iPhone 12 ear speaker is not working after updating IOS 18

After updating my iPhone 12 to iOS 18, the earpiece speaker stopped working. There haven’t been any setting changes or physical damage, and I’ve already tried all the fixes suggested by Apple Support and YouTube without any success. I’ve also seen many others on forums experiencing the same issue. Has anyone found a solution yet? It seems like Apple is avoiding or ignoring this problem.

iPhone 12, iOS 18

Posted on Sep 23, 2024 6:42 AM

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Posted on Feb 2, 2025 7:44 PM

I am having the same problem as many others. Since the 18 update I can only hear people if they’re on speaker and in general my volume to hear while watching anything on my phone is so much lower. Are you going to give us all new phones who now have phones that no longer work well because of something you did or are you going to fix the issue?

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Feb 2, 2025 7:44 PM in response to Anjalisonker

I am having the same problem as many others. Since the 18 update I can only hear people if they’re on speaker and in general my volume to hear while watching anything on my phone is so much lower. Are you going to give us all new phones who now have phones that no longer work well because of something you did or are you going to fix the issue?

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Feb 19, 2025 12:38 PM in response to Anjalisonker

I’m facing the same problem. Even an interesting thing happened with me🙂 My ear piece stopped working so I thought it might be the hardware. I got a little bit sound after turning on “hearing aid”. After 10days it fixed automatically.

whats more interesting is, i was on a call & i had to switch to speaker mode while on the call, when i turned back to earpiece its the same again. Does apple have any answer for this?

tried to contact with apple support.

ran a diagnostics, they found nothing.

i think its the same game apple plays with their customers everytime.

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Oct 10, 2024 2:12 PM in response to Anjalisonker

I have an iPhone 12 after I updated to iOS 17.3 my iPhone ear speaker stopped working completely. it happened right after the night my phone got software updated . I was very worried did everything I can searched a lot of videos. I cleaned my ear speaker with brush but no success. I watched a video on which I was told to turn on hearing aid compatibility after I turned it on I got 20 percent volume coming from ear speaker which feels like someone is speaking from a distance in the wood. from that point I updated to all iOS updates now I have reached iOS 18. I think it is a software bug because if it was a hardware issue why 20 percent volume comes when hearing aid has been turned on. apple should give a software update to resolve this issue. or if someone can help out I will be very thankful.



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Apr 17, 2025 1:35 AM in response to Katana-San

Thanks for your effort Katana San but this is useless information.


  1. The issue is not with the microphones, its with the speaker and earpiece.
  2. This specifically happened after the upgrade, so instructions in your first link are no help, they talk about DND and that kind of stuff. I am sure users know basic functions.
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Apr 17, 2025 9:57 AM in response to yatin2323

Hello again ~ Well…thank you I suppose? You have a hardware issue. I am updated and have no issues whatsoever and if it were the update…surely we all would be affected? You iPhone like mine (a 12 mini) are susceptible and your best step forward is to click on below and make an appointment for a check up of your device…


Genius Bar Reservation and Apple Support Options - Apple


Find Locations


By the way, what’s your battery percentage? Go to Settings > Battery, then tap Battery Health & Charging. Is it 80% or below? If so you need a battery replacement.


I spend a great deal of time here in these forums and I certainly make absolutely no assumptions about what users here do or don’t know. Perhaps you can offer a better course of action? Take care.


~Katana-San~

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iPhone 12 ear speaker is not working after updating IOS 18

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