iPhone 12 series microphone on FaceTime, Facebook Messenger, & other video calling apps seems broken, as per user reports

Users with devices from the iPhone 12 series are facing various kinds of mic related issues on video calling apps like FaceTime, Facebook Messenger, and the like.

And there have been plenty of complaints on the official Apple iPhone forums as a result. Some of them are given below.

I have iphone 12 pro max. And I’m facing the same issue. When I use FaceTime , WhatsApp call or Skype calls ….the audio becomes very low for the people other side hearing my voice. not sure if it’s hardware or software issue
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I have the same problem on my iPhone 12 Pro. On the other side they do not hear me on phone calls. If I restart the iPhone they hear me again for some time (hours, some calls, …), until it happens again and I have to reset again. Until now when I use my AirPods Pro I have no noticed any problem.
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Users facing this issue report that they either sound choppy, too soft or both to the other party. And no, the issue isn’t network related as several users have stated that the it disappears when using another device on the same network.

A reboot fixes the problem for most users though, at least for a short while. You can try performing a reboot too whenever you face the issue.

The problem also seems to be software-related as a couple of users have observed that they are unable to reproduce the issue when recording voice memos or a video through the main camera.

Moreover, the issue persists across the entire iPhone 12 lineup, as there have been instances of complaints from iPhone 12, 12 Pro, 12 Max, and the 12 Mini.

A mod opined that the matter could be linked to malfunctioning noise cancellation:

Regarding the choppiness on Facetime, I assume you are using the speakerphone. Sometimes when using a speakerphone the noise cancellation doesn’t work perfectly, and the sound that comes out of the speaker feeds back into the microphone and momentarily mutes the phone. So 2 things to try: First try lowering the speaker volume. Also try with headphones. If the problem does not occur with headphones then the noise cancellation is most likely the cause.
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You can confirm the above statement by trying out the same using a headset, and checking if the problem persists. If it doesn’t, then yeah, maybe it truly is noise cancellation related.

To turn off noise cancellation, head over to Settings > Accessibility > Audio-Visual > Phone Noise Cancellation.

It is also worth mentioning here that the same mod also mentioned that the issue has been fixed with the iOS 14.2.1 update.

iOS 14.2.1 fixes the microphone problem, unless it is a hardware failure.
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This does not seem true though, as several users reported that the issue persists for them even after the update. Also, there is no mention of any fix in the iOS 14.2.1 changelog.

Furthermore, the iPhone 12 mic issues on video calling apps like FaceTime seem to stay even with the latest iOS 14.3 beta, so speculations that a fix is in the works can immediately be ruled out.

A similar issue was also previously reported on the Apple iPhone 7, which we have covered here.

The iPhone 12 series, especially the 12 Pro, isn’t exactly new to such issues. You can read all about it, along with workarounds, if any, from our dedicated iPhone 12 series bugs/issues tracker.

Also be sure to check out our similar tracker about iOS 14 bugs from this link.

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