Hello #iPhone8 users! Today’s troubleshooting article addresses a common issue for the iPhone line models — a No Sound problem. No sound issue can take many forms including the rare but possible speaker failure. In many cases, iPhone owners report no sound issue when only one app is actually having an issue. We’ll cover that one here as well as other possible reasons for this problem.
Before we proceed let us remind you that you can contact us by using the link provided at the bottom of this page. When describing your issue, please be as detailed as possible so we can easily pinpoint a relevant solution. If you can, kindly include the exact error messages you are getting to give us an idea where to start. If you have already tried some troubleshooting steps before emailing us, make sure to mention them so we can skip them in our answers.
Today’s problem: iPhone 8 Plus has no sound when watching videos, playing games and notifications and ringtones don’t sound
Ok so I have an iPhone 8 Plus and when I have my phone charging there is no outputting sound. I get not sound coming out at all. There is no sound when I’m watching a video, playing games, and sometimes my notifications and ringtone don’t even come out.
Also the key clicks and lock sounds do not work. I have checked all settings; the ringer is all the way up and it is not on silence. And when I try to turn the volume up or down with the side buttons it does not work and doesn’t even show up on the screen that it is going up or down. It should also be noted that I have filed an insurance claim for my original phone because it was doing this.
Can someone please help me because I don’t know what do do? I have gone to an Apple store and have called Apple care and no one seems to know what to do. Thank you. — Whitney
Solution: Hi Whitney. There’s a whole range of possible reasons why an iPhone may appear to not make a sound in a situation when it should normally be able to. Let’s discuss all the possibilities below.
Determine if speaker is not working at all
Your iPhone 8 has built-in stereo speakers at the top. These speakers are front-facing to facilitate to allow users to hear calls and sounds easily. If you iPhone 8 has been totally muted and does not make any sound at all regardless of what you do, that’s an indication that your speaker may have stopped working for some reason. To check, try all the following actions:
- let someone call you and make sure to answer it using the speakerphone
- play some music using at least 2 apps
- watch videos on at least 2 apps
- play notification sounds or ringtones
- Go under Settings > Sounds (or Settings > Sounds & Haptics), drag the Ringer And Alerts slider up or down a few times.
If all these actions will lead to the same result — no sound at all — then your speaker needs service. Unfortunately, this troubleshooting article won’t be able to help you fix a physically broken speaker. Stop wasting your time and simply call Apple to have the device checked and repaired.
On the other hand, if any of the actions will result to a sound, then there’s probably an app or operating system bug that causes some features to stop making sounds. To fix your problem, continue with the troubleshooting steps below.
Solution #1: Restart your iPhone 8
Restarting your iPhone 8 should be the first troubleshooting step that you can do in this case. Doing so refreshes the system. It can also put an end to a bug that has developed when your phone has been running for a long time. To restart your iPhone 8, follow these steps:
- Press and hold the Top (or Side) button until the slider appears.
- Drag the slider to turn your device completely off.
- After the device turns off, press and hold the Top (or Side) button again until you see the Apple logo.
Alternatively, you can also press and quickly release the Volume Up button, then press and quickly release the Volume Down button. Then, press and hold the Side button until you see the Apple logo. This way of restarting your iPhone 8 is useful when the device is stuck or becomes unresponsive.
Solution #2: Check Ring/Silent switch
Your iPhone 8 has a Ring/Silent switch that you can use if you want to quickly turn the sound off. If this Ring/Silent switch is set to Silent option, your iPhone 8 won’t make a sound during calls. To check if this is the one causing the issue, follow the steps below:
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- Check the Ring / Silent switch on the left-hand side of your iPhone.
- If the switch is pulled towards the back of your iPhone and you see a small orange line<span< a=””> style=”font-weight: 400;”>, your iPhone 8 is on silent.</span<>
Flipping the Ring/Silent switch back and forth will also trigger a notification on the screen. Keep watch of this notification if you are not sure whether you’ve toggled the Ring/Silent switch properly.
Solution #3: Check if Do Not Disturb is enabled
When Do Not Disturb feature is on, calls, alerts and notifications will be silenced unless you set from exceptions, like what number to allow to call you. Do Not Disturb feature, when enabled, is indicated by a half-moon icon in the status bar. To check if you’ve inadvertently enabled it, follow the steps below:
- Open Settings app.
- Tap Do Not Disturb and check that Do Not Disturb is off.
Solution #4: Check if speaker works with an app
If you’re only having an issue with a single app not making sounds, try to see what happens when you adjust the volume while using it. For example, if you have an issue playing music sounds with Spotify app, try to see what happens if you press the volume buttons or the volume slider in Control Panel. If sound level won’t improve, or if there’s total lack of sound at all, you can try to force quit the app and see what happens. To do that, follow these steps:
- Double-click the Home button to show your most recently used apps.
- Swipe right or left to find the app that you want to close.
- Swipe up on the app’s preview to close the app.
- Open the app again and see if sound works.
Alternatively, you can try uninstalling the app and redownloading it afterwards. To delete an app,
- Lightly touch and hold the app until it jiggles.
- Tap in the upper-left corner of the app.
- Tap Delete.
- Afterwards, redownload the app and see how sound works.
Solution #5: See if sound works on headphones only
In some cases, iPhone owners report that sound works when they’re on headphones only. If this is true in your case, then that can be another confirmation that your iPhone’s speaker is malfunctioning. Your iPhone’s speaker works independently of the sound system being used by headphone. If the speaker itself has been damaged, you should still be able to answer calls and listen to music using your headphone. However, if you want to permanently fix the speaker issue, you must send the iPhone to Apple so they can repair it.
Solution #6: Disable Bluetooth
Some users may forget that their iPhone is connected to another Bluetooth device like a wireless headset. In this case, all incoming notifications and calls may not sound via the speaker. This can make the appearance that the phone’s speaker may be bad. Turn off your iPhone 8 Bluetooth and see if sound returns to normal. If not, proceed to the next troubleshooting step.
Solution #7: Check for updates
Whether you have an issue or not, it’s always good to check if your iPhone is running the latest iOS and app versions.
To check for iOS updates, just go under Settings > General > Software Update.
To check for app updates:
- Open the App Store app on your iPhone 8.
- Tap Updates.
- If an update is available, tap Update. If asked, enter your Apple ID and password. You might need a Wi-Fi connection to update some apps on your iOS device.
Solution #8: Factory reset then Restore
If all else fails, you can try wiping the phone thru factory reset and setting it up as a new device. Alternatively, you can also factory reset it then restore it from an old backup. This solution is effective especially if the problem appears to happen randomly and without a pattern. Before wiping your device, make sure that you create a backup on iCloud or iTunes.
To factory reset your iPhone 8, you can do these steps:
- Open Settings app.
- Tap General.
- Tap Reset.
- Tap Erase All Content and Settings.
- If prompted, enter your passcode.
- Tap Erase iPhone.
After wiping your iPhone, we recommend that you try to set it up as a new device first. If the sound issue goes away after that, that means there’s no hardware issue at all and that factory reset might have eliminated the bug. You can then try to restore your device to whatever backup you saved.
Engage with us
If you happen to have a problem with your own iPhone, let us know about it and we will do our best to post them and their solutions in our upcoming articles. You can use this link to contact us for assistance. We can’t guarantee an answer to every question but rest assured that we will exhaust everything on our end to help you.
Be as detailed as possible when describing your problem to help us diagnose your issue easily. If you can include error messages, popups, attempted troubleshooting steps, and circumstances leading to the problem, that would be very helpful.