No sound from any apps on Android phone
October 15, 2019 11:42 AM   Subscribe

Out of the blue, none of the apps on my phone can make any sound. However, the speakers work fine because they make noises when I tap the sound on/off toggle. WTF?

I consider myself pretty proficient with my phone but am baffled by this.

- I have restarted numerous times. No effect.
- I have disabled Bluetooth.
- I have ensured Do Not Disturb is not enabled.
- I did a "Reset settings to factory".
- Adjusted volume on all sliders.
- I did not recently install any new apps or widgets.

Nothing makes any sound except built-in toggles, like toggling from vibrate to sound on elicits a beep. So, nothing from Audible, Youtube, any games, etc.

Any ideas how to fix this?

I'd rather not do a factory reset as there is one app on my phone that I cannot re-download when outside of America because reinstalling sends me a text and I am not at that number when travelling (Google Voice).

Thanks.

It's a Note 8 if that matters.
posted by dobbs to Technology (7 answers total)
 
The app permissions may be set to not allow microphone. If the settings menu let's you add permissions one at a time go into the settings menu, go to apps, then under permissions turn on microphone. Or in each app settings menu (the cog wheel symbol) turn the sound on. Sometimes the music in an app is the stuff nightmares are made of so it may be a blessing you cant hear anything. Good luck
posted by The_imp_inimpossible at 12:02 PM on October 15, 2019




Response by poster: essexjam, thanks, but that didn't work for me. He's kinda having the opposite problem to what I am.

imp, thanks also. I'm not having issues with the microphone, but the speaker, and there is no way to enable/disable speaker access. Also, it happened to all apps simultaneously without me doing anything.

Still searching. Have discovered the sound will output to my bluetooth headphones and that non-media things like the phone and notifications work fine.

I'm guessing the phone thinks headphones are plugged in though there haven't been any in there in at least a year. There used to be an app that reset that but it doesn't work with later Android OS. However, if this is the case, doesn't explain why the phone works. Don't believe it would if there were headphones plugged in.
posted by dobbs at 3:50 PM on October 15, 2019


You might also try clearing cache to see if that fixes it. On my phone that mean turning off the phone and rebooting while holding the power and volume down button. Not sure about on yours.

How are you adjusting sound levels because there is a media sound level that may be muted even if other's aren't.

Also, check to make sure Do Not Disturb is not on. I've found that prevents sounds from playing.

I strongly suspect none of these will work because I would guess that resetting to factory settings would override what may have been done, but something to consider if you haven't already.
posted by willnot at 5:09 PM on October 15, 2019


Try blowing out the microphone jack with some compressed air in case there is some lint in there.
posted by fshgrl at 5:20 PM on October 15, 2019


Response by poster: I literally just dropped the phone on a marble floor and now it works fine.

So weird. Thanks, folks.
posted by dobbs at 5:49 PM on October 15, 2019


Have you ever changed the volume of "media" anywhere and seen the "Remember my preference" notification?
You may also check to see if certain some apps can change the volume settings in your phone without you knowing based on how they are loaded in default mode.
Lastly you may try plugging in a set of earphones and see if the volume works. Then take them out. Sometimes theres a glitch in the port that makes the phone think they are still plugged in.
posted by The_imp_inimpossible at 6:43 PM on October 15, 2019


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