Recently, my iPhone was having issues. Specifically, it thought headphones were inserted when they weren't. I first noticed the problem as I was typing and didn't hear that familiar "click" that normally accompanies a key press.I thought I had accidentally toggled the ringer mute button (which I seem to do often), but no, it was set to ring. I inserted some headphones and heard everything - the clicks, music, etc.
I placed a call and tried turning the speaker on and off to no avail. Next, I rebooted the phone. No dice. I connected it to my Mac and performed a sync with iTunes and still, there was no sound.
I reset the phone by holding down the power button and the home button. Still, there was no sound without headphones. At last, I got a can of compressed air and gave a couple of short blasts into the headphone port. That did it! The phone must have been interpreting the junk that had collected in there over the past year as headphones.
A simple solution that, hopefully, will save you some time.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Metryq said 9:06AM on 7-02-2008
Clean the lint out of your pockets!
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Chris Meesseman said 3:25PM on 7-02-2008
Actually, that's exactly the problem. I keep my phone in my pocket and I've had this problem a few times. If you have really thin tweezers you can get in there and get it. DO NOT, however, spray contact cleaner in there because it will ruin your screen. It didn't set off my water sensor though, so Apple replaced it. I'd be careful with compressed air, because they sometimes leak propellant.
AJ said 9:07AM on 7-02-2008
I worked at an Apple retail store and this was quite common, even with iPods and Macbook/MBP. Basically, the best way to stop the phantom headphone problem is to insert the headphones and pull them out several times (you can do it with some speed too). There is a sensor inside and moving back and forth across it will clear it.
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jrflesch said 9:13AM on 7-02-2008
This issue may also be resolved by inserting and removing a pair of headphones several times over again.
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wooptywoop said 9:13AM on 7-02-2008
happened to me a few months ago. I blew into the headphone jack, NES game cartridge style.
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Gregg said 9:28AM on 7-02-2008
Those were the days!
jason said 9:25AM on 7-02-2008
as AJ and jrflesch said, inserting and removing the headphone is the best way of fixing this problem, that was what the applecare rep told me when I called about the problem last year.
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Raghu said 10:52AM on 7-02-2008
There is support article about this too... I really had to do the "several times" mentioned in step 4 of the article.
Look for article TS1630
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1630
rongor said 9:36AM on 7-02-2008
this has happened several time to me; there is apparantly a light sensor in the jack that can be blocked by a speck of dirt. Air, blowing on it several times, if one doesn't have a earplugs handy) or inserting the earplugs a few times usually works.
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Steve said 10:00AM on 7-02-2008
I have had this issue since Day 1, happens on and off.
I am on my 3rd iPhone because of defective models and this has happened with each one.
-Steve
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KLB said 10:08AM on 7-02-2008
The compressed air worked for me -- thanks so much!
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Stephen Miles said 10:20AM on 7-02-2008
I also encountered this issue after trying to use a set of haedphones that wouldn't fit into the iPhone recepticle. AJs (#2 above) solution fixed it.
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Darrin said 10:27AM on 7-02-2008
Apples fix for this... is the same as some. Insert and remove the HS several times.
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iamwatson said 10:35AM on 7-02-2008
Thats been happening to me since the beginning. Sometimes Ill pull out my headphones and it thinks that they are still in. So I just put the headphones back in and out until it goes away usually 2-3 times. Because lets face it, most people dont carry around compressed air with them.
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John T said 10:39AM on 7-02-2008
You have no idea how badly I wish this was posted back in January. I was going in to some sort of insanity over this because I couldn't figure it out!! Thanks for the heads up!
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mark said 12:50PM on 7-02-2008
This has been posted (even a video was made to show you how) ages ago. Don't take this the wrong way but this isn't the only site to get iphone news at.
Russell Burns said 10:48AM on 7-02-2008
I had the same issue, Apple Store (North Park Mall, Dallas, TX) used condensed air as the "tool" of choice to resolve the issue! Presto I was back in business!
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jimmy.twining said 10:50AM on 7-02-2008
I have had this problem before and it is always cause by me removing the headphones while music is playing. If you pause the music first and then pull the headphones out you will not have this problem. I figured this out because when the speaker wasn't working I tried to turn the volume up and the volume control told me I was turning the volume up on the headphones, but the headphones weren't plugged in! So I guess compressed air or inserting and removing the headphones fast works to solve the problem, but pausing the music before you remove the headphones PREVENTS the problem.
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.nate said 11:02AM on 7-02-2008
dude! my ipod touch was dead to audio then I tried what you said and now I am happier than a pig in... mud
I'd blown and removed headphone jacks galore but it was only after some hardcore compressed air sessions that I have my iPod back!
Thanks!
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vsmith1 said 11:04AM on 7-02-2008
Sounds like someone needs to produce a soft plug or cap I doubt that the new iPhone will be any better at avoiding this issue. Maybe this is why several mobile phone makers don't use a mini jack socket.
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