Sound problems in iOS devices like an iPhone SE that has no sound can be due to a faulty software or damaged hardware, particularly audio components. Unless you’ve accidentally dropped your iPhone or got it wet, there’s a higher chance that the no sound problem is attributed to the software. Many factors can cause an iPhone’s audio functions to fail and bad firmware updates appeared to be a common culprit. Just like what has occurred to some iPhone SE users after installing the recently released iOS version 11.3.1. While this update was intentionally rolled out to serve good purpose, not all ended up having positive outcomes. Read on to find out how to troubleshoot this issue before taking a trip to a service center.
How to troubleshoot iPhone SE that has no sound after iOS 11.3.1
Before you start troubleshooting, turn off Bluetooth pairing on your iPhone SE. If your iPhone is currently paired with a Bluetooth-enabled audio device, then you won’t hear a sound from your iPhone speaker because the audio output is routed to the Bluetooth device it’s paired with and connected to. You can disable Bluetooth from the Control Center or through Settings-> General> Bluetooth menu and then turn off the Bluetooth switch.
If Bluetooth is already disabled or your iPhone SE is not paired or connected to any Bluetooth devices but still has no sound, then you may go ahead and start troubleshooting software issues on the phone.
First solution: Perform a soft reset
The first recommended solution to minor software issues including software-related sound problems on your iPhone SE is a soft reset or device restart. Aside from rectifying software glitches, it also helps clear the internal memory of the phone for better and smoother performance. A soft reset can be done in two ways, the usual restart and the force restart. The latter is recommended when the device screen is frozen. Both these methods won’t affect your data saved on the internal memory of your device, thus won’t result to data loss. If you haven’t restarted your phone yet, do so with these steps:
- Press and hold the Power button for a few seconds until the Slide to Power Off button appears.
- Drag the slider to turn off your device.
- After 30 seconds, press the Power button again until the Apple logo appears.
- Alternatively, you can do a force restart by pressing and holding the Power button and Home button simultaneously for about 10 to 20 seconds and then release both buttons when the Apple logo appears.
Wait until your device is finished booting up and then try to test the audio and see if it’s already working properly as it should.
Second solution: Flip the Ringer switch off and on again
Sometimes, the iPhone’s audio functions act weird when a new platform is implemented. Oftentimes, the problem can be rectified by turning silent mode on and then off again. The quickest way to do so by flipping the ringer switch up and down or from ring mode to silent and then vice versa.
You can find the ringer/silent switch on the left side of your iPhone SE. Check on that switch and make sure it’s set to ring mode. Try to flip the switch to silent mode for a few seconds and then switch back to ring mode. This simple trick has been able to help a lot of people who have encountered minor forms of sound issues on their iPhone including those that transpired after installing new updates. So you might as well give it a shot.
Third solution: Verify and adjust audio settings, Do Not Disturb (DND) settings
The silent/ring mode switch settings only affect the iPhone speaker so other audio features and functions may still need to be adjusted. If the prior workaround doesn’t do any good, then you can try adjusting the audio settings and relevant features including Do Not Disturb (DND).
- To adjust the settings for ringtone and notification alerts, navigate through your iPhone Settings-> Sounds & Haptics (Sounds) menu.
The volume of ringtones and alerts mirrors the volume you’ve set for audio playback, by default. You can control your ringtone and alert volume separately from other apps. And to do so, you need to turn off the option to Change with Buttons. Turning off this option allows you to manually adjust your ringtone and alert volume in Settings-> Sounds & Haptics menu. Try to adjust or increase the Ringer and Alerts volume level by dragging the ringer slider to the right.
Another feature to check on your iPhone is the Do Not Disturb or DND. With this feature enabled, incoming calls, alerts and notifications are silenced unless you’ve set some exceptions like allowed calls from certain people. To make sure this isn’t causing your trouble, check and ensure that DND is turned off.
- To do so, head over to Settings-> Do Not Disturb, and then tap the switch next to it to turn the feature off, if necessary.
- Or you can also open the Control Center and tap to turn off the DND icon (crescent moon figure).
Reboot your iPhone after making all these changes and then test to see if it’s now able to make sound through the speakers.
Fourth solution: Reset all settings on your iPhone SE
Major firmware updates may automatically override the current settings on the phone based on how it’s programmed. The thing is that, not all devices are configured in the same way as beta testing devices do and therefore it’s possible for other devices to end up with conflicts and errors. To rule this out, you can reset all settings on your iPhone to restore the system settings back to their original values and then configure necessary options and features individually. Doing so will ensure that only the correct options and features are selected and enabled/disabled on your phone. To reset all settings on your iPhone SE, follow these steps:
- Tap Settings from the Home screen.
- Tap General.
- Scroll to and tap Reset.
- Select the option to Reset all settings.
- If prompted, enter your device passcode to continue.
- Then tap the option to confirm system settings reset.
Your iPhone should automatically reboot when the reset is finished but if it doesn’t, then you need to manually trigger your iPhone to restart. You can do a soft reset or force restart, to implement the recent changes you’ve made and for everything to work properly as intended.
Fifth solution: Restore your iPhone through iTunes
If none of the prior methods work and your iPhone SE still doesn’t have sound or audio output, then performing an iOS restore might help. You can restore your iPhone SE to its factory defaults and set it up as new or restore to a previous iOS backup. There are two ways to restore an iPhone – a recovery mode restore and DFU mode restore.
You can try restoring your iPhone SE in recovery mode first. This will require you to put your iPhone SE in recovery mode and then restore iOS through iTunes. To get started, you will need to connect your iPhone to a computer via Lightning cable. Then open iTunes on the computer and enable recovery mode. While it’s in recovery mode, follow the onscreen instructions to restore iOS through iTunes.
If the recovery mode restore failed to fix the problem, then you may proceed with a DFU mode restore. It’s the most in-depth type of system restore you can do on your iPhone. In this case, you will need to put your device in DFU mode to allow it to communicate with iTunes on a computer without loading the system. Then you can restore to a previous iOS backup or set it up as new through iTunes. A more detailed walkthrough on how to restore an iPhone SE in recovery mode and DFU mode can be found on our Tutorials section under Troubleshooting page.
Seek more help
Contact Apple Support or your carrier to report the issue if your iPhone SE still has no sound or no audio after exhausting all prior means to fix it on your end. Apparently, it’s a post-update issue that’s likely caused by a more intricate system error, and therefore requires a fix patch. Or you can also take your device to an Apple service center and have it examined by an authorized technician instead. There could be something else on the hardware components that are preventing your iPhone SE from producing sound, which may need some fixing. While the problem occurs after installing the latest update to iOS, it does not always denote that the new operating system is at fault. So better have the hardware scrutinized as well.
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