Category: Tutorial

In this post, we’ll show you where is microphone on iPhone 12, 12 Pro, 12 Pro Max and 12 Mini, with the precise microphone location. Microphones are important in any smartphone, whether recording 4K video or FaceTime calls or talking on the ear speaker, without a microphone your iPhone is useless.

It is noteworthy that Apple has allocated several microphones for different purposes, for example, if you shoot videos, the camera microphone will be used, during calls the iPhone will use the microphone next to the Lightning connector, and so on. In addition to software specifications, people often like to learn about hardware specifications such as the camera, microphones, sensors, etc.

Where is Microphone on iPhone 12/iPhone 12 Mini

Like many modern smartphones, the iPhone 12 has three microphones, which are in completely different places. Turn your iPhone around and look closely at the rear camera on the back. If you’re careful, you’ll notice a small hole near the rear camera. This is the rear camera microphone for recording videos with the camera on your iPhone.

The other microphone is located near the lightning connector on the device. The four microphone holes on the right are the stereo speaker grills, and everything else belongs to the microphone. Not far from the ear speaker is a third microphone, for comfortable hearing when talking on the phone.

Where is Microphone Location in iPhone 12 Pro/iPhone 12 Pro Max

The iPhone 12 is considered Apple’s most popular product for a reason. Not only does it boast a gorgeous and compact screen, but the hardware additions aren’t bad either. There are three microphones in the iPhone 12 pro and pro max too, and they too are located in different places.

One of them is near the charging jack of the phone, it is designed to transmit the voice during calls and to increase its clarity. Siri uses a microphone near the ear speaker. That’s where she listens to you and executes your commands. It is quite hard to see, but if you are attentive, you can detect it with ease. And there’s another one near the camera. It records sound while you’re shooting videos on your iPhone.

Microphone Functions

Camera Microphone

The name of this feature is telling: while you’re recording your video, this microphone catches the sound and stitches it into your video. Without the camera microphone, you won’t be able to record, and then hear, background music and other people’s voices in the video.

Built-in Microphone

This microphone is designed to control Siri with voice commands, not only is it needed for her, but for a couple of additional functions. When you want to say something to the voice assistant, it automatically turns on and helps you execute commands.

Bottom Microphone

When you call someone, the microphone underneath starts transmitting your voice to the other person, if this microphone breaks or is turned off, you will not be able to convey the information to the person you are calling.

How to Activate the Third Microphone

The third microphone, which is built into the body of the iPhone, is designed to suppress external noise. This feature has been around since iOS 7 and allows you to adjust the status of the third microphone depending on whether or not you need noise cancellation at the moment. This action can improve the call quality.

In earlier versions of the firmware, noise cancelling is off by default. On the contrary, in the latest iOS 12 and iOS 13 firmware versions, noise cancellation is enabled by default. Still, it’s a good idea to check whether noise cancellation is enabled on your iPhone.

Step 1: If you have iOS 12 or earlier, go to Settings -> Basic -> Universal Access.

If you have iOS 13, then go to Settings -> Universal Access -> Audio Visual Material.

Step 2: Scroll down and find.

Step 3: Activate it.

After activation, you can proceed to the test – call a friend or relative and ask him to evaluate the sound quality. As numerous experiments show it increases.

Problems with iPhone Microphone not Working

Clean the microphone grill

Microphone holes are tiny, so clean them with special care. You should use any soft brush (it can be a toothbrush) to thoroughly clean the grills.

When doing so, hold the iPhone so that gravity does its job. For example, if you are cleaning the bottom microphone, try to hold the phone vertically so that the dirt can easily fall off.

After that, take a few minutes to thoroughly clean the 3.5mm headphone jack or Lightning port.

It’s also very important to make sure that you’re not using a case or screen protector that partially or completely covers the microphone holes. If so, get rid of them.

Reboot iPhone 12

In the above solutions, we talked about the hardware side of things. But what if the microphones aren’t working because of a temporary software glitch!

