Why will my phone microphone sometimes not work while headphone/aux jack plugged in?

[ryanandree]

Can anyone tell me why my microphone sometimes works when my headphone jack is plugged in--and sometimes it does not? To be more specific, I play music through my car stereo speakers using the headphone/aux jack. If someone calls, I can usually answer and talk to them without a problem. Sometimes, they cannot hear me. Furthermore, this is also connected to the speech to text recognition and "ok google" detection. Any solutions?

Thank you,
Ryan

 

[Mooncatt]

It could be a slight misalignment of the headphone jack contacts. If you compare standard headphones to wired microphone headsets, you'll notice the mic headsets have an extra black band on their plug, giving them an extra contact for the mic. I've seen some regular headphones plug in that don't line up right, and the phone thinks there's a microphone contact on the plug. The easiest way to check this is to check your screen when this problem is happening. You'll probably see an icon that looks like a microphone headset, or some other indication that shows the phone thinking that's what's plugged in during a call.

It could be something as simple as debris built up inside the phone port that you may be able to clean out. It could also be a bad design of your cable and you'll need to replace it. Trying to turn or gently pushing/pulling the plug may get the contacts lined up properly for a time.