iPhone Volume Buttons Not Working on Calls? Here’s How to Fix It

If you have ever been on a phone call and tried to adjust the volume on iPhone and found the volume buttons aren’t responding, you’re not alone. This is a frustrating presumed bug that can happen on iPhone, and the volume buttons seem to stop working during phone calls, even though they can sometimes still function normally for music, videos, or alerts.

You’ll know you’re impacted by this because if you use either volume up or volume down on iPhone during an active phone call, the volume does not adjust. Often the volume slider itself just doesn’t even appear. This effectively makes it impossible to adjust the volume of the phone call in either direction, and can be quite frustrating.

Fortunately, there are several straightforward troubleshooting steps you can take to resolve the problem and get your iPhone volume buttons working again during calls.

How to Fix iPhone Volume Buttons Not Working on Calls

If the iPhone volume buttons don’t adjust audio during phone calls, try the following solutions.

1: Tap the Mute Button Off and On

This is a goofy trick but it seems to fix the unresponsive volume button problem for many iPhone users right away: toggle the onscreen call Mute button on and off again, and then try to use the volume buttons to adjust call volume again, and they usually work again immediately.

While this doesn’t work for every situation, for many it does, and it’s by far the simplest method to resolve the problem.

2: Try Toggling Call Audio Output – Speaker, Bluetooth, Wired Headphones, CarPlay, etc

Sometimes the iPhone volume buttons are not responsive because the iPhone erroneously thinks the audio is being routed elsewhere. Therefore, sometimes simply toggling the iPhone into a different audio output mode while on the call can fix the issue.

Try toggling the iPhone into speaker phone, or connect a set of AirPods, or use wired earbuds, or even just holding the iPhone up to your head, and then switching to another audio output method again and back. This little audio output dance can often resolve the issue.

You can do this while you’re on the call, which is potentially helpful and offers immediate feedback.

3: Disable & Enable Change Volume with Buttons

A quick settings toggle can sometimes resolve odd volume button behavior:

1. Open Settings app
2. Go to “Sounds & Haptics”
3. Toggle the option for “Change with Buttons” to OFF
4. Wait a moment and toggle it back ON

It’s also possible this feature was turned off at some point in time, in which case enabling it will likely fix the unresponsive iPhone volume button issue.

4: Clean the Volume Buttons

Sometimes physical debris can prevent proper button contact. Inspect the volume buttons for any obvious grime or gunk, and wipe the iPhone down if so. The iPhone volume buttons generally feel responsive and clicky, so if they feel mushy or stuck, there might be something gunked up in there impacting operation.

5: Restart the iPhone

This almost always resolves the unresponsive iPhone volume button issue, but the obvious downside is that you can’t do this while on an active phone call when you’re experiencing the unresponsive volume button problem.

Noneless, a simple restart usually fixes the problem for most users, but it tends to come back again in time.

Turn off the iPhone, wait a few seconds, and then turn it back on.

You can also force restart by pressing Volume Up, then Volume Down, then pressing and holding the Power/Lock button until the  Apple logo appears on screen.

6: Install iOS Updates

Since there appears to be a bug that may impact volume button behavior on iPhone calls, installing iOS software updates may resolve the issue.

Go to Settings > General > Software Update and install what you see available.

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Have you ever experienced this problem where the volume buttons do not work on a phone call with iPhone? Running through the steps outlined above usually resolves the problem quickly, without needing more advanced troubleshooting, but it’s still frustrating.

As we’ve alluded to, this is probably a bug. It has existed and been complained about for a while by a large number of iPhone users on Apple Discussion boards with many different iPhone models and iOS versions, so hopefully a future iOS version will fix the erratic volume button on calls problem permanently. For the time being, try out the steps we outlined above.

Let us know your experiences, and what worked for you.