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

Maxine replied on

Thank you!!!

Daughter had no sound without using headphones, we blew and blew to no avail but then stuck a cotton bud down earjack and hey presto. Saves a trip the Apple shop!!

Kathxoxo replied on

I tried the jacking of headphones it worked for me twice but then it stopped working for me so I resort to putting it infront of the air conditioner and it miraculously worked! I hope I won't be back here again to look for solutions wew..

Chaka replied on

I have an I phone 3gs. I checked my speaker and the speaker works. I checked it by calling my voice mail and turning on my speaker phone. The problem I have is when I am watching videos or listening to music, the speaker does not work. The Volume adjustment disappears. What should I do and furthermore, what is the problem.

Andria Schafer replied on

This message board is great-thanks. So I went running on the beach with my ear phones plugged in for the second time ever on my iphone. Got a phone call while listening to music...everything seemed fine but when I took out the earphones-of course no sound since I'm on this board. I cleaned out the jack, blew in there, I don't have a compressed air bottle (I'll get one). Nothing. After reading about the heat issue, I remembered that it got really hot on the trip out here because we used the phone as GPS and it was lit up and running hot for like 12 hours strait. It was also charging on and off...I held it at one point and it felt really hot...I've never felt my phone that warm. Then I had it in my pocket while running, I don't normally put it in there and just hold it. I turned the phone on and off the right way...blew in the jack again on the bottom too and clean it with a toothpick. Nothing. I called my sister and put the ringer on speaker phone...SOUND! But my music in itunes still wouldn't play...weird. Soooooo I finally relented to the pushing gently in the center of the pone since it had been really hot. It make a crackle sound...like it was sitting on sand on the counter or something. And the song that was playing started blasting out of the speakers! Yay! But then in acted like I hit pause 30 seconds later. I still had all my button sounds and alerts sounds when I tried that. So I hit play and gain and it started up again with sound...but then stopped after 60 seconds. But since I was gaining...I just kept hitting play. It's been playing for about 10 minutes now with no interruptions. I think that it's a combination of warping and software not knowing how to respond. Pushing in the middle seemed to be the only thing that made my music play out of pandora or itunes where I was listening out of the jack before. I hope it's reset and I may just use my old ipod next time I run on the beach ;)

Phyllis replied on

I can't believe it!! Pushing in the middle on the phone gets the sound on. However, it keeps going off again like i pushed pause. It's has to be the software.

PeTer Nguyen replied on

It' s work to me first thing use DeoxIt D5 (more than a contact cleaner Chemical Improves Electronic Connection) pray in 3.5mm hole than plugin 3.5 jack than put out than plugin back again several times well it 's normal working sound play with out headphone

claudio replied on

HEY..can somebody help me?my iphone 3g dont product sound..anything,and cant hear noobody when im talking,sometimes it works,but actualy no..and i cant play the music on iPod..please somebody help..tnx

Angelinee replied on

I had the same problem and I've tried all of the same things that other people said like blow air at the dock or clean the dock and it didnt work. And then I took a cotton swab, cut out the cotton so all what's left is the little stick and then I put it in the headphone dock and I sucked it. It really worked!!! But remember to PLAY MUSIC so you can detect if it's working or not. Then voila!

Patty K replied on

Had a bad day yesterday...got pulled over and issued a ticket, then got home and my IPhone fell out of my pocket into the toilet. Fortunately, I hadn't USED the toilet and fortunately, my headphone was still attached, so I quickly yanked my phone out of the water.

Anyway, I was able to make calls and I thought that everything was fine until I discovered that the sound wasn't functioning properly when I played music without headphones. I tried plugging and unplugging the headphones, many times, but that didn't work. Squeezing the phone, blowing into all IPhone openings with my husband's very powerful hairdryer, were methods that worked temporarily. However, I was back to no sound after a few minutes. Very depressing.

I just now plugged and unplugged the headphone again and that actually worked this time. So, the moral of the story is: try everything and if something didn't work the first time, try it again.

BTW, I'd be careful about squeezing the phone though. I actually lost the bar at the top that tells me how long a song has played. I got it back by squeezing again, but it was a little scary.

Fat guy in a li... replied on

There is a small switch above the volume control buttons on the side of the iphone.switch it to the right and walla! Problem solved.

