If you have no sound on your Apple iPhone 3 / 3GS / 4 / 4S / 5 / 5S / 5C/ 6/ 6Plus/ iPhone 6s/ 6s Plus/ iPhone 7, 8, 8Plus and the iPhone X, iPhone Xs volume bar, it is unbelievably frustrating as you most probably already know.
I have been looking for cures over the web as there are many out there. Below you will find a list of all these including the one that worked for me. Also, this list is in chronological order of what seems to be most successful. It is a process of elimination but it has to be done.
The symptoms of iPhone no sound Problem/ Issues include:
– iPhone will ring but speaker will not work for anything else.
– iPhone no sound at all for calls, apps, music, etc
– iPhone no sound as stuck in headphone mode
Follow these steps and hopefully, your iPhone will be back to its prior glory.
iPhone No Sound – How To Fix & Tutorials 2020
Step 1 – Check Silent Mode Switch
Loud/ Silent switch on the exterior of the iPhone is switched to the silent mode which is orange. If so, flick the other way to loud mode. This is a step that so many people miss, but it is the simplest! Also once you have flicked the silent mode off, ensure your volume is turned up by pressing the volume buttons on the side.
Step 2 – Restart Your iPhone
To restart the iPhone, hold the power switch and home button together for 10 seconds. This will restart your iPhone, you will not lose any media, contacts, data, etc. If there is a temporary glitch on the iPhone this will eliminate that glitch. Also if there is a glitch this may help terminate a temporary glitch.
If you have an iPhone X or newer, you can simply restart the device by pressing and holding both the side button and one of the volume buttons. Once done, you’ll then be promoted to restart the iPhone. When off, click the side button to turn on again.
Step 3 – Reset iPhone Settings
Reset iPhone. Go to Settings> General> Reset> Reset all settings. Make sure to backup your iPhone to the cloud / iTunes as this will wipe your media, music, and apps although photos will be left on the iPhone. This is a follow on to step 2 and another way you will be able to eliminate the glitch on the iPhone.
Step 4 – Press Corner Of iPhone
This one is a bit weird but it worked for me for a while and has worked successfully for other people. Squeeze the bottom right hand corner of the phone above where the speaker is.
The left Side is a mic, not a speaker, so don’t worry about that side. Hold that grip for about 20 seconds. This is done as the connector may be loose and had to be repositioned correctly. Yes, strange but most of these solutions are!
Step 5 – Clean Your iPhone
Use a tooth brush to clean the docking area where you charge your iPhone. With dirt, dust, grime, and so on it, may block the connectors working correctly and makes the phone think it is on a music dock. When you do this do it gently and get the bristles into there good.
Also if you use rubbing alcohol or acetone it will help get all the extra dirt out. As these products evaporate it will not do damage to the connectors. Do not use mineral terps when cleaning as it is oil based and will not dry!! This seems to be one of the most successful solutions. To avoid this happening in the future, its best to have a case that avoids dust and grime getting in.
Step 6 – Insert Headphones
Get your headphones and insert them into the headphone jack and then quickly pull them out. Continue this for a couple of minutes as sometimes it gets stuck in headphone mode so this normally undoes that. Also this may remove any dust or grime that may have been lodged in there.
You can also watch this video below which has a full list of fixes listed in this tutorial plus a few more that will restore sound to your iPhone!
Step 7 – Restore Your iPhone
Restore your iPhone on iTunes. Click on your iPhone icon when plugged into iTunes and go to restore. If you do this make sure your iPhone is backed up as YOU will loose all data, media, contacts, pics, and so on. This puts your iPhone back to factory settings.
This is similar to step 3 as it is a full reset of the device, this should help eliminate any glitch that have have come out in a recent update such as iOS7 or iOS8. Also when doing this step check for updates.
Step 8 – Jailbreak iPhone
Jailbreak your iPhone to find the file directories that are causing the fault. By doing this you are deleting the file that is making the iPhone think it is on a dock. You will still be able to use a music docking station etc. If you have a jail broken iPhone or willing to do it then this will be the best option for you. Very simple video and easy to follow, to jailbreak follow my simple tutorial.
Step 9 – Dry iPhone
This worked for me!! The squeezing step worked for me for a small amount of time. Not much else worked so thought I would try my own cure…. An old hair dryer!! Turn on low heat and hover over the speaker outlet for about 5 minutes.
I also did the headphone jack as well. There must of been some residual moisture build up which the hair dryer eliminated. The speaker was sputtering on and off during this time but finally came to life :). If you don’t have a hair dryer, you can also put your iPhone in dry rice while turned off. This can suck up all that unwanted moisture. Best to leave in rice for at lease 12 hours.
