I cant hear my phone calls unless i put it on speaker iphone 11

I can't hear my phone calls unless I put it on speaker.

I can't hear my phone calls unless I put my phone on speaker, but everyone can hear me fine—even if my iPhone is not placed on speaker. I've taken really good care of it and have only dropped it once, which was a few months ago. I just woke up the other morning after charging it, and it no longer works right. I've tried everything, including resetting it and placing half a Q-tip in the ear bud holder. I have an appointment at the Apple Store to have it checked out, but I live so far from the store that it would really be helpful for me to figure this out on my own. Does anyone know of a way to fix it? I would greatly appreciate it. =]

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74 Comments

what about the other way around? I can hear people but they can't hear me talking unless I put it on speaker....

Aug 18, 2014 by Catherine

Where is the top button near the speaker and the earpiece I need help my phone Is only working on speaker

Sep 6, 2014 by tichinastrong

Applebaaz you are a genius! I have been googling how to fix this for 3 days and nothing worked until I found your post! Who knew a little push would work? Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!

Oct 13, 2014 by danikerr

that didn't work for me any other ideas

Nov 11, 2014 by tom

I think I have solved this problem of my iPhone 5 applying this tricks. Thank you guys.

Feb 25, 2015 by Tariq Ahmed Khan

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Posted: Jul 26, 2012

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Just push the top area (near the speaker and front camera) gently with your thumb.

That's it.

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193 Comments:

Thank you applebaaz just saved me trip to apple

Jul 29, 2012 by andrejones2004

applebaaz!!! You rock.. I tried everything, including the blowing and nothing.. I just pushed on it like you said and BAM! working again! Thank you!

Sep 5, 2012 by amyjerome

Applebaaz, thank you so much!!!!

Jan 7, 2013 by Anna Toupitsyna

Thanks applebaaz!!!! Blowing with my mouth worked for me:) Already purchased earphones with mic for $21, since Apple was asking for $129 before tax, to repair it.

Sep 6, 2012 by Uyi

Slight press to the top and a blow to the ear plug port... BAM! I'm back!!!

May 7, 2013 by cheqwon88

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Posted: Nov 23, 2015

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Your phone might be stuck in headphones mode. This might help http://vkrepair.com/iphone-6-2/iphone-6-...

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11 Comments:

Please help! I can't find the camera near the speaker? Still not working :(

Apr 26, 2016 by clearwah

Thanks guys,saved my life.....phone was stuck in headphones mode,,,cheers

Sep 21, 2016 by rpl1

thank you!!!!!!!!

Oct 17, 2016 by debcify

Can someone help iv tried everything but every thing else I can hear but when calls come in people can hear me but I can't hear them much appreciate anyone's help [email protected] ta

Aug 4, 2017 by Michelle Dempsey

i have a problems with my iPhone 6 everything is working ok but when i pair it with Bluetooth i can hear the ring that i have in coming call but when i accept and answer the call i can not hear the other caller neither they can hear me, it happened with all Bluetooths and even with the one in my car.

Dec 18, 2017 by Mike

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Posted: Aug 13, 2014

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I had the same problem and blowing/pushing didn't work for me either. BUT--this is weird--I tried gently sucking air out of the speaker and then blowing, alternating, and now it works. That's what I do to my headphones to get them to work again as well. Hope that works!!

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15 Comments:

oh thank you so much!! this actually worked for you have really made my day. I can't THANK YOU ENOUGH FOR YOUR POST!! WHOOOHOO!!

Aug 11, 2015 by moo

Yes sucking then blowing into the speaker worked like a charm. Thank you big time!!!

Nov 9, 2015 by chrisb

Thank u, this worked for me:-)

Jan 7, 2016 by stephanietucker86

Thank u, this worked for me too :)

Jul 4, 2016 by Rhoana Teves

Wow the tap and the blowing seems to have worked for me too. What a simple trick.

Aug 17, 2016 by Ajay Gupta

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Posted: Jul 28, 2011

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Try to record a voice memo and play it back over the earpiece speaker as opposed to the speakerphone speaker.

If you can hear the voice memo over the earpiece speaker, that means it's probably software related in which case a restore in iTunes might fix it.

If you still cannot hear the voice memo over the earpiece speaker, the speaker may be broken/defective in which case you are probably better off taking it back to Apple if it is under warranty. You can also try to replace it yourself if Apple will not.

I would try a restore in either case regardless just in case it would save me a trip to the Apple store.

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23 Comments:

nothing came threw on the voice memo when i took it off speaker. But thank you that was really helpful. If anyone else has this problem, all i had to do was blow in the earpeice speaker. I guess dust just got inside of it. but it now works & it saved me a 3 hour drive to the apple store.

Jul 29, 2011 by Molly Carpenter

I love you!!!!!!!!! lol my phone fell the other night, only about a foot from the ground, but after that I had the same issue...no sound except for with the speaker and headphones. I loved the voice memo test, so I tried it...still no sound. So I blew into the earpiece speaker. bam. works again :) Thank you soo much for posting this! I have been reviewing forum after forum. And the nearest Apple store to me is 7 hours away. I am super grateful, thanks again!

