[Macworld]

Post your comments for Seemingly mute iPhone here

[g8dg3tb0y]

I had this exact problem and used AppleCare to get a new phone. No matter how many times I plugged/unplugged the headset, the internal phone speaker would not respond. Troubleshooting over the phone with an Apple rep didn't include Windex, but perhaps this tip would have saved me the trouble of dealing with loaners (twice) before I got a phone that worked properly sans headset.

[topfunky]

This happens frequently to me. I carry my iPhone in my pocket without any protector.
In a pinch, you can also use the speakerphone, which works even when the iPhone thinks that it's plugged in.

[mcroft]

Apple replaced my first iPhone over this. I happened on the plug/unplug fix when it happened to the second phone.

[kaveman]

That's happened to me twice. In both cases, turning off the iPhone and then on again brought it back to normal.

[2horse]

I also carry my iPhone in my pocket in the woodshop all day. So when the 'mute phone' happened to me, I vacuumed out the earbud plug-in hole as best as I could. Didn't help this time, so a trip to the genius bar and he blew out the hole with a small male fitting and compressed air. It worked briefly, but he finally had to replace my iPhone before I left.
So when the new iPhone went 'mute', I placed a small cap and hose onto the vacuum nozzle so I could direct a strong vacuum into the earbud plug-in hole. It worked absolutely great and restored the sound!!

When the hole is clean, you can see a little silver contact button glinting in the bottom of the hole. To keep it clean while carrying the iPhone in my pocket, I cut a short length (17mm) of 1/8" hardwood dowel, lightly sanded a little bevel on the top and bottom, and cut a little groove near the top to facilitate removing the dowel with my fingernails when needed. Works great.

[philb1701]

All of the suggestions for solving the muted iPhone are vaiid, but a much more practical one then the Windex/swab solution (threads from the swab could get caught in the headphone jack, essentially duplicating the problem) or the wooden dowl (creative but it's one more thing to carry, and it could eventually splinter off into the jack); get a can of compressed air and spray it into the headphone jack. This is the solution that the Genius Bar will (or should use) to clear the problem up prior to replacement.

Another problem with the Windex solution is it might trigger the "liquid damage" sensor on the headphone connector, causing it to turn color, indicating the phone has been subjected to moisture of some kind, and voiding your warranty.

I realize that this was suggested by 2horse already but it might have gotten lost in the initial reading of his posting. I do like the dowl thing, and a more accessable variant would be to cut off the jack from a set of broken headphones or buds (we all have at least ONE set of these knocking around the house, don't we?)



Enjoy.