Sound problems in mobile devices are usually attributed to hardware damage, particularly due to a damaged or defective microphone, speaker, and other audio components. The symptoms of sound problems attributed to hardware damage usually manifest when the device got wet or was dropped. There are also some cases wherein software-related factors are to blame. Lined up below are some applicable workarounds and potential solutions to a similar issue on the iPhone 7 that’s suddenly producing distorted sound during calls after the iOS 13 update. Read on to find out what to do when faced with the same issue after updating your iPhone to the latest iOS version.
Troubleshooting iPhone 7 problem on distorted sound during calls after iOS 13 update
Prior to troubleshooting, remove any third-party accessories such as protective casing from your iPhone. Some accessories that are not Apple-made may not actually fit with your phone and thus may tend to block the audio ports. If that doesn’t make any positive changes and your still hearing distorted sounds during calls on your iPhone 7, try the following procedures to eliminate common culprits from within the software aspect.
First solution: Reboot your iPhone (soft reset)
Various symptoms can suddenly manifest after a system update. Most of these symptoms are minor application errors or system flaws that can easily be remedied by a device restart. Hence, if you haven’t already, follow these steps to soft reset or reboot your iPhone 7:
- Press and hold the Power button for a few seconds.
- Release the Power button when the Slide to Power off appears.
- Drag the slider to the right to power off your device.
- Allow several seconds for your device to stay powered off.
- After the elapsed time, press and hold the Power button again until the Apple logo appears.
You can also use the shutdown command to turn your iPhone off and on. Simply head on to Settings-> General-> Shut Down menu then slide the Power switch right.
Second solution: Adjust the volume level
Sound problems including distorted sounds during phone calls can also be helped by making some adjustments to your phone’s volume level. There are instances when the sound outputs tend to become distorted when the volume is set to a very high level. To rule this out, try to adjust the volume level on your iPhone 7. There are different ways to get this done. You can use the hardware buttons, through the control center, utilize the sound settings or simply ask Siri to turn the volume up or down.
The fastest way is using the physical volume buttons on the side of your iPhone. Considering that you’ve enabled the Change with Buttons option on your sound settings, you can utilize these controls. To increase the volume level, just press the Volume Up key or the Volume Down key to lower it down.
To adjust the volume through the control center, swipe up from the bottom edge of the screen to open the Control Center, then tap tap the volume icon to make necessary adjustments to the volume level.
To manage volume through settings, refer to these steps:
- From your Home screen, tap Settings.
- Tap Sounds & Haptics.
- Then drag the slider below Ringers and Alerts.
- Drag the slider to the right to increase the volume level and left to lower it.
You might as well try changing the ringtone for your incoming calls. Doing so will help rule out the possibility of the distorted sound problem during phone calls due to the selected ringtone.
- To change the ringtone for incoming calls, go to Settings-> Sounds & Haptics menu then select your desired ringtone.
After making all necessary changes, try to place a test call to find out if the incoming call sound is still distorted or not.
Third solution: Reset all settings on your iPhone 7 to fix distorted sound during calls after iOS 13 update
Settings that were automatically overridden by the recent update can also trigger some audio conflicts and therefore could likely result in atypical sound outputs. To clear this out, clearing all customized options and restoring original values can help. Just follow these steps to reset all settings on your iPhone 7:
- From the Home screen, tap Settings.
- Select General.
- Scroll down and tap on Reset.
- Select the option to Reset all settings. This will erase all customized options and new settings overrides from the recent update, without affecting your iPhone data.
- Enter your device passcode if prompted to continue.
- Then tap the option to confirm that you want to reset all settings on your iPhone.
Allow your phone to finish resetting and then restarts automatically when done. After it reboots, you will need to re-enable necessary features, particularly those that are disabled by default, so you can use them again on your phone.
Fourth solution: Erase and restore factory default settings on your iPhone 7
Performing a factory reset may be necessary to deal with complex iOS bugs that eventually ruined the sound quality rendered by your device. Doing so will erase everything from your phone including all saved contents from your iPhone storage. That being said, creating backups beforehand is highly recommended. You can back up files from your iPhone straight to your iCloud account or to your computer using iTunes. After securing the backup, you can proceed with these steps to factory reset your iPhone 7 through settings:
- From the Home screen, tap Settings.
- Select General.
- Scroll down and tap on Reset.
- Select the option to Erase all content and settings. This will erase everything from your iPhone system including downloaded apps, customizations, and files stored on the internal memory.
- Enter your device passcode if prompted to continue.
- Then tap the option to confirm that you want to erase your iPhone.
You can also use iTunes to manually back up your iPhone files to your computer’s hard drive and then wipe it through iTunes. To get this done, you will need to secure a computer that has the latest version of iTunes program installed.
Fifth solution: Restore your iPhone in iTunes (recovery mode restore)
To get started, connect your iPhone to the computer using the original USB cable or Lightning cable that came with your device. While your iPhone is connected, continue with these steps to enter recovery mode and start restoring your device in iTunes:
- Press and hold the Top/Side and Volume Down buttons simultaneously.
- Keep holding both buttons until the recovery mode screen appears.
- Wait until you see the message prompt asking you to restore or update your device.
- Select Update if you want iTunes to reinstall iOS on your phone without erasing any saved data. Otherwise, choose Restore to erase your device and restore from a recent iOS backup.
Follow the rest of the onscreen commands in iTunes to finish restoring your iPhone.
Is your iPhone 7 still having distorted sound during calls after iOS 13 update?
Taking a trip to the nearest Apple genius bar in your area can be considered as the next option if all the above procedures failed to solve the problem. Your iPhone might have already obtained some physical or liquid damage and the symptoms simultaneously occurred after updating your device. For further assistance and recommendations, you can also report the problem straight to your carrier or Apple Support.