Fix iPhone Headphones/Lightning Headphones Not Working

Many users have reported the issue “iPhone 7 lightning headphones not working”. It happens when you plugged your headphone into your iDevice and play a song, but no sound is heard. But, before visiting an Apple store, and must try the solutions that we have mentioned in this guide. Here, we have compiled solutions for both headphones to fix the issue “iPhone or lightning headphone not working”.

6 Tips for iPhone Headphones Not Working

Regardless of which iPhone model is having the “headphone not working” problem, you can try out as many solutions as you can. It can be the latest iPhone 13, XS (Max), iPhone XR, iPhone X, iPhone 8, these solutions will work for all the models.

Tip 1: Check the Insertion Port

You will be familiar with the fact that iPhone and lightning headphone port is different. So, check their respective port to detect if the port is damaged or not. Sometimes, dust particles present in the port can avert your iPhone to recognize plugged-in headphones. You can take a needle or brush to clean the headphone insertion port. But, be careful while using a needle or you can simply blow into the port to remove dust particles.

Tip 2: Restart your iPhone

To check if there is a software issue, restart your iPhone. Sometimes, restarting or an iDevice can solve minor software problems.

For iPhone 8 or earlier, or iPad, press and hold the Top (or Side) button until the slider appears. For iPhone X/XS (Max)/XR, you need to press and hold the Side button and either volume button until the slider appears on the screen.

After rebooting your iPhone, again connect your either iPhone or lightning headphones and play a song to check if this method has resolved the issue.

Tip 3: Try Another Pair of Headphone

Plug a different pair of headphones into your iPhone and check if you are able to hear a sound or not. If yes, then it means it’s your headphone that is causing the problem and the insertion port of headphones is completely fine.

Tip 4: Turn Up your iPhone Volume

It might be possible that when you plug your headphone into your iPhone, the volume is already turned down. So, turn up your iPhone volume. If the pop-up box appears, then check two things:

• Whether you can see Headphones at the top of the box or not. If yes, then it means your iPhone has detected your headphone.
• Check the volume bar at the bottom of the box. If it is Mute, then it is the reason why you can’t hear audio from your headphone.

If there is no pop-up box that appears when you turn up your iPhone volume, then you need to do some settings. On your iPhone, open the “Settings” menu and then, move to the “Sounds & Haptics”. Finally, enable the option “Change with Buttons”.

Tip 5: Check Bluetooth Output

It might be possible that you have connected Bluetooth headphones or speakers to your iPhone and you forget that while plugging your iPhone or lightning headphone. That’s why you can’t hear the audio from your headphone as it is playing on your Bluetooth device. Therefore, turn off your Bluetooth from the control center and it will automatically disconnect the Bluetooth device from your iPhone. Now, again plug in your headphone and this will significantly resolve the issue “iPhone headphones not working”.

Tip 6: Check AirPlay Output

Another reason why you are not hearing sound from your headphone is your iPhone is sending audio to some other output. Usually, automatically detects the headphone when plugin, but it is not happening in your case. Then, check if audio is coming from AirPods or Airplay speakers.

Step 1: Swipe up from the bottom of your iPhone to open the control center and then, press audio playback until to open the audio settings. (For iPhone X and later, swipe down from the top-right of your iPhone to open the control center.)

Step 2: After that, click on the “AirPlay” button which is on the top-right of the control center. Now, switch to the “Headphones” option.

The Bottom Line

Thus, this guide has given almost every possible solution for iPhone or lightning headphones not working on iPhone 6 or later/previous models. Hopefully, you will be able to resolve your headphone issue via this guide and can hear your favorite audio songs from the headphone.