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iPhone 8/Plus iphone 8 Call issues

MrPeteEdwards

MrPeteEdwards

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 20, 2018
2
2
Manchester, England
since getting the iphone 8, i have an issue during phone calls.
When on a call, the other person sometimes tells me "i cant hear you" "you're breaking up" "you sound muffled" or something similar. On one day this happened three times. On one call the other person said, turn off your speaker phone.
This last a few seconds only, and when it does happen, i have usually made a movement. But recently i dont bother, and just say can you hear me now...
Im taking it to the Genius Bar in Manchester next week. But i have never had an issue like this with ANY phone i have owned.
 
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Winterfibre

macrumors regular
Nov 30, 2016
158
54
This is also happenning to my new iphone 7 plus.

Sound keeps breaking up when people call me, but i can recall them and its fine.
Got to be a os problem.
 
sussexjojo

sussexjojo

macrumors newbie
Feb 3, 2018
6
1
MrPeteEdwards said:
since getting the iphone 8, i have an issue during phone calls.
When on a call, the other person sometimes tells me "i cant hear you" "you're breaking up" "you sound muffled" or something similar. On one day this happened three times. On one call the other person said, turn off your speaker phone.
This last a few seconds only, and when it does happen, i have usually made a movement. But recently i dont bother, and just say can you hear me now...
Im taking it to the Genius Bar in Manchester next week. But i have never had an issue like this with ANY phone i have owned.
Click to expand...

I have this in every call, even to record a new greeting on the voice mail. Apple say it is the carrier, the carrier (EE) says it must be the phone. When attached to bluetooth in my car people complain less, also speaker phone is better (but still crap). Having the phone as a normal person hold the phone I sound like under water and people struggle to make out the words. Holding the phone the same way in Facetime or Skype, the quality is perfect, so for sure not the phone case, or debris etc. I have reset the phone to no avail. Sometimes it is good for 3-5 seconds. I have tried the same sim card in 6s => Perfect, another sim card in iphone 8 => same crap. A lot of forum posts indicate that the only way to solve it is to buy a Samsung :(
I turned off VoLTE and Noice cancellation but it didnt help either.
 
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jeremy h

macrumors 6502
Jul 9, 2008
491
267
UK
sussexjojo said:
I have this in every call, even to record a new greeting on the voice mail. Apple say it is the carrier, the carrier (EE) says it must be the phone. When attached to bluetooth in my car people complain less, also speaker phone is better (but still crap). Having the phone as a normal person hold the phone I sound like under water and people struggle to make out the words. Holding the phone the same way in Facetime or Skype, the quality is perfect, so for sure not the phone case, or debris etc. I have reset the phone to no avail. Sometimes it is good for 3-5 seconds. I have tried the same sim card in 6s => Perfect, another sim card in iphone 8 => same crap. A lot of forum posts indicate that the only way to solve it is to buy a Samsung :(
I turned off VoLTE and Noice cancellation but it didnt help either.
Click to expand...

I had this on two iPhone 8's. On both callers would struggle to understand what I was saying. Got worse in longer conversations. I've returned both. (I'm now back on my ageing 5 - same sim, same network and all is perfect again). As usual the Apple store staff seemed to suggest they'd never come across it before. I've surfed around and it's certainly not just me. (Do search the Apple support communities.) I suspect this is far more widespread that anyone is admitting. (I think its masked by the fact many people don't make so many voice calls and Apple can just obfuscate and blame the case* you have and the networks for these issues.)

Amusingly, now I'm aware of it you can spot people on the radio who are calling who probably own iPhone 8 or 10s with this problem!

To the OP, I hate to pre-judge things if my experience is anything to go by, you're not going to get a resolution on this. I think it's a software / noise cancellation issue with iOS 11. The one thing I've seen that people say works is to use it on speakerphone with the vol right down. Ludicrous for an £800 phone.



* The little microphone between the lenses (which I think in this situation measures background noise?) seems to be involved in this.
 
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janeauburn

janeauburn

macrumors 65816
Nov 22, 2015
1,311
2,230
This is not an isolated situation. As others in this thread have indicated, the problem is real, and it's widespread, with thousands of people reporting it around the Web. As others have noted, take your phone to an Apple store, and you'll be met with the "first I've heard of this" BS. (Obviously Apple employees are either clueless or the slowdowngate is not the only gate around.)

The call quality issue has been around since the 7. To callers, you will sound muffled, underwater, barely audible, etc. Must be a hardware issue. As all others have stated, this is ridiculous on an expensive phone. Holy cow, there's even the word "phone" in iPhone, but being a phone is something the iPhone fails at.

The 6 and 6S phones have great call quality. Really your only solution is to use one of those or leave Apple.
 
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woodynorman

macrumors 6502a
Nov 26, 2011
674
311
I have had people tell me I sound muffled on my 8plus. Every time this happens I notice my pinky finger is covering a couple holes on the bottom left of the phone. I'm guessing the speaker is right there, and I'm obstructing it. Move the pinky, problem goes away. This only really happens with the Apple silicone case that doesn't completely cover the bottom.

Otherwise I'm happy with the call quality of the phone.

Edit: my 7 plus was horrible on phone calls.
 
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