My first iPhone headset died a while back after more than a year of faithful service. I tested it with another iPhone and it was Very Dead. I bought another Apple headset but this one lasted only a few months before the mic stopped working. I could listen all I wanted but no talking. Odd. I’m not exactly gentle with my headsets but it was still surprising it didn’t last long. I began to worry that the headset port was going, but I ordered a different brand of headset anyway just in case. The new headset didn’t work with my iPhone either.
I did a little searching about just in case there was a firmware update I shouldn’t have installed or some other trick I should try to get the port to work. If I hadn’t found this page, I would have looked for quotes on repairing the port.
Instead, I grabbed my faithful metal paperclip, unbent it a bit and dug a rather startling amount of dust and pocket fluff out of my headset port. I shut off the iPhone first, of course. Then, as if by magic, the mics on my two latest headsets work! Hurray! (As an added bonus, I now have a spare, functional headset.)
So, if your microphone on your iPhone has stopped working, try cleaning the pocket fluff out of the port. The best tool for this is probably a small, metal (uncoated) paperclip. Be gentle and make sure you turn your phone off before you start poking around in there! That is all.
P.S. Yes, I’m having fun with fonts lately.
