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.
Nancy McBride says
None of the above worked for me. Then my 15 year-old granddaughter stopped by and voila! In the video mode when you hit the arrow to play back hold the volume button on the left side of the phone down to adjust the VOLUME as different from the RINGER. Duh.
Done. Resolved.
BettyAnn Leeseberg-Lange says
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! And than your 15 year old granddaughter!
Nancy McBride says
My pleasure, and hers! It boggles my mind that there are hours of video and step-by-step repair sites online and this solution is so simple. Makes-a-me-crazy.
Susan Pickard says
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I missed the obvious one – loud/silent switch to Off. Switched it to On and problem, which has been frustrating me for weeks, solved.
Nancy McBride says
I spent hours doing tutorials, and it was solved in a nano-seond, by my granddaughter.
Chad says
I could only text with my iPhone 5C for months. I decided to make it a priority again to search for a solution instead of buying a new phone. This morning I came across this site. Step 4 worked for me! I can’t believe it. I can use my phone as a phone again now. Thank you so much!
Eric Veloso says
thanks for the advice it solved my issue thanks!
Elin bas says
What is video mode?
Nancy McBride says
To me, a video mode is when you open a link to view
that is, for instance a You Tube video. To see it, you need to click on the arrow in the middle. Once the video is in action, if you have no sound, just hold your sound button on the left side of your iPhone to increase the VOLUME, which may have, inadvertently been turned off. It is the same button that adjusts your RINGTONE when you are in other than video modes.
Peter says
Step 4 works for my friend’s iphone, thanks.
Nilda Alfaro says
Thank you….. I restarting the phone did the trick
Jay says
Thanks! I simply turned my iPhone 5 totally off, waited 20 seconds and turned it on again. Simple but easy not to think of. Thanks for your posting!!
Bhagirath Yadav says
When I connect my iPhone 6s with Bluetooth device then in left speaker not working and when also use earphone that problem occurs same
Chip says
Damn volume/lock switch…
Allen says
it works !!! Thanks
Jinky says
Thank you Nancy McBride and to your granddaughter. I tried and it works..:)
Mary Rivera says
omg! seriously thank you. i did step 4, a bit odd but not sure which one really worked coz i did mixed it with step 6 😂 and it worked!!!!!!!!!
Rohit says
The no.1 solution worked for me.
Thanks!!
Ariel says
Thank you so much! My phone was on silent mode and I never heard the sound when I play games or tipe a text! It’s been like that forever!
Thank you!💗💗💕
Nancy McBride says
Glad I thought to share! its the simple things, right?
Sardar says
I Drops my i phone 6 to water but naw it’s silent no sound
Jorge Hid Bukalil Neto says
I tried 1 – 6 and finally 6 worked for me!!! Great, Tks
Juan villagomez says
None of them worked plz help me
Vicki Slaughter says
Thank you Nancy McBride and her granddaughter. I do not have an Iphone, but one of my coworkers does. I sent him the link and the phone now works with videos. Such an easy fix. (also made me look good because it took me about 5 minutes to find the site with the answer. He is so happy now…)
Nancy McBride says
Vicki! That’s so fun! Pay it forward!
Jeimy says
Thanks step #6 worked for me i got so scared thanks ❤❤❤❤
Raza says
I used iphone 7 when i record video in my phone
After recording video the quality of voice is very bad after 20/30 seconds voice off for 10-20 seconds
Plzzzzz solve my problem
Marian says
Cleaning the docking with some alcohol worked perfectly for me.thank you very much really helpful 👍
Heather Channing says
I hadn’t realised I had put it on silent. So simple but a real panic. Thanks so much.
Paul says
Switching video mode on and turning volume up has worked, thank you 🙂
Presley says
The iPhone No Sound Step 4, work for
Nancy McBride says
You’re welcome.
Sarah says
Yay! I had tried all the steps except jailbreaking and resetting and nothing had worked, I even tried Nancys Granddaughters step but nothing worked and i decided to try again and did step 4 and step 6, I think Step 6 did the it. Thank you so much cause I was so panicked
Letty | Letty's Kitchen says
Step 2 worked for me!
Stanley says
Step 9 worked for me , thank you so much.
Satya says
First two steps only worked for me. Thanks a lot.
Ahl says
Thanks its work for me I’m Using IPhone 5-S, This Option Hold that grip for about 20 seconds.
mulianto says
i have a problem with the sound. when i updated the IOS 10. the sount won’t came out.. what should i do?
Ray says
thank you very much it work in my iphone….
Shimriya Hillel says
Mine still doesn’t work…what do I do?Im 12 and I tried to fix it but it only lasted for like 10 minutes then the sound was off again I repeated the steps like 10 time omg I’m so stressed