How to fix iPhone 8 headphones that stopped working after updating iOS [Troubleshooting Guide]

This post will walk you through a series of troubleshooting procedures to fix a problem on the iPhone 8 headphones that stopped working after updating iOS to the latest version. Read on to find out what to do whenever you’ll end up having the same issue after installing an iOS update on your iPhone 8.

When you plugged your headphones in to your iPhone and started to play a song but you can’t hear anything, then that denotes that the headphone jack is not working. While the problem had started after installing a new update to iOS, we can’t just rule out hardware completely. But before taking your iPhone into the Apple Genius bar, you can try to work through the subsequent troubleshooting steps to determine if it’s a software issue.

Now, before anything else, if you have other issues with your phone, make sure you drop by our troubleshooting page for we have already provided solutions to hundreds of problems reported by our readers. Odds are that we may have already provided a solution to the problem you currently have so try to find issues that are similar with yours on that page and feel free to use the solutions we suggested. If they don’t work or if you need further assistance, fill up our iPhone issues questionnaire and hit submit to contact us.

First solution: Perform a soft reset or reboot your iPhone 8.

Software glitches caused by an update may affect audio functions on the phone, and might have prevented the headphones from working. To rule this out, do a soft reset or restart your iPhone with these steps:

Press and hold the Power button until the Slide to Power Off command appears.
Drag the slider to the right to turn your iPhone completely off.
After 30 seconds, press and hold the Power button until the Apple logo appears and then release.

A soft reset clears minor software glitches and dumps corrupt cache and temporary files from the internal memory of your iPhone. All your personal information and critical data won’t be affected.

Second solution: Adjust or increase the volume on your iPhone 8.

If you can’t hear any audio playing through your headphones even when they’re plugged into your iPhone, try to adjust or increase the volume level. It may just be turned all the way down by the update and therefore needs to be re-adjusted.

To do so, press the Volume Up button on the left side of your iPhone to increase its volume.

Doing so will prompt you with a small pop-up screen on the center of your iPhone display indicating the volume level. When this pop-up screen shows up, make sure it says Headphones at the top. This confirms that the headphones are detected by the headphone jack.

Also ensure that the Volume bar appears at the bottom of the pop-up screen. If it says “Mute,” then that indicates your device is muted and therefore won’t play sound through the headphones.

If the volume pop-up screen doesn’t show up when you tap the Volume Up or Volume Down buttons, go to Settings-> Sounds & Haptics, then turn on the switch next to Change with Buttons.

After making these changes, test your headphones to see if they’re now working as expected. Otherwise, move on to the next possible solution.

Third solution: Manage or disable Bluetooth on your iPhone 8.

To make sure your audio is not playing through a different device like Bluetooth speakers or headphones, turn off Bluetooth on your iPhone 8. There is a higher chance that the audio is playing through the Bluetooth device that’s connected to your iPhone and not your headphones. So here’s what you should do to prevent this from happening:

Open the Control Center by swiping up from the bottom of the screen.
Then press and hold the audio box located on the upper-right corner of the Control Center.
Tap the AirPlay icon.
Make sure a check mark shows next to Headphones. If the check mark is showing up next to a different device, then tap Headphones to switch to and select headphones for your sound outputs.

Alternatively, you can just turn off Bluetooth or forget Bluetooth devices on your iPhone 8. Doing so will delete all saved Bluetooth devices from your iPhone system and disconnects your iPhone from any Bluetooth-enabled devices.

To do so, navigate to Settings-> Bluetooth menu, then tap to select individual Bluetooth devices to forget or delete.

After deleting Bluetooth devices, restart your iPhone to refresh the system and clears the internal memory.

Fourth solution: Reset all settings on your iPhone 8.

Resetting all settings can potentially fix the problem if it has something to do with invalid settings on the phone. Some updates override or automatically alter the current settings on the device. To rule this out, reset all settings and re-configure individual features and options according to your preferences. Here’s how it’s done:

Open Settings from the Home screen.
Tap General.
Scroll to and tap Reset.
Select the option to Reset all settings. This will reset system settings, restoring the defaults without affecting your iPhone data.
Enter your device passcode, if prompted.
Then tap the option to confirm settings reset.

Wait until the reset is finished and your iPhone restarts automatically. Then try and see if headphones are now working on your iPhone 8. If that doesn’t fix the problem, then you can proceed to an iOS restore.

Fifth solution: Restore iOS on your iPhone 8 through iTunes.

If none of the previous methods is able to fix the problem and headphones still don’t work, then you can try restoring your iPhone 8 in recovery mode or DFU mode using iTunes. An iOS restore however deletes all your important data and personal information. Should you wish to continue, be sure to create a backup so you can still recover your files afterwards.

To get started, you will need to secure a Windows PC or Mac computer with a later or latest OS version and the latest version of iTunes software. To connect your iPhone to your computer, it’s recommended to use the Apple-supplied or original USB cable or Lightning cable that came with your device. Other cables may not be compatible with your iOS device and therefore may not work.

A more detailed walkthrough on how to perform a recovery mode restore as well as DFU mode restore on an iPhone 8 can be found in the tutorials section of this site. Just navigate to the iPhone 8 Troubleshooting Page (iPhone 8) for more details.

Other options

Or you can also try using a different pair of headphones. Doing so will help you determine if the problem is attributed to damaged headphones or not. If the other headphones are working properly, then your previous headphones are at fault. That means the need for you to replace them with a working pair. If none of your headphones work, then your headphone jack might be at fault. You can try cleaning out the headphone jack from any lint, gunk, or other debris stuck, which might have prevented your iPhone from recognizing headphones that are plugged in. You can use an anti-static brush or unused toothbrush to clean out the headphone jack, if needed. If none of that works, then your iPhone likely needs service. You can take it to the nearest Apple service center in your place and have it examined by an authorized technician for any signs of hardware damage.

Connect with us

If you need more help with the use of certain functions and features of the new Apple iPhone 7 smartphone, feel free to visit our Tutorial Page. There you can find a list of how-to contents, step-by-step tutorials, as well as answers to FAQs regarding iPhone 7. If you have other concerns or encountered some troubles while using the phone, you can reach us through this form. Just be sure to tell us more details of the problem or device issue(s) you may have and we will be more than happy to assist you further.

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