Jan 30, 2012 by Helen S

i just blasted a load of compressed air in to the headphone socket and bingo i am working - dropped my phone as i was getting out of the car and it landed in the smallest mini puddle possible - i got it out str away and there was next to no water on it - but it wouldn't play phone calls other than on headphones and speaker - but now working after being left over night and the air blast

Jun 4, 2012 by justin

YOU PEOPLE ROCK! Same issues, dropped this morning couldn't hear from ear piece, tried the memo test, nothing, blew in the earpiece and voila it worked!

YAY ... Thank you.

Nov 1, 2012 by aimeeski

OMG, thank you, thank you Molly Carpenter! I have been trying for two days, spending hours online getting answers, following all the instructions and nothing worked until I read your message about the dust, and took a toothpick, and swiped it back and forth a couple of times and saw a bit of dust at the end of the toothpick, then I blew into the ear piece and lo and behold and I can NOW hear people, I love you!!!!!!!! So grateful I found your posting.

Have a GREAT DAY!

Mar 19, 2013 by Cheryl Endicott

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Posted: Nov 1, 2013

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i tried pressing on the top right then left a few times and it worked.

used skype answering app for incoming audio help. tks

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3 Comments:

This worked for me!! (Pressing left and right.) But I presses on the speaker itself and around it. This is the only thing that worked for me! Thank you!!

May 7, 2016 by Kristel

Thank you....not happy that this iPhone 8+ is about a month old and this happened!

May 23, 2018 by kikidee1954

My phone call speaker and mike not working, but I am able to take calls by connecting my phone to bluetooth earphone

Nov 3, 2020 by Paras Gupta

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Posted: Apr 23, 2017

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None of that stuff up there worked. I saw a comment on another forum about sucking on the headphone jack and tried it. I burst out laughing because it was the only thing that actually worked, when I initially thought it was a joke. Lol. Thank you so much!

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4 Comments:

Thank you so much!!! It worked like charm.

Jan 12, 2020 by moms3littlebirds

Idk how to post an actual answer. but another possible solution would be to reset your network settings. A friend said that because I was traveling, my phone may have been trying to connect to multiple network towers, or didn't switch towers thercfore causing connection problems. after I went to my settings > general > reset > reset networks settings

Jun 22, 2020 by Joel Nicks

Joel, thank you, thank you! None of the other solutions worked for me but yours did!!

Sep 22, 2020 by DeAnne Baumgartner

Joel !! Thank you so much. Ive tried to press, push, blow the air, sucking the air

Dec 8, 2020 by Ana Hssn

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Posted: Aug 18, 2016

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I went through this sequence and it worked for me:

Home Screen - Settings - General - Reset (At Very Bottom) - Reset All Settings (First Option at Top) - message says this won't erase your any media or data - click on Reset All settings. The phone should reboot correctly now. Good Luck!

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2 Comments:

I did Reset Network Settings instead, and that worked for me. Note: This also clears all your wifi passwords.

May 30, 2017 by Scott Kircher

Thank you it didn’t do it right away but back on charger came back hour later promblem gone

Nov 22, 2017 by Donald Cooper

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Posted: Sep 24, 2014

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Just finished fishing mine out of a sink full of water while in a case.. phone was fully submerged for about five seconds but the case was full of water. Got the phone out of the case, dried it off and it still worked, but had the problem with the sound as above. Blew out the headphone jack, gently inserted some tissue to blot moisture, then blew on the earpiece and swabbed it out gently. I can hear calls now just fine, thank gawd. Also packed it into a bag of rice for tonite, just to make sure the water gets drawn out of wherever it may be hiding. But this trick works....used it a few times now. Cheers!

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1 Comment:

Tissue in ear hole worked on mine! Yay!

Feb 5, 2017 by jkjanet

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Posted: Oct 6, 2014

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I tried all the above but nothing worker until i tried to shut it down and open it again it's working now yaaaay :)

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Posted: Oct 16, 2013

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Sweet a little compressed air in the earphone jack and BAM!!! Working - Thanks!!

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Posted: Nov 3, 2013

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just soak a piece of cotton ball with petrol and gently clean the earpiece.it will work out just fine.it worked in my case.

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Posted: Nov 27, 2013

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I had the same issues and think it got a little wet from drizzling rain....

So I put it in a bag of rice for a bit and then on the cold setting of the hair dryer on the ear piece. Rebooted it and it works again. COLD setting on the hair dryer! So you don't fry anything internally.

Pushing on the top. Didn't work.

Blowing in the top. Didn't work.

The voice memo trick. Didn't work.

So for those of you out there that get through the suggested tricks above and it still didn't fix the problem. I hope mine help.

;)

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1 Comment:

i dont get it

Dec 12, 2015 by den

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Posted: Feb 7, 2014

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Blow drying it on cold worked for me. Thank you so much!!! None of the others worked.