The first fix is to reboot the iPhone . Yes! An action as simple as turning the device off and then turning it back on can solve a few minor problems! Here is how to turn off iphone 12 pro max.

Give the app access to the microphone location

To gain access to your iPhone’s microphones, apps need your consent. Usually when you open an app for the first time or perform an action in an app that requires a microphone, you’ll see a pop-up window asking for your permission.

If you select “Do Not Allow,” here’s how to override that decision.

1. Open the “Settings” app and click “Privacy” .
2. Tap on the microphone.
3. Turn on the switch of the desired app to allow it access to microphones.

Additional method: you can scroll down to the bottom of the “Settings” app, click on the name of the app and perform the above action.

Then forcibly close the application and restart it.

Conclusion

In this article, you learned where the microphone location on Apple iPhone 12 Models (iPhone 12, iPhone Pro, iPhone mini, iPhone Pro Max) is. There are three different microphones with multiple locations: one is on the bottom of the device, the other mic is located on the top, and the third one, the camera mic, is a tiny hole on the back.
They have different purposes, f.e. phone calls, facetime calls, Siri. The mics perform camera related functions or record sound.

A lot of life hacks will help you save time, such as How to connect multiple Bluetooth speakers iPhone or How to update iPhone on computer without iTunes: full guide, detailed guide to help you figure it out.

When your iPhone screen is too dim or dark, it becomes difficult to use your phone and enjoy multimedia content. If you find yourself in a similar situation where the display dims randomly or is constantly too dim, the following solutions can help you. Let’s first figure out how to adjust brightness on iPhone 12.

How Do I Remove Auto-brightness on my iPhone 12, 12 mini, 12 Pro, and 12 Pro Max

When the lighting changes, your device will automatically change the brightness of the display so that you can see information better and it won’t harm your health.

For example, your device will decrease the brightness before you go to sleep and increase the brightness in the sun so that you can see information better.

Rumor has it that the light sensor drains the battery because it’s always active. But this is quite controversial because adjusting the brightness is also saving energy.

I advise you to try to walk around with auto-brightness turned on, and then with auto-brightness turned off and make conclusions yourself.

In the meantime, let’s deal with the instructions:

• Go to Settings, select Universal Access;
• Select the item Display and text size, then at the very bottom, you will find the item Auto-Brightness.

How to Improve the Colors on the Screen of any iPhone

Every iPhone or iPad user has long been able to adjust the picture on the screen of his device and make it more comfortable for perception. To do this, the system has a number of options that work in different ways and are useful in different cases.

Constantly “warm” display

This method is suitable for those for whom the picture on the screen seems too blue or “cold” and want a warmer color regardless of lighting and time of day.

You can do this on any iPhone like iphone 13 vs iphone 12 or iPad, just go to Settings – Basic – Universal Access – Display Adaptation – Light Filters. Here you need to turn the filters on with the main switch, select Tint mode and adjust the intensity and tint with the sliders below.

Additionally, you can go to Settings – Basic – Universal Access – Key Combination and check here Light Filters. This way a triple-click on the Home button will quickly enable and disable the application of the light filter.

“Warm” screen in the dark time of the day.

To turn on a warm picture only in the evening, you can use the Night Shift function.

All current Apple gadgets support the Night Shift feature. This option allows you to make the color temperature of the display warmer at night.

Just go to Settings – Display and Brightness – Night Shift, enable the useful feature, and specify a time period for the option to work. Below you can adjust the comfortable shade.

Night Shift can be quickly turned on and off from the Control Point, you just need to hold your finger on the brightness adjustment slider and press the same-name button to enable and disable the mode.

“Warm” picture depending on the lighting

The most advanced Apple feature for adapting the color temperature of the display is the option True Tone (Settings – Display and Brightness – True Tone). It’s available only on the iPhone X, iPhone 8/8 Plus, iPad Pro (except for the model 12.9″ 1st generation).

