Friday, November 4, 2011

iPhone - Nobody Can Hear Me!

One day my very old iPhone 3G seemed to give its last breath when one day people were unable to hear me on a call, though I could hear them just fine.  I figured the phone was just too old and the time had some to upgrade.  Just to be safe, I scoured the internet and found a bug related to the iPod app, so I gave it a try and it worked!

Many forums online say it happens when the headphones are suddenly unplugged during the middle of a song, but I couldn't recall such an incident since I don't listen to a lot of music on my iPhone.

The fix:

1)  Start the iPod app.
2)  Play a song.
3)  Stop the song.
4)  Close the iPod app.
5)  Restart the iPhone.

That worked for me and I haven't had any problems since!  If this doesn't work, then try updating everything through iTunes.  A workaround is to just use the hands-free cable until you can get a new phone. Some shops are able to fix hardware issues, but you need to weigh the costs vs. getting a new phone.

47 comments:

  1. Thanks for great advice. Fixed my iphone 4 problem in 30 seconds.

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  2. That didn't work for me:-(

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  3. Worked for me. Very relieved!

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  4. I don't have any songs on my Iphone4S:( any other tricks? :) I never used the headphones neither. I bought the phone 4 days ago...I am very dissapointed...

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    1. Just tried this with my iphone 4s that I just wiped clean to try and fix. Go through the music app (what was called the ipod) to the store and play a song for free. Stop it and then restart the phone. Worked for me. The genius bar told me I needed a new phone.

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  5. Thanks alot this really helped me fix the trials and tribulations I was facing! :D I was just going 2 give up on everything! Thanks a bunch

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  6. Awesome, this works!

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  7. Worked like a charmed :D

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  8. This solution did not work for me, but I brushed my mic (bottom left of the iPhone) with a fine toothbrush and it worked again after that!

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  9. Hey the original solution didnt work for me either but thanks sincerely for the effort of posting it. I got it to work a different way. Not sure its relevant but worth a try since it seems to have worked for me.Using the idea that apps that were related to sound might be the issue I set the alarm ( which I dont normally use) and made it ring several times during the day. After one day the mic came back on. Dont know if it was the vibrations shaking something loose but I was this close to ditching the phone (3G) and it seems to have done the trick. just sharing! Hope it works for others.

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  10. Hi, my iphone is 3gs with ios 5.1. When I call somebody, he can't hear me, but when I try to record my voice it works great, also google translate is working well, too. I tried this method but it didn't work. I recovered Iphone several times, but no solution:( I don't have warranty. Do you have an idea, how can I fix this phone?

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    1. Hey! I have exactly the same problem as you! Nobody can hear me, but when I try to record my voice it works great. And I never use the iPod-app (but Im using Spotify..?). What to do!? This is really frustrating!

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  11. seems to have worked. have struggled with this problem for weeks!!! will keep my fingers crossed that its ok now. not impressed with the iphone. never had a phone with so many issues before.

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  12. Wow - I had given hope. but the steps mentioned here worked and solved the problem....Thankyou very much

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  13. Thanks. Seems to have worked out thus far

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  14. Wow! Really worked.. Thanks so much :)

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  15. I tried this and I got about a minute of my voice coming through before it cut out again. Then I closed all apps that play music and record sounds and restarted. I just made a half hour call with no problem, do it seems like it worked.

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  16. This seemed like a better solution than risking damaging the the phone blowing compressed air into the microphone hole by the phone jack or clearing debris from this hole with a needle. I tried your solution and it worked! Thanks for taking the time to post your fix!!

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  17. Thx a lot that trick helped me thx again

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  18. this fix is incredible. it works! thank you!

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  19. doesn't only work with ipod. works with any sound. i used a ringtone.

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  20. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  21. It worked for iphone 4. Thanks for posting solution.

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  22. I fix the issue by dropped on the carpet

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  23. What is "iPod app?"

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  24. WHAT'S THE APP CALLED?????

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  25. Worked great ...thanks

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  26. Thank you, that worked but now I can hear myself talking. Mine was caused after using the handsfree, i think.

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  27. Same question what is an ipod app? I am guessing it is long outdated but what would an alternative be?

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  28. Worked great !!! Lot thanks to you ~

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  29. Seems to have worked! Cool.

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  30. can't believe it was this easy. The ipod app is simply the app called "MUSIC" just worked on my iPhone 4

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  31. Wow, thank you very much! Worked on iPhone 4 :-)

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  32. Didt work. Mike was working as i can record in voice memo. so i made a call to some 800 number and then while on the call i dropped the phone on thick carpet from 3 feet. Charm! it worked. Thanks though.

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  33. there are 2 mics on an iPhone 4, one at top (pinhole) and one down by the speakers (where mouth talks on a phone call). if your voice recorder app works fine, but speakerphone does not, then your issue is with the noice cancelling 2nd mic on top by the headphone jack and can be software, debris, or hardware related. my understanding is that your voice is always picked up by the lower mic regardless of app/situation, but 2nd mic is a noise cancelling one in purpose ONLY, and is active during phone calls and video recording only (for wind noise etc)

    possible solutions that have worked for folks:
    drop phone (likely jars a loose cable)
    needle into 2nd noise cancelling microphone on top (plugged hole, clears obstruction)
    upgrade ios (software glitch)
    reset / restore (software glitch)
    compressed air/paper clip into mic hole on top (debris, obstruction)
    the fix in this article above: play song, stop song, restart (software glitch)

    if you have done all of the above, it would seem your issue is hardware related. i think the 2nd mic by headphone is integrated into the part for the headphone jack. replacing that replaces the mic. i'm not so convinced this will fix mine, but I am going to try that. Mine stopped working purely after a software upgrade (beleive it was 5.1.1) with no other trauma occurring at the time (ie dropped phone, broken screen, PURELY and obviously software update related) and mine hasn't worked since (even after many attempts at all of the above fixes, and several ios upgrades since). much later I ended up breaking the screen and replacing. no loose cables etc. broke screen a second time and now i am going to have them replace the headphone/mic... although i suspect since my break was originally purely software that even this wont fix. will give a shot. if the follwoing is true (theory) that I think it might be the only fix for mine. I think there was likely a batch of phones that used a limited run of vendor parts (and perhaps an audio 'driver' that was installed and perhaps became part of ios since 5.1 just didn't work with that batch of mics. we'll see

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  34. Really worked.. thanks dude...

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  35. Thaaaaanks!!! worked with my iphone 4s.

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  36. that works. Incredible! Thanks

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  37. My iPhone worked fine until last night, made a call but the other person couldn't hear me. I'm not very technical on this. Have read so many solutions on here but still cant seem to understand what I have to do. HELP

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  38. It worked for me as well.. Whats really happening inside? Looks like a bug Apple has to fix it

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  39. My iPhone 4 had the problem during vacation in Florida. Dropped by the local Apple store and the "Genius" told me that the phone has to be replaced for $160.

    Luckily I came across this post and solved the problem (not exactly but essentially the same concept).

    Thanks!

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  40. Thanks for this info, good call literally :)

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  41. THIS WAS AWESOME!! IT WORKED!!

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  42. Yes, it worked for me, too.

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  43. I fixed mine - the speaker/s were blocked with debris and needed cleaning outside - to test try and record with the microphone by speaking to the bottom of the handset (on/off button area) and then try recording your voice on video record. If no sound clean the speakers and try again.

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