Fat guy in a li... replied on

There is a small switch above the volume control buttons on the side of the iphone.switch it to the right and walla! Problem solved.

Anonymous replied on

Hi all,

My brother has just had this problem, and i have been reading all your comments. I know he keeps it in his pocket all the time so i had a feeling it may be to do with the temperature of the phone. As stupid as this sounds i told him to put it in the fridge for a minute just to cool it down and it worked. We tried all other techniques and they didnt work. I know it sounds stupid but seriously give it a go, might suggest not putting it in for too long but one minute it worked.

Jadey replied on

i'm having a problem with my iphone 4. when i insert the headphone jack, the volume is too low and i have to increase the volume at almost 3/4 to full before i can hear something on my headphone. but when someone sends me a text message with the message sound, the volume will increase on it's own. before, when listening to music via my headphone, the volume is only about within 1/3 loud, but now, when i do that, i can barely hear the music. i tried blowing into the headphone jack, turned it off/on by pressing the top button and the square home button, still not working. please let me know if anyone has this same problem and what you did with them

Anonymous replied on

i blowed super hard into the head phone jack and nothing :/

Dave replied on

Had to blow it out 3 times to stop it switching back to headphone mode but really works.

Kay replied on

Ironically this speaker issue happened to my roommates phone and my phone the exact same day.

TRY THIS!

1. Call the phone
2. If it rings (with sound coming through the speakers it's a good sign)
3. Next, answer the phone and hit the "speaker icon" to place the call on speaker phone.
This should send a signal to the phone that headphones are not plugged in.
4. If speaker phone works, try playing music through your speakers again!

THIS WORKED FOR BOTH OF OUR IPHONE 4's

hope this helps! Good luck!

Kandarp replied on

Believe it or not, this happens due to static interfering with headphones. I noticed when I had my headphones plugged into ears, I stopped playing music and I had my backpack which was synthetic made also had wool coat on (creates lot of static). When I unloaded bag, I heard jittery sound in headphones clearly. I tried to play music and there was this annoying problem. As the winter is passing now (Not much static) I don't observe this issue anymore.

Anonymous replied on

Okay so....
I hav had the exact same prob.
I plug the headphones in....
LALALA, music plays
I take the headphones out
......nothing
It doesnt even show the volume slider thingamabob.
So i tried all the tips above except the fridge thing
Headphones jack in and out= overly tired and cramping hands
Squeezing= an even more jacked up phone
Blowing/toothpic/cotton swab= ZIP
switching buttons= NATA
and i also tried voice control and letting it beep then going to the music app
I noticed the volume controller popped up
But at soon as i hit play
.....IT FREAKING DISSAPEARS!!!!!
I am very frustrated bcuz it had been like this for weeks
It happened wen i took out my head phones
There is no moisture or crap inside the phone
Possibly a software or circuit problem?
I WOULDNT KNOW!!
At the time i have no access to a computer
Soooo there is a possibility that
Im screwed
ALTHOUGH
LISTEN CLOSELY
AND TRY TO INTERPRET MY
HARD TO UNDERSTAND WORDS
i noticed that wen i hit the volume button on the left ONCE
This thing pops up and says RINGER yet
There is no volume movement
BUT then i switched the mute switch above the volume buttons
Off and then bac on and i noticed ther was one bar
That popped up on the screen as if the bolume had increased
So i did it again
And then there were two bars
I continued to do this until it was full
YET THERE WAS STILL NO VOLUME!!!!
BLUH!!!!!
I am just a girl that wishes for her phone to play music
ONCE AGAIN!!!!
I REFUSE to take it to the store and im getting frustrated
If there is ANYONE out there that has a diff remedy
Than those listed above
PLEASE
OH PLEASE
WILL U BE SO KIND
AS TO
TYPING
OR TEXTING
OR WHATEVER
UR SOLUTION
BECAUSE I AM SICK AND TIRED OF THIS CRAZY CRAP
thank you,
A very sad, frustrated, and (at the time) destructive, little girl:|

Lisa replied on

I did the headphone thing a few times: plugged them in and played a song, then unplugged them - still no sounds. After 2 or 3 times trying this, after I pulled the headphones out for the last time I played a song on the phone WITHOUT the headphones attached and everything cleared up.

