iPhone Speaker Not Working? Fix Now!
When an iPhone’s speaker stops working, so do many of the features that make the iPhone so great. The music stops playing, you can’t make calls using the speakerphone, and you don’t hear a “ding” when you receive a text message or an email, or maybe your iPhone speaker is muffled. One thing’s for sure: Your iPhone uses its speaker a lot. In this article, I’ll explain what to do when an iPhone speaker is not working so you can fix the problem for good.
Causes of an iPhone Speaker That’s Not Working
Fixing an iPhone when the speaker doesn’t work isn’t necessarily hard, but it can be tricky. That’s because many things can potentially cause an iPhone’s speaker to remain silent.
Most of the time, the exact cause of a faulty iPhone speaker isn’t clear until you’ve tried the corresponding fix.
If the speaker is working but doesn’t sound as loud or clear as it should, you may need to skip the software and clean the iPhone speakers.
COPYRIGHT_NOVA: Published on https://www.novabach.com/i/iphone-speaker-not-working-fix-now/ by Daniel Barrett on 2021-01-09T12:09:11.000Z
How To Fix a Non-Working iPhone Speaker
If your iPhone speaker isn’t working properly, follow these steps, in order, to troubleshoot the problem and get it working again.
Make Sure The Volume Is All The Way Up
It’s easy to accidentally turn the volume all the way down on your iPhone or flip the silent switch if you’re using a big, bulky case. Unlock your iPhone and hold the volume up button until your iPhone is turned all the way up.
If the volume isn’t turning up even as you hold down the volume up button, open the Settings app and tap Sounds & Haptics. Make sure the switch next to Change with Buttons is turned on (you’ll know it’s on when it’s green).
If you turn the volume all the way up and you hear sound playing very, very quietly, your speaker is damaged. Skip to the last step to learn about your repair options.
Make Sure Your iPhone Isn’t Stuck On Headphones Mode
The iPhone can only send audio output to one place at a time. Your iPhone speakers could be working fine but may be stuck in headphone mode. This is a bug that causes the iPhone to send audio to the headphones, even if the headphones aren’t plugged in.
If you see Headphones under the volume slider when you turn the volume up or down, check out my article about why iPhones get stuck on headphones mode to find out how to fix it.
Turn Off Bluetooth
The iPhone speaker can’t play sounds if the audio is sent from the iPhone to another device. You may not hear anything because your iPhone is sending audio to a different speaker, such as a Bluetooth speaker.
If so, turning off Bluetooth breaks the connection to the speaker and plays audio through the iPhone speaker again. To turn off Bluetooth, select Settings > Bluetooth, then move the Bluetooth toggle switch to off/white.
Check Audio Output Settings
Your iPhone might be connected to an external speaker via AirPlay without you knowing. In this situation, switch the audio output settings away from the AirPlay speaker and back to the built-in iPhone speaker to receive sound from the iPhone speaker. To do that, open Control Center, then select the AirPlay icon in the upper-right corner of the music playback control. Select iPhone if it is not already selected.
Restart The iPhone
This may not solve the problem if nothing else has, but it’s quick and easy, and restarting the iPhone can solve a range of problems. It’s possible that your iPhone speaker is not working because of a temporary software glitch. If that’s the case, restarting it may clear out that glitch.
Update iOS
Updating the operating system can solve software problems. Software updates also fix bugs that may appear from time to time. It could be that your iPhone speaker isn’t working because of a bug present in the current version of iOS.
Like with a restart, this isn’t the most likely fix, but it has the potential to help. Plus, since updates are free and quick to install, it’s worth a try.
To update iOS, Tap on the Settings app, Navigate to General > Software Update.
Restore Your iPhone
There’s only one way to be absolutely sure your speaker is broken, and that’s to restore your iPhone. First, Back up your iPhone.
After you’ve successfully back up your iPhone, follow my instructions in this article about How To DFU Restore An iPhone.
After the restore finishes, you’ll know almost immediately if the problem is solved. You should hear keyboard clicks as soon as you start to type your Wi-Fi or Apple ID password when setting up your iPhone.
If you still don’t hear anything or your iPhone speaker is still muffled, we’ve eliminated the possibility that your iPhone’s software was causing the problem, and unfortunately, it means your iPhone speaker is broken.
Repair Your iPhone
If your iPhone speaker is broken, muffled or won’t work during calls, the good news is that Apple does replace iPhone speakers both at the Genius Bar and through their mail-in repair service at their support website.
One of our favorite alternative is Puls, an iPhone repair service that will meet you at a location of your choice in as little as 60 minutes and repair your iPhone on the spot. Puls also offers a lifetime warranty. If you take the Apple Store route, make an appointment to get help right away.
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