What should you do when people can’t hear you on your iPhone?
If your iPhone breaks up during calls, we can help you troubleshoot the software and hardware to get your smartphone up and running.
People can’t hear you on iPhone? – Here’s why
If people can’t hear you on iPhone, it’s often the fault of your iPhone microphone. Checking your microphone openings for obstructions and making sure you allow microphone access to calls often resolves the issue.
So the microphone is the problem, but we need to work out whether it’s a hardware issue (an issue with the actual microphone itself) or a software issue (an issue with the technology on your iPhone). Follow these troubleshooting steps to work this out.
Malfunctioning microphones
If they can’t hear you on the other end, check whether Siri can recognize your voice or try recording an audio file. If you fail to use the microphone, the problem lies with your iPhone’s microphone.
Therefore, in the first step, you have to figure out which one of the three microphones isn’t responding.
As soon as you determine which microphones are defective, you will be able to proceed with the troubleshooting procedure.
Where are your iPhone microphones located?
Your iPhone is equipped with three microphones, including one at the top, one on the back, and one at the bottom named front microphone, rear microphone, and bottom microphone respectively.
The front microphone will let you hear the caller, and the bottom microphone sends your voice to the caller. And, the rear microphone is used while recording videos. Check the following before trying other options.
Microphone connections
Make sure you haven’t connected any wired or wireless microphones to your iPhone, as the phone will redirect the audio input from the built-in microphones to the external device. Then, continue the following steps.
Checking iPhone’s case
Non-standard iPhone cases might also block your microphones. Therefore, remove your case and check if the problem persists before proceeding.
Remove external objects
Maybe the microphones are dirty or blocked by a piece of dirt. So, make sure that the problem isn’t coming from an object blocking microphones. Sometimes, we, humans, miss the obvious reasons!
Test all microphones
To test the bottom microphone, open Voice Memos and try to record your voice. If the bottom microphone doesn’t function, you cannot hear yourself.
Plus, if the microphone is malfunctioning, your voice will become inaudible or noisy.
For testing the front and rear microphones, record a selfie video and normal video respectively. You have to be able to hear the sound when you playback.
How to fix your iPhone’s bottom microphone if it isn’t working?
As we explained earlier, the caller can hear you through the bottom microphone. So, if people can’t hear you on iPhone, it basically means that the bottom microphone is problematic.
Again, removing external objects and checking the phone connections must be done first. If the problem is still there, we should try other options as follows:
Disabling phone noise cancellation
Perhaps, you have been in a situation where you had to enable iPhone noise cancellation.
If this option has been activated, people might not be able to hear you on iPhone, for the filtering might not work correctly. In order to disable this mode, just follow the steps as follows:
- First, go to Settings and then tap on Accessibility.
- After that, select Phone Noise Cancellation.
- Next, turn Off Noise Cancellation.
- Now, try your bottom microphone again.
Checking the headphone mode
Usually, you plug your headphone in, listen to music, and then plug it out. So far, so good! However, occasionally, your iPhone might not recognize that the headset has been unplugged.
So, even the headphone is not plugged, the iPhone is still in headphone mode. You can test whether this is the root of the problem.
In order to make your iPhone recognize that you have removed the headphone, plug the headphone in and out several times quickly.
In this way, the iPhone will get rid of the bug and realize that the headphone is unplugged. Then, test the bottom microphone. Alternatively, plugging the adaptor in and out might do the trick.
Installing the latest iOS software
Sometimes, the problem will go away as soon as you update your phone to the latest iOS, which is a typically fix when your iPhone stops working.
Follow the steps below to update your device:
- Go to Settings and then tap on General.
- Next, tap on Software Update to check for the latest iOS update.
- Update your phone if there is a new update available.
Making sure you’re updated to the latest version of iOS will fix most iOS issues, and it can help with your iPhone sound too.
Resetting your network settingÂ
You can also try resetting Wi-Fi networks and passwords, cellular settings, and VPN and APN settings.
Restarting your phone
The last thing you can try is fixing the problem by restarting your phone and seeing whether the problem is still there. You can hard reset your device to see if this makes a difference.
Getting help from a third-party tool without data loss
For some iPhone models, you can install a third-party tool. For example, a tool called iMyFone Fixppo fixes all iOS issues, including the bottom microphone-related issues.
The tool has three modes, namely Standard, Advanced, and Exit Recovery. Usually, problems are solved under the Standard mode. The tool is quite user-friendly and lets you run a diagnostic test quickly.
- First, you should download and install the tool on your PC.
- Then, plug your iPhone into the PC and choose Standard Mode.
- Next, press on Start and activate the DFU mode so that your iPhone is detected by the tool.
- If, for some reason, DFU mode is not available choose the Recovery mode. You are then given the latest firmware, which you have to download.
- In the end, press the Start button. The problem should go away, hopefully.
By checking the items mentioned above, you are likely to solve the problem. Additionally, it might be worth testing the receiver and Bluetooth on your iPhone as sometimes the problem originates from them.
Conclusion
In case your audience can’t hear your voice after running all the solutions we offered earlier, contact Apple Support online or go to an Apple Store for repairs or other alternatives.
