How to Fix your iPhone's Broken Ringer

   Rated (4.2 of 5.0) by 6 reviewers.
Kelly Heffner Wilkerson

Categories: iPhone | View Comments

If your iPhone sound is working for videos and games, but not when you get phone calls or text messages, here are a few solutions to try to fix your ringer sound:

  • Just to be sure, we should verify that the iPhone mute switch isn't on by accident. While your iPhone is showing the home screen (with the app icons,) flick the small switch on the left side of the iPhone back and forth. On your screen, you should see the ringer switch to silent (when you toggle the mute on) and then back to normal sound with a volume indicator (when you toggle the mute back to off.) Leave the switch set so that you see the volume bar and not the word "silent."

  • Next, we're going to try a fix to a glitch in the iPhone ringer sound. Open your Settings app, and tap Sounds in the Settings menu.

    1. In this Sounds menu, turn off the setting Change with Buttons (this will only be temporary.)
    2. Slide the slider bar just above Change with Buttons all the way down. You might hear your ringtone very quietly, which is good!
    3. Slide the slider bar just above Change with Buttons back up. You should hear your ringtone going off if this is working.
    4. Turn back on the setting Change with Buttons. If you heard your ringtone going off as you turned the volume slider back up, the ringer should work now!

  • Look to see if your iPhones "Do Not Disturb" is on, which will mute your ringer. At the top of your iPhone screen, near the battery indicator, do you see a moon icon? If so, your "Do Not Disturb" is turned on.
    1. From your iPhone home screen (with the app icons,) slide up from the bottom of the screen to show the Control Center.
    2. Tap the moon icon in the top row of buttons so that it is not colored white and there is no moon icon in your status bar near the battery indicator. The ringer should work now!

If none of these fixes helped you, please leave us a comment. We genuinely want to help you resolve your iPhone volume problem so that we can make this post as comprehensive as possible.