Why is iPhone silent?

June 14, 2008 2:43 PM

Why does my iPhone go silent? How do I fix it? More and more often there is no sound on the phone app when I place a call - a connection is made, but I can't hear the other person, and sometimes they can't hear me either. I do hear a ringtone when someone calls, and I can listen to music through the iPod feature. In the past I have solved this by powering off for several minutes, that doesn't work today. No help on the Apple support page or previous posts. Anybody know what to do?
posted by Rain Man to technology (5 comments total)

Is it possible that you're accidentally hitting -- maybe with your face -- the speaker phone "button"? Is it possible that you've got a bluetooth adapter that's activated but that's not in your ear?
posted by buriedpaul at 2:57 PM on June 14, 2008

Raise or lower your volume so the volume bar comes on the screen. Does it say something about "headphones"? I had the same problem and it was because somehow, even though I had no headphones in it, it thought I did. You can fix it by sticking the headphone jacks in and out a couple of times.
posted by Falconetti at 3:02 PM on June 14, 2008

Well I do use the speaker sometimes, and it works when everything's normal. I'm not aware of having a bluetooth adapter, but I have been wondering whether I have somehow accidentally actived some strange muting device. Is there such a thing? Does one of the buttons mute the phone??
posted by Rain Man at 3:02 PM on June 14, 2008

Thanks, Falconetti, that worked! I stuck the earphone jack in and out a couple of time and all is fixed. AskMeFi rocks!
posted by Rain Man at 3:09 PM on June 14, 2008

Same thing happened to me. Finally took it to my local Apple Store and the guy flushed out the headphone jack with compressed air. Dirt and debris apparently tricks the sensor into thinking the headphones are still attached. Said it was a common problem.
posted by whiskeyspider at 7:58 AM on June 15, 2008