Thanks to the presence of a special sensor, the device itself evaluate the brightness around and adjusts the color temperature of the screen to the surrounding light. Went into a room with yellow lights – the screen also turned yellow, went out into the sunlight – the screen became white.

This allows the user to always see the most comfortable picture for perception.

True Tone can be turned on and off like Night Shift: open the Control Panel, hold down the brightness slider and press the corresponding button.

How to Set or Remove the Automatic Brightness on the iPhone

Unlike other brands, the entire line of smartphones and tablets from Apple has a function of automatic brightness adjustment of the display.

Let’s find out what this function is for, when it is advisable to use it and when not so, and answer the frequently asked questions of gadget users: how to remove the automatic brightness on iPhone and how to enable the automatic brightness on iPhone?

Auto Brightness – one of the functions of the gadget, the purpose of which is to change the brightness level of the display based on the level of ambient light. To do this, a special sensor is installed in the device, which determines this parameter. Based on information from this sensor, the operating system calculates and sets the display brightness level.

Why do we need the Auto Brightness function

The main purpose of this function is to ensure the comfortable use of the smartphone. With its activation, the user does not need to change the settings of the gadget screen when changing the location. For example, in dark rooms, the brightness level of the display will be automatically reduced, and when you go to a bright area, on the contrary, increased, so that the user can clearly see the information on the screen.

How to enable auto-brightness on the iPhone

• Getting to the button to activate this function is not so easy. To do this, you need to go into the “Settings”. Open the item “Universal access”.
• And then to “Display and text size”.
• Move the “Auto Brightness” slider to the right.
• It should turn green. Accordingly, the task of removing automatic brightness on the iPhone is solved by moving the slider to the left. It becomes gray.

Why has Apple hidden the settings of automatic brightness

The main reason is to save battery power in the iPhone. To this end, even in the menu itself, there is a warning sign that says “Turning off the Auto Brightness may reduce battery life”. Well, so that users who are thinking of removing auto-brightness on their iPhone won’t get to it right away.

In addition, the auto brightness feature is implemented quite intelligently. Although there is a slider to adjust, it does not set a fixed level of display brightness, but only determines the limits within which it can change. Even if you set the minimum brightness level, the information on the display is still readable in sunlight.

This is generally a useful function. However, sometimes, for example, when you are watching a long video, it can be inconvenient. Changing the brightness of the screen is only a nuisance. And in this case, you already know how to remove the automatic brightness on the iPhone.

What to do if you do not find the item setting the auto brightness

This happens very rarely, but such cases have been recorded by users – the item “Auto-brightness” disappears from the menu. The main reason – failure of the light sensor. To restore the functionality of the device, contact a service center, after which be sure to reinstall iOS.

In some cases, the “Auto Brightness” function stops working correctly. Then it is necessary to calibrate the work of the light sensor. To do this, remember how to turn off the automatic brightness on your iPhone. Go into a dark room, set the brightness slider to a minimum, and turn on the auto brightness. As a rule, this helps to restore performance.

Why does my iPhone Screen Keep Getting Dimmer

Your iPhone may dim the screen to conserve battery power. This is a normal phenomenon. But for most users, the main reason for an unusually dim iPhone screen is a special feature called “White Point Reduction”. When this option is turned on, the intensity of bright colors is greatly reduced, resulting in a dim iPhone screen.

Other causes could include auto-brightness not working, a bug in iOS, enabling zooming, a faulty iPhone screen, and more. But before you move on, consider the following key points that may be causing the problem.

 Are you using a protective film that dims the display?

A few protective films (poor quality or matte) reduce brightness. If you use one, consider removing it or using a better protective film. Same with plastic lamination/screen protector.

Are you using a third-party display?

Have you ever had a broken iPhone display replaced on the cheap at an unreliable, unreputable, or unauthorized service center? If so, they may have used a low-quality, low-brightness display.

In this situation, you can get a better screen by sending your phone to an authorized Apple repair shop or at least one that is known and has good reviews. Talk to friends about it or look for a local repair shop with good reviews.

Is the app reducing screen brightness?

