Apple Software Killing iPhones! (MIC / Speaker)

Legacy_user

Hi all, new member...

I'll try to explain this situation as best I can.

My iPhone 7 was working perfectly fine, that was until I updated the software from 11.3.x to 11.4.1. After doing so and receiving a phone call, I couldn't hear anybody and they couldn't hear me. Basically the speaker and the microphone had stopped working.

I started searching for fixes and went through all the usual resets, restores with no result. I started coming across articles of others having the exact same issue. And furthermore, they also stated that they had lost the ability to use SIRI, as it could no longer hear them.

I tried to use SIRI and yep, same issue. They also noted that the 'speaker' icon during an attempted phone call was greyed out. I had my Dad ring me, and yep same issue.

A third confirmation of it being a widespread issue was that using 'voice memos' was no longer doable as the record button is dull/not pressable. I also checked for this, and yep same issue.

I've since come across many links/articles stating that Apple have recognised the issue via a leaked document given to their retailers, although they have not publicly said anything. The leaked document says that retailers should perform certain checks to ascertain the issue exists, and if so, to replace the phone.

Here are just a couple of links discussing the issue:
macrumors.com/2018/05/04/apple-aware-of-iphone-7-mic-issue-ios-11-3/

theverge.com/platform/amp/circuitbreaker/2018/5/4/17320928/apple-iphone-7-plus-microphone-disabled-phone-call

I have today been chatting to an apple employee via twitter for near 4 hours explaining that I have the same issue, and that I've run through all the resets/restores. They had me run through it all again, reset to an 'as new' phone to confirm the issue. And after 4 hours I'm being told I have the 'option' to have it serviced for £326 pound!

I'm absolutely fuming!
After having been through realising my phone had become useless which I depend on every day, researching the issue to find it's a known (But kept quiet issue), to finding comments on articles about many others facing this and being compensated...For me to then be told I have to pay for apples software damaging my phone I'm left feeling 'Done over' by apple. :mad:

They know the issue exists and they're cherry picking their customers for compensation as quietly as they possibly can.

I wasn't sure where to turn next and ended up here... If you have had this exact same issue, please post here.

Thanks, Neil.

---

TL;DR
* My phone was perfectly fine.
* I updated to 11.4.1.
* My phone instantly lost it's MIC and speaker during phone calls.
* The speaker icon is greyed out during an attempted phone call.
* SIRI no longer works, because obviously the MIC can no longer hear me.
* Voice memos no longer work as the record button can't be pressed (Again, MIC isn't working).
* Either doing a hard reset (Holding power button + Vol down button), OR simply turning the phone off/back on will result in it taking an abnormally long time to come back on.

AndyPK

So you think they will release a new update to fix this?

or you think it has physically broken the phone?

boatman

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203792
Article was updated 13th July, maybe they are about to spill the beans rather than been outed like on previous occasions...


https://www.macrumors.com/2018/07/17/apple-ends-free-oow-iphone-7-mic-repairs/

Anthorn

By now pretty much old news. I've read the various articles about duff software and duff batteries and software making batteries duff and updates making anything and everything duff. But quite frankly my iPhone 7 doesn't now and has never suffered from any of the problems at all. In the OP's case I would be inclined to reset the iPhone and if that failed I would make an appointment at an Apple Store for a Guru to take a look at it.

I have installed 11.4.1 on my iPhone 7 and I do not see any problems at all.

The problems I've seen published about the 11.4.1 error appears to be related to the App Store and the fixes I've seen appear to be related to getting 11.4.1 working.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonkelly/2018/07/16/apple-ios-11-4-1-apps-app-store-update-upgrade-iphone-ipad-problem-ios12/#75388aa76cce

Lastly make sure upgrades are done via wifi and not via mobile data.

System

boatman wrote: »

macrumors.com/2018/07/17/apple-ends-free-oow-iphone-7-mic-repairs/

Thank you for the link. I'm left feeling like Apple have damaged my phone, and as it's happened at a particular time they are not offering any compensation.

