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Proximity sensor issues when on a call with iphone 4

S

swy05

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 9, 2008
411
0
Anyone having a similar issue?

I'll be on a call with the phone against my face and it'll randomly dial numbers. It's as if though the proximity sensor thinks I've pulled the phone away from my face.

:confused:
 
I used to have that issue with my 1st gen iPhone. After a while, I realized that it was because I was holding the phone so that the bottom was very close to my mouth, which was pulling the top (where the sensor is) away from my ear a bit. So the sensor was reacting as though I was pulling the phone away from my face. But my cheek would still occasionally do things like put people on hold.
 
I'm holding the phone in the same fashion as how I did with my 3G model and I never had any issues with the 3G model's proximity.
 
Wow it is happening to others as well? I've had the same issue almost every call and I'm using the phone in the exact same was as I was with the 3GS. I've had it activate FaceTime, go to speakerphone and pl up the contacts we on three separate calls.
 
Also suffering

This is a bit of a disaster... has blown away my excitement with the new phone. I took a 30 min call today and ended up twice hanging up, putting on mute twice, putting on hold once, and activating the keypad then pushing random numbers on another occasion. I have *never* managed to get this to happen with my old 3G, even if trying.

Perhaps I'll be able to find a new way of holding it that avoids the problem, but I was fairly consciously holding it to my ear after the first two or three problems.

I wondered if it was faulty in some way, but if others are seeing it that's unlikely (unless a batch are faulty). Instead it's probably just a poor design :(
 
I have a similar problem, where the proxy sensor will basically lock the screen in the turned off mode during a call and won't let you access the in call menu or anything until you force end the call. really sucks.
 
fs454 said:
I have a similar problem, where the proxy sensor will basically lock the screen in the turned off mode during a call and won't let you access the in call menu or anything until you force end the call. really sucks.
Click to expand...

That sounds suspiciously like a real problem with the sensor, but basically the opposite problem I'm having. I guess in your case it can't tell that you're not near the phone, so never enables the screen. How do you even end the call though if the 'end' red 'button' isn't available?
 
Same here. Really annoying. Came home and synced up my Bluetooth headset because it was impossible to talk to people.
 
I created a post about it as well, called it a light sensor. It's really annoying, I just don't know if it's me and my habits or the phone has a real problem.
 
I'm curious if this could simply be a software issue and if a restore would fix it. Did you guys restore from a previous phone? I restored mine from a 3gs backup. I'm starting to feel that this issue isn't as widespread as the others as these threads are not growing very large. It is really annoying.
 
I'm having the exact same issue with my iPhone 4. Never had this problem before with a 3G or 3GS. Something definitely wrong with the proximity sensor. What an annoying problem!
 
pogiboi said:
I'm curious if this could simply be a software issue and if a restore would fix it. Did you guys restore from a previous phone? I restored mine from a 3gs backup. I'm starting to feel that this issue isn't as widespread as the others as these threads are not growing very large. It is really annoying.
Click to expand...

I never restore. My phone came to the house 5 minutes before I left for a meeting. I activated it via 611 and walked out the door.

It is a HUGE problem for me and honestly one I never expected to have, this is very basic QA when testing and developing.
 
No problems here, but I didn't restore from backup (I don't think Apple has this quite worked out yet, always seems to be some issue with slowness or random issues).

I would try to do a reset and don't restore from a backup and just test the prox sensor.

You can test the sensor by trying to listen to voicemails. Also you can check if the IR light is even firing by using a digital camera, or photobooth on your mac and looking at the space above the earpiece.
 
It seems that with my phone you have to keep the screen on your cheek for the sensor to work. If I just leave the phone on my ear, the screen flashes on and off.
 
When I got the phone I did not restore from backup. I just did a sync. I am picking up another iPhone tomorrow for the wife, I'll make a couple calls with her phone and I'll know pretty quick if it's a hardware issue.
 
Anyone report this to Apple yet, or at minimum all the Apple iPhone blog sites?

Nobody will fix it unless it is reported.....
 
Well the sensor definitely works. I think it is just a design flaw with the sensor now being located higher up towards the edge of the phone, how you normally set the phone on your ear, and the physical makeup of your ear. I wish there was a way to turn up the sensitivity of the sensor.
 
Hmm. I thought it was a new feature I didn't know how to use yet... I was on the phone and all of the sudden the speaker phone went on. I tried to turn it off by pressing the speakerphone button but it didn't do anything so I just kept using the speaker phone. After a few minutes I repositioned my phone and the speaker phone turned off. At least I know what it is now, but that could cause an embarrassing situation one of these days.:eek:
 
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