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.
jess says
Thanks, been days without sound and my alarm hasnt been working!! number 6 worked for me, something as simple as inserting the headphones!! 😀
Rajat says
A simple one ….. If there was any liquid flown over ur headphone jack….. And ur iPhone sounds when headphones or plugged in
Just take a ear bud of neck size and swipe it all in the jack …. The cotton will absorb ur liq. And ur iPhone / iPad
Will give u sound even without out headphone
Emma says
Thank you so much for this! I was panicking as have no insurance on my phone and had reset but found this site and step 4 actually worked! Thank you 🙂
Ash says
Thank you for this! Number 8 worked a treat!
Khmer Song says
Step #5 working for me with my problem like that :
When I press the + and – buttons, the volume icon appears, but the slider is empty. When I receive a call, I hear it ring, and I can hear the ringtones in the sound menu. However, the message/mail notifications don’t make any noise, and I can’t hear the sound menu.
– During a phone call, if I put the conversation on speakers ==> it works and the volume bar reappears. I can control the volume with + and – buttons. But when the conversation is over, the bar disappears again.
– With the headphones, everything is ok!
– I also noticed (only a few times) that when I do a repring (with changing the language of the phone), the volume slider reappears and works correctly during 2 or 3 seconds, before disappearing again.
Thanks,
visal
danijel says
#5 worked for me!
Fortunately I did not reset my phone before #5 ( the easiest fix). Thanks for helping me!
Funtime Ben says
I have 2 other fixes for folks –
one is to suck really hard on the phono plug… I know it does sounds crazy.
The one that worked for me is cut the cotton end off a q-tip and stick the remaining white lollipop stick into the headphone jack. Push it down and move it around. That has worked for me a bazillion times.
Francis says
Step #4 worked for me!
I tried this out of curiosity and desperation, and bling! It was a total surprise!
Thanks!
Crystal says
I didn’t have audio after having to put my iphone into rice b/c I dropped it into water. There must have been more rice dust that I couldn’t see in the charger connection!! I am so happy that I get sound now!! Thank you.
Rae says
Thanks for your post after having this issue for over a month I finally tried to search it out. While cleaning help momentarily the software hack in step 8 saved me. THANKS!
Patricia says
What worked for me was. Changing the languaje. It was very odd for me because my ports were clean given my telephone case, in the moment this happened I used the app smart sync and just after hitting sync button I hit the home button bugging the app and possibly glitching the phone. Who knows…
Emile says
I hahe the I phone 4. The speakers only work for a few seconds after pulling it off the docking station. I’ve cleaned up the docking area and it’s still not working.
Kimberly says
Pandora worked, but iTunes did not, so I figured my issue wasn’t a dirty speaker 🙂 Number 2 worked for me. YEA! Thanks. I’ve bookmarked this site for future use and to refer my teen who will want to run to the repair shop instead of trying to find an answer online.
Prebowala says
Tip #8 just worked for me like a charm.
thanx
lisa says
Tried the power on/off suggestion for my IPhone 5. It worked!! I have sound for video! Thanks for suggestions.
Christine says
Powered down and back on, my sound is back!!!! Thank you, I was heart broken until now. I love this new iPhone.
Dennis says
For iphone 4s no sounds
go to
Settings
Sounds & then toggle off lock sounds & keyboard clicks.
Turn phone off.
Turn phone on – should now all work OK.
& you can
Toggle on lock sounds & keyboard clicks
Regards Dennis.
Abigail says
None of it worked ! Help me please ! D:
Asari says
Thank you very very much,,step no 9 with hair dryer really
works fr me ,,,excellent
Jessica says
Thank You!!! The hair dryer worked for me!!
motagaly says
BEFORE DOING ANY OF THE ABOVE, JUST TRY THE FOLLOWING:
take the sim card out, then insert a new card from any one, do one phone call and you will hear the sound well (yes it should work), then just reinsert your old sim card, and you will find that the problem is gone.
i tried it many times and every time it surprises me that it actually fix the bug
Sara says
Thank you…but mine wasn’t working in earphones or anything and soon as I watched the first video the sound worked in my earphones lol…still struggling with the phone sound without the earphones 🙁
Sebastian says
Thank you !! Step 3 saved my iPhone.
Hung Vuong says
Yes, i have experienced this case many times. If u go to ipod music player, and you still can volume up and down with the sound bar, means your phone got moist at the charge or speaker surface. On the other hand, if you can not see the sound volume bar at the bottom when get to ipod player, it means your iphone’s hardware was down ! Go replace it !
joe says
i had no sound on iphone so i unplugged usb iphone or touch cord from computer so no power was running on it . i plugged the end that connects to iphone or touch into device with the usb end connected to nothing and sound returned to iphone hope this helps good luck
Devlin says
I’ve tried everything, blowing, cleaning with toothbrush and alcohol, keeping it in a freezer, rebooting, etc. Every piece of advice I could find. Then I tried removing sim card as motagaly advised, after I put it back I had the sound on. just like that. Btw, i had the phone switched on while removing and placing back. It’s only been 5 min, so you never know it might be gone again.
I hope it helps for you too guys!
David says
Thanks! The jailbreak method worked perfectly! My phone would not play any sound from apps, but that solution fixed it!
Stefani says
Thank you, it was so helpful. I had problem 2, no sound for calls and applications and etc. And what really solved the problem is 4. You said its weird but it actually the one that worked. thank you. Pressed right corner and problem is solved.
Sam says
Nothing is working for me help! 🙁
Shane says
Had no sound on I phone 4s
Could here people calling me but no music couldn’t even turn ringer volume up
I used the hair dryer suggestion and aside by magic it worked
Out of all them ideas the hair dryer worked
Thanks
Sandra Cartwright says
Thank you holding down both buttons has just
Worked for me. Thank you x
gabby says
dennis’ comment solved the problem for me.
For iphone 4s no sounds
go to
Settings
Sounds & then toggle off lock sounds & keyboard clicks.
Turn phone off.
Turn phone on – should now all work OK.
& you can
Toggle on lock sounds & keyboard clicks
fd says
u the man it does work i tried all the steps except for the one you suggested thanks
Courtney says
Thanks I completely missed that my phone was on silent 🙂
cheri says
thank you soooooooooooooooooooooo much
all sorted saved me an expensive trip to iphone engineer which I have previously fell for
Joel says
After several months of battling with no sounds for me Iphone 4 apps and no volume bar, the iexplorer method worked perfectly for me. Thanks
Kirs says
Thank you so much – step 9 worked for me! Sound is back!!
sugarfree says
fcuk me hard!! I just changed the language and everything worked just fine
sp says
Problem solved , done, I used hair dryer, cleaned up headphone jack, charging dock, blew air into the holes for a few minutes, my sounds is back..
kim sweden says
@sugarfree
haha, i just tried that myself, and believe it or not it WORKS! amazing, thanks for the tip.