My iPhone sometimes stops outputting sound after I remove my earbuds/headphones? How can I fix this?

My iPhone sometimes stops outputting sound after I remove my earbuds/headphones? How can I fix this?

Though the fix for this particular issue has remained unchanged for some time now - which can be surprising because it is so un-elegant - this issue continues to come to us from iPhoneFAQ readers. It also continues to pop up on Apple's iPhone discussion forums and on other iPhone related websites. So, we figured we'd publish the all-too-uninteresting solution.

For those unfamiliar with the issue, on occasion, the iPhone will stop outputting sound out of its external speaker after headphones are removed from the headphone jack . Essentially, the iPhone thinks the headphones are still connected and will continue to ouput sound only through the headphone port until you're able to "convince" it that the nothing is plugged in. Often, even powering down and back up one's iPhone won't solve the problem.

Why? Because that attempted solution is just too fancy. Believe it or not, the only known fix to this issue is to repeatedly insert and remove a device from the headphone jack. Remember to play a song or otherwise output sound when plugging and unplugging your earbuds, headphones, etc.

We've forwarded this solution to everyone who has written in with this same issue, and we've yet to hear back from anyone reporting that it did not solve the problem.

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Comments

Anonymous replied on

Yeah, I feel like a dummy. I read all the suggestions below as well as the article. Once I got down far enough to the one that said, "I squeezed and it worked, perticularly by the volume buttons." I looked by the volume buttons (my sound wasn't working for two three days) to see if pressing there would help. Alas, I found the little button above the volume button was pushed to the left and orange highlight was showing, I flicked it back to the right so the highlight was covered. And, yeah, my volume is working now. After turning it on, off, on, blowing, compressed air, cleaning, etc. Frickin' buttons. Must have moved over while in my pocket. Check that little thing first :)

Anonymous replied on

my phone had the same problem as all of you...

story: i was driving home from work and my phone was about to die. My friend called me and i couldn't hear sound at all. I rushed home and stumbled upon this page while attempting to use the remedies to solve this problem. As i was doing these remedies i set my phone to charge onto the computer usb cable and as soon as the phone charged to 17% the sound worked again.. !!! random i know but thats my story and remedy, hope this helps guys. so maybe its battery life that takes some part into this problem.

Anonymous replied on

THANK U VERI MUCH GUYS IT WORKED :)))

Shocked! replied on

I had this problem and tried repeatedly putting the headphones in and out, that solved nothing. My phone finally worked again after blowing really hard into the headphone port. How ridiculous!

drewshine9 replied on

What finally worked for me was blowing compressed air into the 1/8" headset socket on my phone. Yeah!! Also tried listening to a ringtone under sounds in settings (didn't work); rebooting several times (didn't work); plugging and unplugging my headset several times (didn't work). Thanks for the compressed air suggestion.

stefan replied on

blow air!!!!!!!!!! it work for me..........

Anonymous replied on

My kid dropped my wife's phone in the water and the voice wouldn't work except through the headphone. I brought a air duster can from walmart and blew it in the iphone for 10 seconds (with the extension stuck all the way into the headphone jack) and the phone sound works perfectly now. Thanks all.

Anonymous replied on

Fab - thank you after dropping in water blowing in headphone socket worked for me

Anonymous replied on

Unplugging and Plugging back in worked fine for me! Worked in less than a min. No are blowing required.

Mucheal c replied on

I tried both and none of them worked this is my 2nd iPhone !!!!!

Anonymous replied on

Just upgraded from iphone 3 G to iphone 4. Suddenly today the sound went kaput! I had not used the headphone jack. Read lots of posts, synced my phone, updated the software. Still not working. After reading the post about the compressed air I thought, "what do I have to lose?" So, I blew in the headphone jack, and just like magic, it solved the problem. Now I'll cancel my reservation at the Genius bar. Thanks!!

Anonymous replied on

My husband decided to try and fix my cracked screen on my iphone. Was perfect until then.

Now i have NO sound, unless i have the headphones on. My ringer doesnt say its still connected to headphones when they've been unplugged. But ive tried every suggestion I can find via google, and NOTHING has worked. Only thing I can hear through the phone, is the caller on the other end. But they cant hear me. I have no ringers, message tones, music.. nothing!

Im thinking smashing it might be satisfying though.

denmark rules replied on

New trick.

Blowing and jackstick polka didn't work for me either.
But I had faith in the concept.

Trick
Took a swab (ear cleaner with cotton) cut of the cotton, inserted the small tube in the jackstick. And sucked. First suction try did it for me.