My phone was perfectly fine, updated to 11.4.1 and instantly lost my MIC, speaker during phone calls, SIRI gone, no voice memo ability.
Just as one of the people commenting on the link your shared has said. Well, many others have said it too, but it happened to him recently as it did me.

Guy_on_Macrumors wrote:

"this JUST happened to me

My mic problem starts right after i updated to 11.4 on 7/9. no mic icon, siri wont hear me, voice memo not working.
I chatted with apple support
went to genius bar, want to charge me $349 to do a swap since they stopped replacing out of warranty for this issue for free at the start of july. No one can downgrade me back to 11.2
chatted again with senior support who set up a call with customer relations
got call from customer relation (ac_customer_relations@apple.com) then another call from senior support (acsupportcase@apple.com) who offered me a gift card that only works on accessories and that's the best he can offer. because the internal document shows the free replacement is only for 11.3 and 11.3.1 iphone 7 devices that ended in May(?) and not for 11.4 devices.
Told me to send a feedback at Feedback - iPhone - Apple under Software/Hardware Compatibility and hopefully there will be enough people to send it so Apple *might* agree to replace it.

I am going to keep trying, but i recommend you guys submit the issue in feedback to get Apple to notice us."

What am I supposed to do when Apple basically tell me that I have to pay for the damage they have done to be repaired?! :mad: There's the guy I quoted above with his feedback idea, but I mean...Days are now going by and I don't have my phone!

Anthorn wrote: »

Snip...

Thanks for your reply, and sharing that you've never had a problem with your phone. But your reply was completely irrelevant to my issue, and you must have skim read/not really read my post at all with suggesting a reset and the genius bar.

TL;DR
* My phone was perfectly fine.
* I updated to 11.4.1.
* My phone instantly lost it's MIC and speaker during phone calls.
* The speaker icon is greyed out during an attempted phone call.
* SIRI no longer works, because obviously the MIC can no longer hear me.
* Voice memos no longer work as the record button can't be pressed (Again, MIC isn't working).
* Either doing a hard reset (Holding power button + Vol down button), OR simply turning the phone off/back on will result in it taking an abnormally long time to come back on.

Went through resets, restores. Then all again with apple employee via twitter.
Apple then basically told me I'll have to pay for it to be repaired.

I had a perfectly working phone, and their software has damaged it. As it has for many others. I literally have a folder on my Google chrome fave bar full of links relating to the issue.

AndyPK wrote: »

So you think they will release a new update to fix this?

or you think it has physically broken the phone?

TBH Andy, I'm not hopeful of an OS update to fix the issue. I did come across an article which suggested the OS had physically damaged the hardware but I can't find it now, I think it was a comment on an article rather than an article itself. Either way, something OS related has caused this issue for many people.

System

TekNeil wrote: »

Hi all, new member...

I'll try to explain this situation as best I can.

My iPhone 7 was working perfectly fine, that was until I updated the software from 11.3.x to 11.4.1. After doing so and receiving a phone call, I couldn't hear anybody and they couldn't hear me. Basically the speaker and the microphone had stopped working.

I started searching for fixes and went through all the usual resets, restores with no result. I started coming across articles of others having the exact same issue. And furthermore, they also stated that they had lost the ability to use SIRI, as it could no longer hear them.

I tried to use SIRI and yep, same issue. They also noted that the 'speaker' icon during an attempted phone call was greyed out. I had my Dad ring me, and yep same issue.

A third confirmation of it being a widespread issue was that using 'voice memos' was no longer doable as the record button is dull/not pressable. I also checked for this, and yep same issue.

I've since come across many links/articles stating that Apple have recognised the issue via a leaked document given to their retailers, although they have not publicly said anything. The leaked document says that retailers should perform certain checks to ascertain the issue exists, and if so, to replace the phone.

