iPhone 12, iOS version 18.4.1

Hi Everyone,

My iphone telephone cuts in and out. I have a small orange dot on top of the cell service bars when I am speaking on the phone. Looking that up, it says that another app is using the microphone. When I follow the prompts to fix this, there isn't another app using the microphone. Can you help?

I think it recently upgraded and this started at that time.

What to do?

Accepted answers

SynthpopAddict

@mastersonmethod
wrote:
Hmmmmm, wouldn't I lose personal
stuff on my phone?

Not if you only do a network reset. A network reset clears all your saved WiFi networks/passwords, and forces your phone to reconnect to cellular service as if it's never been connected.

If, however, you factory reset your phone, then that totally wipes the phone where all your data and downloaded apps will be gone.

All comments

Verizon_Support

Hi mastersonmethod, Thanks for bringing this to our attention, Aside from what you've already done, I would suggest triple checking each app's microphone access "Only While Using the App"
Have you gone through that process? -Red

mastersonmethod

Done that and it still has the orange dot and it still cuts in and out. I have an iPhone 12, maybe it's too old to fix? I am so bummed.

SynthpopAddict

If you've gone through all your apps and turned off the microphone access for any apps which could compete with your phone app, the only thing I can think of is to try posting your question in the Apple support community or maybe Reddit as someone elsewhere could have an answer.

Is your signal strength weak when you're having the call quality issues? Put your phone into field test mode to get the most accurate reading. If your signal strength is hovering around -115 dBm a lot, that's going to cause calls to drop or cut in/out, or people will tell you they can't hear you. -120 dBm and worse is dead zone land.

Verizon_Support

I would suggest rebooting the phone. And see if that fixes the issue.

~Joe M

mastersonmethod

Hmmmmm, wouldn't I lose personal

stuff on my phone?

mastersonmethod

How do I put my phone into field test mode? Sorry to be so un-techie

SynthpopAddict

No worries, it's kind of hard to find it on an iPhone. Android phones have a simpler version of this which is in the device settings, but you've got to dig around with an iPhone for some reason. The best link I found describing the process and all the details is below. Don't download that app the company mentions, as I strongly suspect that's a way for them to market their products to you (they are a signal booster manufacturer). You can access field test mode using the dialer code they describe in the article.

https://www.weboost.com/blog/how-to-access-iphone-field-test-mode

SynthpopAddict

@mastersonmethod
wrote:
Hmmmmm, wouldn't I lose personal
stuff on my phone?

Not if you only do a network reset. A network reset clears all your saved WiFi networks/passwords, and forces your phone to reconnect to cellular service as if it's never been connected.

If, however, you factory reset your phone, then that totally wipes the phone where all your data and downloaded apps will be gone.