What To Do Apple iPad Air 3 No Sound, Audio Does Not Work

No sound, static sound, or noisy background during phone calls are among the widely encountered sound problems on an iOS device. These symptoms are usually tied to hardware damage. But there are some cases where a software glitch is to blame. When dealing with any of these symptoms, ruling out software-related factors is needed. That could save you time, effort and money from unnecessary repair. Outlined below are applicable workarounds and possible solutions to a similar issue on the new Apple iPad Air 3 device. Read on to learn what to do if your iPad Air has no sound.

Troubleshooting iPad Air 3 that has no sound

Audio problems that are attributed to software errors can possibly be resolved at home by any of these workarounds. Don’t forget to test your iPad after performing each procedure so that you’ll know if the problem is solved or not. To test, open a sound-enabled app or ring your iPad Air using a different device.  

First solution: Adjust the volume of your iPad Air

The most obvious reason as to why a device has no sound is the volume level that’s likely set to the lowest level. The sound volume can be adjusted through the physical volume buttons on the side of your iPad Air. Considering the placement of the volume buttons, it is very possible that the volume was reduced unintentionally. To make sure that this isn’t causing you this trouble, adjust the volume level of your iPad Air using any of these methods:

  1. Press the Volume Up button on the side of the iPad to increase the volume level for songs, alerts, sound effects and other media.
  2. Swipe down from the top-right corner of the screen then tap to enable the Silent/Ring mode icon.
  3. You can also ask Siri to increase the volume. To do this, launch Siri app and then say something like “Turn up the volume.”

After augmenting the volume level, open a sound-enabled app and then test to see if your iPad Air sound or audio is already audible.

Second solution: Reboot your iPad Air (soft reset)

If adjusting the volume level doesn’t help, then you’ll have to rule out minor software glitches. It’s possible that your iPad’s audio system is acting up and therefore stops working as intended. To clear this out, reboot or soft reset your iPad Air. Here’s how:

  1. Press and hold down the Power/Top button for a few seconds until the Power off slider appears.
  2. Drag the slider to power off your device.
  3. After a few seconds, press and hold the Power/Top button until the Apple logo appears.

You can also restart your iPad Air through settings. Just follow these steps:

  1. Go to Settings.
  2. Tap General.
  3. Tap Shut Down. The power off slider will then show up.
  4. Drag the slider to power off the device.
  5. After a few seconds, press and hold the Top/Power button until the Apple logo appears.

Performing a soft reset also clears junk files that are stored among other cached files from your iPad’s memory, including corrupted audio system files that caused you this problem.

Third solution: Turn off Bluetooth on your iPad Air

Your iPad Air can be used with other Bluetooth devices including wireless headphones and speakers. This is possible with its Bluetooth feature. If Bluetooth is enabled on your iPad and there’s no sound coming out from its microphone or built-in speakers, chances are that it’s currently paired with or connected to a Bluetooth-enabled audio accessories. Thus the audio output is bypassed and routed to its paired Bluetooth accessory. To ensure that this isn’t the underlying cause of the no sound issue on your iPad Air, turn off Bluetooth or disconnect your iPad from any paired accessories. Here’s how:

  1. Tap Settings from the Home screen.
  2. Then tap Bluetooth.
  3. Toggle the Bluetooth switch to turn the feature OFF.

You can also unpair a device from your iPad Pro with these steps:

  1. From your Home screen, tap on Settings.
  2. Tap Bluetooth. If it’s turned off, toggle the switch to turn Bluetooth on. The list of all saved Bluetooth devices will show up.
  3. Tap the information icon (i) next to the device that you want to unpair.
  4. Then tap Forget This Device to confirm. Do the same to unpair the rest of saved Bluetooth devices.

The command to Forget This Device is used to delete or remove the selected Bluetooth device. That will automatically unpair the device from your iPad Air and forgets pairing.

  • Alternatively, you can open the Control Center and then tap the Bluetooth icon to turn the feature OFF.

After turning off Bluetooth, open a sound-enable app and try to play a sound through it. Make sure that the volume is set to a high level or higher enough for you to hear your iPad sound.

