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iPhone 4 - other person cannot hear me on calls!

J

jasonbogd

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 21, 2010
17
0
Hi everybody,

I have an iPhone 4 that I bought on launch day. For about the past couple of months, when I am on calls, the other person sometimes cannot hear me, but I can hear them just fine. It happens even when I have 4-5 bars, and doesn't appear to be a hardware issue since I can use Voice Memos just fine.

Any ideas? Is this a known issue?

Thanks!
 
I consistently have a problem with this as well. I will answer a call, and the person on the other end can't hear me. After hanging up and calling back, it works just fine. It happens at least once per day. Interestingly, I had the same problem with my droid. I'm on Verizon, so maybe it is on their end. "Can you hear me now?"
 
I called Apple. They said that if Voice Memos works, then it might not be a hardware issue. They also said it was the first time they were hearing about this.

Will continue to investiage :confused:
 
I used to have that problem all the time, although it was not on an iPhone.
When I told AT&T about it they said it was because my sim card was old so they gave me a newer one.
That didn't help though. I honestly think it was because I was in a bad signal spot. It happened the most in the apartment I was living in at the time.
 
This is a long shot but worth trying...

One thing that can cause audio problems is crud in the earphone socket or in the dock connector. If some foreign material is in one or the other, resistance can "trick" the phone into thinking there is a speaker mic or an audio dock connected. Usually the problem is not exactly what you are describing (i.e. often mic will still work but speaker won't) but it's worth trying.

Clean the contacts on the dock connector carefully, I used a wooden toothpick. Earphone jack can be trickier but plugging/unplugging a headset a few times should do the trick.
 
@ewils19 - I went to the Genius Bar. They ran some diagnostics and said the same thing (get your SIM card replaced), but that didn't seem to work. Guess Apple doesn't really have an answer :)

@seanfranklin - That seems to work for me. This issue hasn't happened since I tried that a few days ago, but I'm starting to think it might be related to bad signal areas.
 
I went to the Genius Bar again. They cleaned out my headphone jack and it worked from the store. Of course, the next call it doesn't work. Have no idea what's going on! :confused:
 
My Iphone 4S does this as well randomly. The genius bar guy told me to reload software on phone and set up as new and go from there! I havent tried that yet though--seems with so many issues with this its probably software related
 
I am testing 5.1 os and it does it for me as well sometimes. I have submitted the bug along with console log files for their review.
 
Last edited:
Quit hitting the mute button with your cheek before the screen goes dark... That fixed it for me.
 
kfergiez said:
Quit hitting the mute button with your cheek before the screen goes dark... That fixed it for me.
Click to expand...

I've heard that happens to other people, but the mute button is always off and the problem still happens :confused:
 
Take it to the Apple Store. If under warranty and not water damaged, they'll swap it out. Might ask to do a clean software install first then get to the swap. At least, that's how the store here does it.
 
I get that too with my iPhone 4, but I also have a problem with the proximity sensor now as that old problem is back since the last update. I put the phone to my ear and the next thing I'm on speaker phone mode. Hopefully the next update will sort these bugs.
 
I heard back about my bug report and they told me that this is a known issue and is being worked on.
 
I've been having the same problem. It started nearly a couple of months ago, in November. I first discovered it when I tried to make a phone call to my brother, and he could not hear me even though his voice was loud and clear through my phone.

My phone is an iPhone 4, bought by pre-order in June 2010. It is a week 23, factory 88 (ie, serial: 88023XXXXNX).

I've taken my phone to the Genius bar twice this week. The first Genius took it to the back and cleaned it out, then demonstrated that the mic was working a bit better. We did a test call to her iPhone, and, of course, as fate would have it, she could hear me on her phone. I didn't think this was a mic problem, but she said if there are still problems in the next couple of days, bring it back and they can do an OOW exchange for $149.00. In the past couple of days, three calls out of six resulted in the the same problem.

The second Genius was even less helpful, ignoring the print-outs of the discussion from the Apple Support community that I had printed out to describe my problem. He only suggested an OOW exchange or use my upgrade, which I was hopefully saving for the next iPhone this year (he also said he could do a DFU restore, but I decided to just leave - I was very polite through both of my sessions at the Genius Bar!).

I just hope they could figure something out. I can't even really use my phone for the main function that it's supposed to do without a hit or miss of having the problem in my call! (it would make a lovely iPod Touch replacement when I get a new phone though).

-C
 
proximity sensor

I don't have an Iphone but my husband does and says he has this problem a lot where he's talking to someone and suddenly they can't hear him I googled the issue and I believe it has to do with the proximity sensor not blacking out the phone during a call. Phone covers might be part of the issue or it might need to be cleaned with compressed air. Can't hurt to google "proximity sensor" for a fix. Good luck.
 
jasonbogd said:
Hi everybody,

I have an iPhone 4 that I bought on launch day. For about the past couple of months, when I am on calls, the other person sometimes cannot hear me, but I can hear them just fine. It happens even when I have 4-5 bars, and doesn't appear to be a hardware issue since I can use Voice Memos just fine.

Any ideas? Is this a known issue?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

sent two i4Ss back to apple that had the problem
apple didn't see anything wrong with them and dismissed it as a cellular provider issue
 
Yep, I think it's definitely a software bug. It doesn't work even when I'm using a headset.
 
I'm having the same problem now

Voice memos work fine. So it's a software thing

iPhone 4 5.0.1

I don't wanna update firmware and loose jailbreak
 
iPhone 4

I have an iPhone 4 with firmware 5.0.1 and I started having the same issue.

The person on the other side cannot hear me when I make or receive calls. I don't think think its a hardware issue because Voice Memo and Video recording works. When I make a FaceTime call it works fine.

Does anyone know why? Couple of you guys had similar problems.
 
Twice in 1 week I dropped my iphone 4 from my tool pouch from a roof down to concrete - in an otter box
(I had broken my holster and waiting for replacement)

First drop didn't hurt a thing
Second one caused people on other end of a call to ask me to speak up as they couldn't hear me very well

Went to store and told them what I had done and asked what suggestions they have (expecting I would hear I have to cough up $200)
Swapped phones with me
Gotta love Apple...
 
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