iPhone XR - microphone issue ?

I have the exact same problem. My callers complain that I sound like I am under water. The problem gets worse as the call progresses until they can't stand it and hang up. I hate this XR - I wish I'd never bought it. Its a dog.

Yes, I am on my second XR model. Then thought it was the carrier and changed today from Verizon to AT&T. No difference. I intend to show an Apple tech this discussion and see what he or she suggests. It's ridiculous that callers tell me my voice is muffled or cuts out if I just slightly move the phone. Never had this problem with iPhone 6.

We are having the identical problems. Intermittent garbled voice reported by those on the other end of the call. Does not happen consistently. Really an issue as this is my business phone. We are going to return the phone as it appears to be a design problem and we cannot afford to screw around with "test the microphone on a voice record and camera" Truly disappointed in this almost $800 phone.

Yes please explain the tape on the back solution. I can’t believe I payed over 800$ bucks for this phone to have as many issues with people telling me they can’t ubderstand me when I am speaking to them on this phone. Interestingly though while talking with n this phone using the speakerphone function I have not had any one tell me that I sounded gargled and broken up. I believe there might be two mic’s on this phone and perhaps it uses the other mic while in speakerphone function. I have gotten better at being aware the bottom of the phone is in relation to my mouth when talking and as long as I hold it perfectly right in front of my mouth people can hear me fine. I can’t talk while pinning the phone on my ear and shoulder due to people bot being able to hear me. I love every thing about this phone except for the mic problem. Which is obviously a pretty major thing. I do use my phone for many things besides talking to people but the entire point of a mobile phone is to be able to call and talk to people no matter where you are and when that priority function is not good that’s a huge flaw. Some one mentioned it was likely due to noise cancelation for the mic and that makes sense that if the phone is not lined up just right perhaps the noise cancelation part is actually causing the person on the other end to not be able to hear properly. It may be a bit too precise and needs to be more lax and only cancel out background noises that are much further away from the mic. I don’t know but I never got a solution because it’s not that my phone is broken it’s just how the XR is at this time. Perhaps a software update will fix this issue but certainly not if people aren’t bringing this to the attention of apple. My iPhone 6s Plus has perfect sound in any direction. Even could talk with the phone upside down and never had this issue. Hope it get resolved soon

There ARE two microphones. If you bothered to RTFM (Read The Fine Manual) you would know that; even the first few pages of it. There is one at the bottom of the phone, and a 2nd one on the back near the camera that is used for noise cancellation. The back mic is only used when holding the phone on a call; it is not used in speakerphone mode or for other recording purposes. But the noise cancellation can be fooled if the back mic is partially covered by your hand, a case that doesn't fit, or a flip open folio case if you fold it most of the way back. If you are in the habit of using it with the back mic partially covered it will result in garbling, because it hears the same thing (your voice) in both mics and tries to cancel it. If you don't want the noise cancellation feature either cover the back mic with a piece of tape or turn off noise cancellation in Settings.

I did read the Apple information. I saw that there were two microphones. I am still not 100 percent sure where the "front" microphone(s) are because to figure in the Apple document is a bit misleading. That said, it seems clear that there is a design flaw in the phone that is either hardware, software or a combination of the two creating the well reported flaw in the $800 iPhone. Also clear is that there are a whole lot of people complaining about the exact same problem. I have had iPhones since shortly after they were placed on the market. Other phones had issues but none that made them basically useless as a business communication device. The poor audio quality and intermittence of the problem are making it a non-starter for me. Disabling features, running without a case or holding it in a special way to operate it or even place tape over a second microphone is clearly a bad solution and a terrible reflection on what was once a high quality device.

I have the same problem with sound on phone calls, I hear them fine, but they say at times it sounds like I’m under water or walked away from the phone. Apple replaced the phone, the replacement is doing the same thing.

In my conversation with Apple Support they reported there was an issue Apple engineers were currently working on. It has to do with some carriers and LTE. I had the same problems reported here, without any case on my phone, on speaker phone or off. It was resolved once I changed the phone settings, as advised by Apple Support, to LTE data only.

I think we have established in this discussion it is not a case ("try talking on the phone with the cover closed"). No one at the Apple Store I visited multiple times had ever heard of the issue. My gut instinct is that people who are experiencing this think it is their carrier's fault, therefore they never bother to mention it to Apple.

Shut off LTE on phone and set to data only. The problem is still happening. Have spoken to people that are on their second phone (replaced by Apple) and it is still happening for them as well. Bringing the phone to an apple store is our next step. This appears to be a much bigger problem than Apple is willing to acknowledge. In speaking to other XS and XR iPhones they all are having clarity problems (yes all). Also needed to add they are not all on one carrier either. Some are ATT and some are Verizon so perhaps the LTE issue is just a false flag. All I can say is fixing this is really a hassle if you depend on your phone for business (and the Apple store is 30 miles away) as we do.

I’ve had the EXR for over six months and my wife just got one last week. We are both experiencing problems with the anyone trying to hear us when answering phone calls or making phone calls. I found the only thing that works is to use the speakerphone mode. In speakerphone mode there are no issues everything works just like the old iPhones used to except everybody can hear your call.

APPLE!!! WHY CAN’T YOU HELP US?!?!?!?

Consider yourself lucky. Multiple owners report that even after replacement, their iPhone XR (and apparently older models) are having this issue. I finally bought Air Pods, which work great but isn't it sad that the thing doesn't function well as a phone. It is not the case or wireless carrier. And if the "solution" is you have to hold the XR perfectly still while on a call, then something is very wrong with the design of an $800 device.

Same issue - XR w/Verizon and no case. Cleaned both mics out/reset phone/changed LTE to data only. Tried everything and even on speaker I sound muffled and nobody can hear me clearly. I am on IOS 12.3.1 and am currently downloading 12.4 so we’ll see if that fixes it or not but if it doesn’t I will have to take it into apple. Very unfortunate with this 2019 phone. My 6 never had any issues like this.

I have the same issue and I agree with everyone how frustrating this issue is. I turned off the noise cancellation feature in settings and this solved the problem completely. People now tell me I sound crystal clear. Hope that helps.

Didn't help with my XR. Noise cancellation is off (to be clear, that's the switch showing WHITE). People still complain about the microphone cutting out/muffled sounding occasionally. And I am running iOS 12.4.