ALSO READ: How To Fix Apple iPad Pro Alarm Not Working, No sound

Fourth solution: Turn off Do Not Disturb feature on your iPad Air

One way to silent sounds from your iPad is through enabling its Do Not Disturb feature.

With this feature enabled, notifications and call alerts are silenced or muted. To make sure that this isn’t the reason why your iPad Air has no sound, check your settings and make sure that Do Not Disturb is turned off. There are many ways to manage Do Not Disturb feature on your iPad Air. You can access it through the Control Center, Siri app and Settings menu.

  • To turn off Do Not Disturb through the Control Center, open the Control Center and then tap the crescent moon-like icon to turn off Do Not Disturb. The crescent moon icon appears on the status bar if the feature is turned on. Otherwise, Do Not Disturb is turned off.
  • To turn off Do Not Disturb through Siri, launch the app then say something like “Turn off Do Not Disturb.”
  • To turn off Do Not Disturb through Settings menu, tap Settings from the Home screen, tap Do Not Disturb then toggle the switch to turn off the feature.

Fifth solution: Install pending software updates

If you did not set your iPad to automatically install new iOS updates, then there might be some critical updates that need to be installed manually. Installing iOS updates can also help solve the problem if system bugs and malwares are to blame. If you’re iPad has stable Wi-Fi internet access, you can check for and install over-the-air updates with these steps:

  1. From the Home screen, tap on Settings.
  2. Tap General.
  3. Tap Software Update.

An update notification will show up if a new iOS version is available for your device. Just read the update information before downloading so that you’ll know what it’s for. To finish installing the iOS update, just follow the onscreen instructions. After updating, reboot your iPad to apply the recent system changes and to refresh its internal memory.

Sixth solution: Reset all settings on your iPad Air

Invalid settings on the iPad Air can also result to a similar issue. If the problem started after customizing your iPad settings or installing a new update, it’s possible that some settings were overridden and thereby yields to a no sound problem. In this case, resetting all settings on your iPad can help. Performing this reset deletes all customized options and then restores the default or original values. But unlike factory reset, this reset does not affect saved information on the internal memory. That said, you can proceed without backing up critical contents on your iPad Air storage. Here’s how it’s done:

  1. From the Home screen, tap on Settings.
  2. Tap General.
  3. Scroll down to and tap on Reset.
  4. Tap Reset All Settings. This will erase all your customized settings and then restores the original values.
  5. If prompted, tap Reset to confirm that you want to reset all settings on your iPad Air.

After the reset, the iPad restarts itself and then restores the default options. To use the features that are turned off by default, you will need to enable them individually first. Don’t forget to double-check the volume level on your iPad and ensure that it’s not muted.

Last resort: Reset or restore your iPad Air

Erasing your iPad and restoring its factory default settings can be considered among the last options if nothing else works. The fact that the problem was able to withstand the prior procedures increases the chance of your iPad having some complex system errors that might have stopped its audio system from working. To rule this out, performing a factory reset is necessary. But before you begin, be sure to back up all your important files from the iPad to iCloud or iTunes so you’d still be able to recover them later. Note that this reset erases everything from your device, hence will result to permanent data loss. Once you’re all set, you may proceed with these steps to factory reset your iPad through Settings:

  1. From the Home screen, tap on Settings.
  2. Tap General.
  3. Scroll down and tap Reset.
  4. If prompted, enter your passcode to proceed.
  5. Tap Erase All Content and Settings.

Alternatively, you can use iTunes to manually reset or restore your iPad Air system on a computer. There are two types of system restore you can try on then — a recovery mode restore and DFU mode restore.

Still no sound coming from your iPad Air 3

Test your iPad Air if you can hear it sounds using headphones or Bluetooth speakers. If no sound is routed to any Bluetooth audio accessory from your iPad, then that indicates that something is wrong with your iPad. Considering that the problem persists after exhausting all the above solutions, chances are that the iPad’s audio system is damaged. And this is when opting for service is necessary. You can take your device to the nearest Apple service center in your place and ask a technician’s aid to scrutinize your iPad’s hardware, particularly audio components and to fix whatever the problem would be. If your iPad is still covered by the AppleCare Warranty, then you should contact your carrier for official recommendations on how to avail for warranty instead. If necessary, you can ask for a new iPad Air replacement.

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