Here are just a couple of links discussing the issue:
macrumors.com/2018/05/04/apple-aware-of-iphone-7-mic-issue-ios-11-3/

theverge.com/platform/amp/circuitbreaker/2018/5/4/17320928/apple-iphone-7-plus-microphone-disabled-phone-call

I have today been chatting to an apple employee via twitter for near 4 hours explaining that I have the same issue, and that I've run through all the resets/restores. They had me run through it all again, reset to an 'as new' phone to confirm the issue. And after 4 hours I'm being told I have the 'option' to have it serviced for £326 pound!

I'm absolutely fuming!
After having been through realising my phone had become useless which I depend on every day, researching the issue to find it's a known (But kept quiet issue), to finding comments on articles about many others facing this and being compensated...For me to then be told I have to pay for apples software damaging my phone I'm left feeling 'Done over' by apple. :mad:

They know the issue exists and they're cherry picking their customers for compensation as quietly as they possibly can.

I wasn't sure where to turn next and ended up here... If you have had this exact same issue, please post here.

Thanks, Neil.

Go through the steps in this link which also means clicking through to Apple support. If your dealing with them online you should get the option to have the conversation emailed to you.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203792

If you can’t come to an agreement then you challenge them through the consumer rights act

https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/regulation/consumer-rights-act

It might end up going all the way to small claims court so this might be helpful

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/small-claims-court/

Anthorn

TekNeil wrote: »

Snip

Look at it from the point of view of Apple (but this also applies to other manufacturers): You and others have problems with the iOS update/upgrade while I and others don't have a problem with the iOS upgrade. It's the same phone and the same update/upgrade is installed. Therefore there must be something different about your phone and software installations which deviates from that which I and others have.

boatman

It maybe you have to get it fixed then go through small claims court.


Or buy an android or secondhand iPhone, probably cheaper than the repair, then wait and see if Apple change their policy on the repair.

System

john22 wrote: »

Go through the steps in this link which also means clicking through to Apple support. If your dealing with them online you should get the option to have the conversation emailed to you.

support.apple.com/en-us/HT203792

If you can!!!8217;t come to an agreement then you challenge them through the consumer rights act

which.co.uk/consumer-rights/regulation/consumer-rights-act

It might end up going all the way to small claims court so this might be helpful

moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/small-claims-court/

Thanks for the links, sadly...I've been through the first one various times, it was also suggested by the apple guy on twitter. But no matter which path I take I end up at a dead web page like so: getsupport.apple.com/?caller=psp&PRKEYS=PL133 - I even told the guy on apple/twitter about this and he has now stopped responding to me.

It looks like some sort of action is going to have to be taken, why should I/others have their 100's of pounds worth of phones damaged by software and be expected to foot the repair bill. Just a case of having the time to go ahead with something like this

Anthorn wrote: »

Look at it from the point of view of Apple (but this also applies to other manufacturers): You and others have problems with the iOS update/upgrade while I and others don't have a problem with the iOS upgrade. It's the same phone and the same update/upgrade is installed. Therefore there must be something different about your phone and software installations which deviates from that which I and others have.

Of course, that's the beauty of software, it gives us options for our devices. As an ex web developer I know a little about this sort of stuff. For example the software allows for many 'If/and/or/else' statements for the options in the OS interface/GUI.
It could literally be one setting/option (Piece of code) that differentiates those having the issue with those who are not. Or...it could be setting x, y, z, exponential combined which dictates who has the issue.

Either way, the software has seemingly caused this issue for those suffering with it.

Aborigine7

YES!! This happened to me. Infuriating. Let me know if you need any more details about my experience, but it!!!8217;s virtually the same.

System

OK, so there is a five page topic on Apples own forum regards this, worth keeping an eye on, and any other links (Here/Macrumors etc). I can't post links as yet so just copy the below and add 'www.' in front of it.

discussions.apple.com/message/33650140