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Posted: May 16, 2020

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Restart It, May be this is any hardware issue.

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Unfortunately I tried that 1st. Since I originally posted this, I'm switching to T-Mobile mainly because once I discovered that the $6.99 per month for the extended warranty protection plan which even replaces lost or stolen phones. Unfortunately I happened to mentioned a tiny corner crack in the screen, suddenly I'm informed that since there is a possible repair, my instructions were to send in the phone along with the $100 deductible.

I'm tired of big corporations thinking they can make decisions and we're just supposed to conform or walk away

May 17, 2020 by [email protected]

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Posted: Nov 1, 2013

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when you go into voice memo to play the recording, next to the big red recording button on the screen, in the top right hand corner is a small speaker logo it should be colored blue, if you press it, it should go black which deactivates the speaker. the recording should play through the earpiece now

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my speaker is black...when I pushed it blue it worked...what does this mean?

Jun 11, 2016 by Caroline moore

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Posted: Jul 15, 2014

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we had the problem where I could not hear the person I called but they could hear me. The same with incoming calls. Could only hear with earphones or on speaker. The solution that corrected the problem was to type on the dial keyboard ##update# an update appeared, I pressed OK and it worked! This was on the iPhone 4s

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Nothing was working for me. I had tried pressing the top, compressed air blowing into the earpiece, did a shut down, then I typed in the ##update#, but no update appeared. I was giving up, then I made one last test call & I could hear through the earpiece again! I have an iPhone 4s.

Feb 21, 2016 by ksnugent

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Posted: Oct 25, 2014

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Hi,

I've got an iPhone 4S, and also had this issue...couldn't hear a caller unless I put them on speaker phone. My problem was pretty sporadic, and kinda baffling. I live in the Pacific Northwest, it rains a lot here. This holds relevance because I finally figured out that the difficulty only happens when my phone is a bit wet from the rain. Makes sense, because the earphone jack is located at the top of the handset, so it's likely to end up with a drop or two in the socket.

The trouble always vanishes once I'm back inside, and the phone has dried off.

Hope this helps.

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Posted: Jan 23, 2016

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Thanks!! Rebooted a couple times didn't work. After read above tips, I tried blow hair dryer on cool and reboot works for my iPhone 6.

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Posted: Dec 6, 2016

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tried all these - none worked. Made two calls with the loud speaker on. Then made another and it all worked fine - without the speaker and it all worked fine! Hope this helps someone. Phone is 5S

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Posted: Apr 25, 2017

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Speakers get dusty all the time , use toothpick it works . Mo

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Posted: Jun 6, 2017

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I can't believe the hair dryer thing WORKED! I thought you people were all nuts with all this blowing and sucking. Perhaps I just assumed technology was too smart for all that these days!

Thanks folks!

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1 Comment:

Wow ! Thanks dis worked for me! I pressed the speaker a little and blew air with my mouth , I did it thrice! Now its back on !

Oct 29, 2017 by ekwuonu chizoba

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Posted: Oct 6, 2017

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1. clean mike and speaker area for dust

2. turn off bluetooth as it may possible that iphone connected to other audio bluetooth devices.

3. check sound setting and reset to default.

If non of this work then reset setting to default.

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Posted: Dec 23, 2017

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hey guys...my phone is iphone 5s ..during phone calls ,others can't hear my voice unless i use a headset or activate the speaker ..the same thing for recordings.....i have tried every thing up there and nothing helped :(

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Posted: Feb 15, 2018

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I lightly wet a toothbrush (with firm bristles), shook it off, dabbed it on a piece of toweling, then used it to scrub the ear hole of the phone. Use some common sense to determine what is too much water that it will go beyond the mesh of the earpiece. If you don’t do it with care, you could use too much and void your warranty. I suspect I had a drop of coffee with sugar that although wiped off a small amount remained and dried that created the noise barrier. A q-tip was worthless. Thinking maybe high content rubbing alcohol would be a better choice, but same process.

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Posted: Nov 11, 2022

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Restart your phone

The first and foremost thing to do when troubleshooting your devices is to try and reboot them. Restarting your phone can resolve many issues on your phone, including the ‘can’t hear phone calls unless on speaker’ issue.

Why can't I hear my phone calls unless it's on speaker iPhone 11?

Check you Settings > Accessibility > Touch > Call Audio Routing and make sure that you call audio routing is on automatic. Try restarting your phone or update your phone to the latest software.

Why does my phone only work on speaker iPhone?

Check the speaker opening to see if it's blocked or dirty. On iPhone only, make sure that the receiver is not blocked or dirty. If necessary, clean the speaker or receiver opening with a small, soft-bristled brush. Make sure that the brush is clean and dry.

Why can I not hear unless my phone is on speaker?

Now, this might come as a shock, but most of the time, you can't hear phone calls unless on speaker Android only because of a low call volume. And in some cases, zero volume! Before doing anything drastic, this should be the first thing that you should do –– increase your phone's volume.