This also don't add to the chance of a noob blower to spit in their iPhone, you know some of us does some stupid shit

rhondat1000 replied on

Denmark rules: Thank God I read your comment. I had tried everything and nothing worked until I cut the tips off a cotton swab, inserted it in the headphone jack, and sucked. Yay, it worked!!!!

vinny2b replied on

have no cotton swabs at office, so i took a bic pen, cut the end of the ink in the middle that tube i used to suck and bam it worked immediately. wierd thing i had tryed all the other suggestions the sucking worked quick, my iphone just wanted to get blowed

Anonymous replied on

it is so 'not sexy', but it real[y worked.
thanx

THE COTTON SWAB THING

Anonymous replied on

Thank you so so much. I spilled coffee on my phone and none of these tricks were working. after sucking through the cotton swab just once it was fixed!

Fitz replied on

Had the new iphone one day now and this problem keeps happening. Siri isn't much good when you can't hear it. Way to go, Apple! Now after spending good $ I've got to send it back and hope they get one back to me. Motherf**kers.

Patty replied on

It worked. I plugged it in & played something & unplugged it and it worked. It has happened to me before & I must have plugged it in & didn't realize that is what corrected the problem. Thanks!!!

Anonymous replied on

I tried plugging and unplugging the headset it didn't worked with me please help me out with this

Gabriela replied on

Thank you for the advice. I just had this problem
I turned it on and off and it didn't work.
I plugged my iPhone to my charger and it didn't work.
I plugged it into my Stereo and it would only play music through my stereo,
I plugged my headphones in and it would only play music through my headphones.
So, I took the advice and blew my iPhone4 audio jack. It still didn't work.
So I decided to get one of those cotton buds and slowly stick it the audio jack and it worked.
I was starting to get worried!

brook replied on

iphone4s- i've tried sticking rolled up TP, blowing into the air jack, squeezing the center of the phone, plugging, and unplugging, twisting the jack, etc.
nothing works.
i've gotten the sound to come back on for a split second and then it just went back into sound hibernation.
ringtones, alerts, siri all make noise. but i can't play music for jack.
I looked inside my jack with an LED light and i can see some very small dirt particles, but that couldn't be what is making it freak since this is a normal problem obviously.
Apple is a bunch of cheap bastards I tell you hwat.

this is ridiculous.

Anonymous replied on

same experience with the sound coming back on for a split second and then it just went back into sound hibernation like a maughty child. (tried jack in jack out multiple times, squezing centre, twisting with jack and cotton tip, pressurised air can, cotton tip with and without the cotton ends, on/off, playing with various settings etc.)

Isha replied on

Hi Gabriela - I am having this issue now days, can you tell me where and how did you put the cotton ball. I am tired of this issue, if I put it on charge it does'nt work, It only works with the headphones. Need HELP !

Anonymous replied on

I tried the actions you recommended several times. Still nothing but the phone ringtone. Guess I'll be turning my phone in as well.Very disappointing.

Couch replied on

Yeah....I had this problem with my original Palm Pre and it was the same solution! However, that was 2009 AND Palm had that bug fixed within 2 months or less!!!

It really irks me that an iPhone 4 still has this problem! Plus, the sound is only off on my games and YouTube! Pandora and my Internet radio apps still work!!

This is such a crappy phone! I mean....I have ebooka and mp3s I can't install because I'd have to jailbreak it and I've read too many reports about people bricking their iPhone 4s because Cydia doesn't work for iOS 5.0.1 so people try using unproven methods and screwing up their phones!!! No thank you!

How dare Apple state that their product is light years ahead of the competition when my Palm Pre (the original) was a much better product and way more user friendly?
Screw Apple and the horse it rode in on! I only paid $100 for it from SprInt because it's only 8gb...but after owning it a month, I feel I overpaid for it about $99!!!

State of the art? Which state would that be?

And now all the Apple-bots will call me a troll, right? Even Safari sucks! For years my best friend said Safari was the best browser. Yeah....I guess it would be if all you ever owned were Apple computers!

Very disappointed!
Oh yeah...to top it all off, I've been paying Sprint insurance for 15 years, and now that they have iPhones, you have to buy insurance through Apple only???? WTF???? And instead of just adding it to your bill each month it's a one time charge of $100???
I can only assume that Apple must believe its own b.s. and thinks it's hardware is so revolutionary God forbid anyone other than Apple should know how to fix a faulty phone!

Aaaarrrrrrggggghh!!!! I feel so ripped off.

Anonymous replied on

ok thank you so much for th solution! i had just gotten the iphone 3 weeks ago when the sound stopped working. but i blew air in and then plugged/ unplugged my headphones a bunch and now it works again.

Anonymous replied on

My iphone 4s quit working today as described. People can hear me on calls, but I can hear nothing. Neither trick worked. I tried both the repeated plugging/unplugging into the jack and the canned air. Nada. Any other tips?

Patrick replied on

I also tried everything, and the poster about moisture was right, depending on how much is in the earphone socket, blowing or jiggling or greeting a drip out...but nothing worked for me except using my Dysan to suck out the moisture, when all else fails, vacuum!

Johan replied on

Call Apple and send it in for service. Thats what I did less than 1 hour ago. (TBH, the guy I talked to didn't sound very surprised that I had this issue, must be common?)

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