Step 10 – Hardware Problem
It may be a hardware problem and simply need to get a replacement through your provider who may offer insurance if chosen or apple support. This no sound and speaker is getting more known know by Apple there is a good chance you may get a replacement or a hardware fix.
Step 11 – Ultimate Destruction
If iPhone still has no sound there is always ultimate elimination… Not endorsed. See below….
**** UPDATE **** 18/03/20
Thank you everyone for such an overwhelming response! Also to those that have put up there own solutions that have worked for there iPhones. Initially when I created this website I did not envision the large response of people with the same issues. So here are some new solutions and steps that are popular on the comment feed.
iPhone No Sound Solution Step 12
As dirt and grime like to build up in the charging connectors of the iPhone it is necessary to clean it out. Similar to the step with cleaning it with a toothbrush you will be using compressed air instead. The best and easiest way you can do this is to blow air out your mouth with a good force into where the iPhone would get charged.
Do this for 1 minute to insure that it removes any dust or dirt particles. After that, plug and unplug your charger into the slot about 5-10 times.
iPhone No Sound Solution Step 13
This is similar to the step above but you will be cleaning out the headphone jack on the iPhone instead of the charging connectors. As above blow into the headphone jack for about 30 seconds to 1 minute, this should vanish any dust or dirt that is lodged in there.
Once that is done insert a ear bud/ q tip into the headphone jack and twist for about 30 seconds. That should dislodge any other dirt or grime that the blowing process may have missed.
If your iPhone X is not turning on, then you should check out my full guide here.
iPhone No Sound Solution Step 14
There have been more than a dozen comments saying that bluetooth may be interfering with the sound on the iPhone. One good method is to insure that your iPhone is not connected to any bluetooth device as it may be playing sound thru that device. Also another successful step that has been recommended is to turn off bluetooth and then turn on again.
iPhone Has No Sound Step 15
As a continuation to step 5, there have also been several reports of people who have also cleaned their iPhone with a wooden toothpick.
While a toothbrush works quite well, there is typically quite a lot of dirt still stuck in the charing port which can only be gotten out with a pointy object. Just be careful not todo any damage to your iPhone charge port. This seems to work well with older iPhone 4 and also the new iPhone 8 and iPhone X.
These are just some of the steps I have found and come up with which have shown success for iPhones with no sound.
Reece says
And also keep blowing into that slot aswell it came to a point whenever it went into that silly no sound mode that after i done all my steps a simple wee blow into it brought it back to life hope my solution helps everyone out as i know how frustrating iPhones can be
Briony says
I tried everything, and eventually simply went into my music, to try and play a song. That was silent also, and I noticed my volume bar was on mute. I turned it up and Facebook, YouTube and music all worked again. Weird. But try it aswell before resetting etc
Alex says
I was wondering in the evening that my iphone5 wasn’t playing videos any more… Then in the morning the alarm didn’t wake me up because of silence…
Step 2 worked for me, and able to watch videos again & sound back on- Yay!
Thanks for advice
(May I add I desperately tried to restart iPhone before but didn’t know the combination of home and on/off button, so thanks for that, too)! 🙂
okna drewniane Radom says
Hola! I’ve been following your site for a while now and finally got the courage to
go ahead and give you a shout out from Houston Texas!
Just wanted to tell you keep up the excellent work!
Michelle says
I was having this problem too. The thing that worked for was blowing the speakers/microphone. I also turned my phone off and turned it back on. Works just fine now! 🙂
Sam says
I went to the Verizon store and they did a soft restart. It totally worked. They held down the top button and the home button until an Apple showed up and let go of both buttons. No data or anything lost just restarted.
kaxeli_89 says
Thank you very much
Step 8 realy fix this problem
i search this on many sites on many time
Mike says
Using a bamboo skewer, a piece of thin fabric from a bed sheet, and isopropyl rubbing alcohol, I cleaned the docking port carefully. I used a can of compressed air to dry the alcohol between cleaning passes. I worked carefully on both sides of the internal contacts.
Problem solved. We bought this phone used and the sound has never worked until now. I knew in my gut it had to be something basic.
Thank you for this website.
zohaa says
Step 5 worked for me! Well for the first 5 minutes atleast -.- ]
it started going volume off volume on while i was listening to music! someone pleaseee help
Jessica says
hi guys try a hairdrier on headphone jack cool setting completly workeds for me no lie…not to do with the dock! thank u Jesus!