MAN what a pain the fu#$% ass. Seriously. (But it was a quick and easy enough fix.)

Anonymous replied on

Wow!!! The compressed air tricked worked perfectly!!! Amazing!

jie replied on

what really workes after trying everything that was suggested here...like: blowing, playing the sounds on ringtones and pulling and plugging the eaophone and resetting...none of it worked for me...

but i tried taking out the battery and putting it back again....HOORAY!!!!! the audio is back again!!!

Anonymous replied on

Thank you, thank you, thank you! The compressed air and a shut down had it working perfecty again!

John replied on

I had exactly this problem with iPhone 4S -- most sounds only playing through earphones. When I used the phone at home in Wifi network it gave the option of playing to Apple TV or Dock Connector -- with no dock connector attached. With a toothpick I cleaned out the dock connector, removed lots of fluff and lint, and now it works just fine.

Dave replied on

Sometimes this doesn't do the trick so you have to blow compressed air into the headphones jack to clear out the dust.

Happened me last week and I spent many hours over a few days restoring, updating, and even tried plugging in and out headphones many times but nothing worked. However, a blast of COMPRESSED AIR into the headphone jack and it was fixed immediately!

I'm absolutely amazed at how gimmicky the iphone can be!!!!! Was very frustrating to say the least....

Mazzy replied on

HERE IS THE SOLUTION: USE AN AIR DUSTER TO CLEAN OUT THE HEADPHONE HOLE. THAT SHOULD FIX IT. HOPE THIS WAS HELPFUL

Anonymous replied on

Blowing air into the ear phone jack hole helped resolve my problem to some degree. The thing that worked best was to roll up a piece of adhesive tape, sticky side out, small enough to fit into the hole. Move it around in the hole to attract as much loose dirt as possible. Inspect the tape to see what you found. I found all sorts of little dirt particles and now my audio works just fine.

ARGH replied on

I want to ask u guys something!
1. Although there's no sound when I play music, there is sound when someone calls me and there is sound when I play my ringtones in settings. What about you guys?

2. When I adjust my volume, it shows headphones (even though I'm not on headphones) what about you guys?

Here is what happened to mine. I was listening to a speech and paused it then brought it into the bathroom with me. The counter was a little wet and after my shower, I continued playing the speech but there was no sound! It was working fine just 15 mins ago and I didn't download or do anything so I'm puzzled. I called phone, pressed speaker, press home button then played a music and it worked but after ending the call, I can't play music again.

I've also tried plugging and unplugging, blowing but it doesn't work.
Does compressed air really work?

ARGH replied on

I want to ask u guys something!
1. Although there's no sound when I play music, there is sound when someone calls me and there is sound when I play my ringtones in settings. What about you guys?

2. When I adjust my volume, it shows headphones (even though I'm not on headphones) what about you guys?

Here is what happened to mine. I was listening to a speech and paused it then brought it into the bathroom with me. The counter was a little wet and after my shower, I continued playing the speech but there was no sound! It was working fine just 15 mins ago and I didn't download or do anything so I'm puzzled. I called phone, pressed speaker, press home button then played a music and it worked but after ending the call, I can't play music again.

I've also tried plugging and unplugging, blowing but it doesn't work.
Does compressed air really work?

ARGH replied on

YAYY! Guess what? I said that I kept blowing and blowing and it doesn't work. I got very tired then I remember that I have a very strong fan at home. I turned it to the max speed and played music. After putting it under the fan for 5 mins, it started playing!
Remember to put the headphone jack in the direction of the fan. Let it blow directly into it.
Hope this helps (tell me if it works for you) :)
and hopefully this doesn't happen again!

Idk what caused it to work (cooling it? blowing the dust out? or drying the moisture?) Hmm

Anonymous replied on

I FOUND A NEW SOLUTION TO THOSE WHO ARE EXPERIENCING OUTPUT EXTERNAL SOUND DIFFICULTY
my iphone wouldnt play sound out loud just ringtones and siri and sometimes music. MY phone could still play sounds while on a call though heres what i did.
Solution:
I called a phone number for 25 minutes and played angry birds for 25 min straight to convine the iphone that it actually can play sound for that long and i believe this is what fixed it. And of course with the lords help SO BLESSED AND HAPPY :) <3

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