafening. I switched from an android device because all my friends and family use apple and they convinced me. I love the phone otherwise. I also haven’t experienced the bug since 12.1 beta 5. That’s fact that others still experience it regularly tells me it must be a weird bug that’s gonna be hard to fix for everyone. Idk. ***** in any case

I’m sorry you and everyone else is having problems. Yes the silence is deafening. I am with you, other than this the phone is pretty amazing, I like everything about it, I could even deal with the speaker issue if I knew it was going to get fixed soon. My ranting is over lol, It doesn’t do any good anyway. Apples policy is just like all the other big corporation’s policy, keep denying, and then deny some more.

From an apple senior advisor right now, they are aware of the problem, and they are working on fixing the issue. They are also aware that the 12.1 did not fix the problem, and are hopeful that the next one will.

I thought it fixed it for me but it didn’t it’s doing it way less but the video judder got a bit better as well if u watch movies on he tv app downloaded movies they will stutter frame loss ect the way u fix that issue is to turn off autobrightness seems when the screen tries to dim or get brighter it makes the frame rate go haywire just test it I’m sure u all have that issue as well. Autobrightness has to be on and when playing the movie let the sensor see. Slight change hold the phone from a dark room to a bright room u will see it right away and it won’t stop u have to close out the app re open it and play again and hope the room lighting don’t change again or just leave autobrightness off. What’s crazy is is that autobrightness sensor and the top speaker is on the same module and this is 4th replacement device so I’m wondering if it is a hardware malfunction or a hardware driver issue. We shall see.

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.

It will come back in on my 4th replacement ment it took 9 days for it to comeback the first time 2nd time less than 24 hours 3rd time it happend like every few hours this new one plus 12.1 it does it about inece a week or so

Looks like my one response was deleted.

I never use Bluetooth on my phone and the problem still persists. I don’t think Bluetooth has anything to do with it, and the first time mine happened back in September, I never even switch Bluetooth on.