Elene says
Hi guys I feel really stupid but I wasn’t getting text tones or sent sounds for mail etc although ringer was working?? What worked for me was… Turning off my Bluetooth lol of all things.. Felt stupid ha ha but it worked for me 🙂
King says
Step 9 worked
Nikki says
Thank you for these suggestions! I’ve tried all but, jail breaking my 5S. Still no sound. But, glad to know I am not alone and that this is a problem. I’m headed to my carrier where they can just give me a new one. Hopefully, problem solved!
rias says
Are you fucking kidding me ? -.- doesn’t worked.
ned says
hi thank you so much for these info. my iphone 4 somehow having a sound problem since the last 2days and i don’t know why. i tried to restart (on/off) the phone but still, the sound isn’t working. no alarm, no ringing, no sound. even if there’s someone called me, i cannot heard their voices. then i saw your website and i tried to reset the setting just like u wrote on the step 3. yeah it work! thank you so much! 🙂
Marybeth says
Sound is still not working.. It works through my headphones but I’ve tried all the steps and nothing :/
larry says
Step 4 worked… I love you!
Luiz says
Step 4 worked for me! Go figure!!!
Luiz says
Step 4 worked here! Awesome!!
Agata says
Sam, Thank you for your post. The “light reset” worked for me:) it’s amazing how there are these websites and blogs teaching you all of this! I appreciate your help ALL 🙂
Lin says
Wow! The hair dryer thing actually worked!!!!!!! I was SO surprised
Lin says
Step nine SOOOO works if there is a moisture build up!
Chelle says
Hey honey, sadly my mother has became really ill, being sick etc 🙁 do u know anyone? Are u still taking him home as a random? Did u take him back to maws!! Or is he still there lol… If he is then brill as a guy being there for you means the world.. Tony is a good lad and u wil have fun with him but aslong as u don’t forgot about me. Love you xx
Chelle says
Oooops wrong message to everyone 🙁 SORRY !!!
Me & Lee stayed for 1 wine after we had went to shop, we weren’t doing anything wrong or being naughty..we were just nipping in for one … And wether you liked me or not then a client give a fucking monkeeee xx
DaveDaveige says
This worked for me, I opened an app waited for the sound to kick in thentoggled the sound which worked! I then quickly exited the app and closed it and hey presto the volumes back for music, videos etc… Hope this helps
linzk425 says
Fixed at step 2, thank you so much!
hacker76 says
As someone mentioned above, it was the Bluetooth.. Even while off. Had to enable , unpair and then it worked..
Sarah Mc says
Thank you for the great advice. Suffering on and off sound and final nail in coffin was when I caught my 9month old sucking the charging end of the phone. 3 mins under the hair dryer and quick brush of a toothbrush and it is good as new! Thanks!!!
Valentine says
Thanks SO much– when I was checking the headphone jack (which worked and showed the volume-button-changing-slider across the bottom) I noticed that it would briefly (nearly invisibly) flash “dock connected” as I unplugged the headphones. When I later came across your article about the debris in the charging port, I had an aha! moment. After brushing out the charging dock with my cleaning toothbrush, I was shocked– you should have seen the size of the fuzzies in there! (FYI- pretty sure that the blown air would not have worked– these were BIG fuzzies) Immediately after this maneuver, it worked again, like a charm! Thanks for helping me out– I was at wit’s end!
Kristen says
Number 9 worked for me! Only worked if I pressed “cool blast” on my hair dryer though.
Mark says
Thank you very much.
sam says
helpful tanx…
W says
Thank you very much
Step 5 worked perfectly !!!! You rock
sagar says
its lock sound cannot work
some solutions plz
and i can not reset my iphone
James says
It was the 4th idea that helped identify my sound my problem. Thank u so much 🙂
Anders says
Number of the beast: The Needle
Solved on 4s:
Had the “stuck-on- headphone-mode”:
Try a needle in the small hole right next to jack. Move it around a bit – worked for me. None of the other did.
I think it resets or clean dust or whatever. Who cares? It worked!
jedi-jaws says
i have had the problem of my iphone 5 speaker eather not working or going realy crakaly i have repalced it a few times whith new ones and end up with the same problem i have now discoverd that there is a fult with them and it is easy to sort out when u get a new one u will see on bothe sides it has a square metal plate showing all u have to do is covere them a sticker but do not cover the two pins u will find that not only will it last longer it will sound better and if ur phone is jailbroken and u have tweaked the volume it is great hope this helps sorry about any spellings
Christopher King says
I mistakenly had my Bluetooth on in the car.
Raj says
Still not working for me, I even replaced Speaker dock, but still no sound, but it work through headphone jack though , Very strange, any other ideas out there.
Anders says
Raj
Have you tried a needle in the hole next to the headphone-jack? Mine also worked with headphones, but not sound thru speakers.The needle (needs to be small) did the trick.
Good luck