Your iPhone serves numerous functions, one of which is making and receiving phone calls. But what if the ear speaker on your iPhone stops working? The solution might be as simple as turning up the volume or as complicated as resetting your iPhone. Below, we share all the possible tips for fixing the ear speaker not working on your iPhone, starting with the easiest and working our way up to the more complicated.
Table of Contents
1. Check the Volume Level
If you’ve turned down your iPhone’s ear speaker volume, it may seem like it not working, especially when you are outdoors. While on a call, use the Volume Up button to increase the volume and see if that solves your problem.
2. Turn Off Bluetooth
Is your iPhone connected to a Bluetooth device, such as earbuds, speakers, or a watch? If so, you may not hear anything while on a call, as your iPhone will redirect the in-call audio to the connected Bluetooth device.
If you want to avoid any unwanted connections, it’s best to turn off Bluetooth on your iPhone by heading over to Settings > Bluetooth.
3. Turn Off Phone Noise Cancellation
Your iPhone has a feature called Phone Noise Cancellation that can help block out background noise during calls. However, this feature can sometimes mess things up, making it hard to hear people on the phone. You can try turning this feature off to see if that fixes the problem.
1. Open the Settings app and scroll down to tap on Accessibility.
2. Tap on Audio/Visual and turn off the toggle next to Phone Noise Cancellation.
After completing the above steps, check if the ear speaker works as expected.
4. Clean the Ear Speaker
Over time, your iPhone’s earpiece can gather dust and debris, affecting the call volume. You can try clearing the ear speaker with a soft-bristled brush and see if it solves your problem. However, make sure to be gentle and not use any liquid, as it can permanently damage your speaker.
5. Remove Any Obstructing Screen Protector and Case
At times, a poorly applied screen protector or case can block your iPhone’s ear speaker and cause it to stop working during calls. So, if cleaning the ear speaker doesn’t help, you can try removing the screen protector and case from your iPhone.
6. Check if Your iPhone Is Stuck in Headphone Mode
There’s a chance that your iPhone is stuck in headphone mode, which is causing it to divert call audio to a device that is not available. If that’s the case, your iPhone won’t play any sounds.
Most of the time, plugging in the headphones and unplugging them or simply restarting your iPhone is enough to get your iPhone out of headphone mode.
7. Reinstall the Problematic App
Is your iPhone’s ear speaker only acting up with a specific app, like WhatsApp? If so, it’s probably a problem with the app itself. In that case, you can try uninstalling and reinstalling the app to fix the problem.
Long press on the problematic app and select Remove App. Then, select Delete App to confirm.
After that, head over to the App Store to download the app again and check if the issue still occurs.
8. Install iOS Updates
Your iPhone’s ear speaker might not be working because of a bug in iOS. Apple is usually quick when it comes to addressing known issues in subsequent updates. You can try installing pending iOS updates to see if that fixes the issue.
To check for available updates, open the Settings app and tap on General. Tap on Software Update to check for pending updates and install them.
9. Reset Your iPhone
If all of the above fixes prove ineffective, your best option is to reset all the settings on your iPhone and start over. Don’t worry ,this won’t erase your personal data or files. However, it will reset all the settings on your iPhone to their default values.
To reset all the settings on your iPhone, use these steps:
1. Open the Settings app. Scroll down to tap on General and select Transfer or Reset iPhone from the following menu.
2. Tap on Reset and select Reset All Settings from the resulting menu.
From Hush to Hello
The iPhone’s ear speaker usually does an excellent job of facilitating private conversations and ensuring crystal-clear audio during calls. While unexpected glitches can sometimes cause it to malfunction, it’s not something you can’t fix with the solutions mentioned above.