Do you use a video, photo, or game app that manually reduces the brightness of the screen when you’re inside it? If so, take a moment to explore the app’s settings and be sure to turn off any screen brightness or setting options.

Helpful Video: How to Adjust Brightness on iPhone 12

You can do it in a couple of different ways. Watch this video.

Ways to Stop iPhone Screen Darkening

Increase the brightness and turn off the auto-brightness

The first step (which you probably know) is to manually increase the brightness of the iPhone screen. You can do this from the Control Center or from settings.

To increase the brightness through the Control Center:

• On an iPhone with Face ID, swipe down from the upper-right corner (where the battery icon is).
• On an iPhone with the Home button, swipe up from the bottom of the screen.
• Drag the brightness slider (with the sun icon) up. Increase brightness through Control Center.

To increase brightness in Settings:

• Open Settings and click Display and Brightness.
• Drag the Brightness slider to the right. Increase brightness through the app.

It will not work properly if the top of your iPhone is heavily soiled or covered by a front case. This will prevent the ambient light sensor from working and adjust the screen brightness correctly. To solve this problem, clean your iPhone or remove the odd front cover.

Alternatively: You can also turn off automatic brightness to keep the screen brightness you set manually. This will prevent different light sources from automatically changing brightness. Thus, you will have to manually adjust the iPhone brightness from the Control Center or the Settings app.

If your iPhone screen continues to dim even with Auto Brightness turned off, go to the following method.

Turn off the “White Point Reduction” setting

This is one of the main reasons for the low brightness of your iPhone screen. You may have turned it on intentionally (and forgotten) or sometimes while studying the settings.

Here’s how to turn off “White Point Reduction” to solve your iPhone’s dim screen problem.

• Open “iPhone Settings” and tap “Special Features”.
• Tap Screen and text size.
• Turn off the Reduce White Point option.

Disable screen scaling

If you turned on-screen scaling, this may be the cause of a dimmer screen. To fix this, tap “Special Features” in your iPhone settings. Then tap “Zoom” and turn it off.

Disable dark mode, True Tone, and Night Shift.

Dark Mode: The iPhone screen has a black background and the text appears white. If you have an iPhone with an OLED screen (iPhone X, XS, XS Max, 11 Pro, 11 Pro Max, and any model in the 12 series), dark mode saves battery life.

True Tone: This automatically adapts the display of the iPhone 8 and later models to ambient light conditions. True Tone ensures color consistency in all environments.

Night Shift: This filters out blue light and gives the screen a warmer orange hue. Apple claims this can help you get a better night’s sleep.

Turning off these display options can help make your screen more pleasant and comfortable. I don’t use dark mode, True Tone or Night Shift. I like the normal mode. If you also have similar settings, follow these steps to turn them off and see if you like your screen better.

• Open “iPhone Settings” and click “Display and Brightness.”
• To turn off dark mode, select “Bright”.
• Turn off True Tone.
• Tap Night Shift and turn off all green switches.
• You can also turn all three of these settings on and off in the Control Center. To do this, tap the brightness slider and you will see the icons at the bottom.

Tip. If your iPhone screen dims after 30 seconds, tap “Auto Lock” in the Display and Brightness settings. Then select any option other than 30 seconds. However, if you turn on low power mode, the phone display will automatically dim and lock after 30 seconds.

One of the most controversial features of modern smartphones is water resistance entering the body. On the one hand, this is a nice bonus to a large set of advantages of the gadget. On the other hand, it is the absence of guarantees from the manufacturer in the case of flooding the device. Now let’s find out how waterproof is the iPhone 12 and what are the weaknesses of water resistance in iPhone 12 Pro Max, and whether it is worth exposing it to this kind of exposure.

What Kind of Waterproof and Dust Resistance Does the iPhone 12 Pro Max Have

Experts and enthusiasts have found a semblance of protection against liquid penetration in the iPhone 6s. Apparently, at that time Apple was already preparing for the necessary certification of gadgets and tested some of the developments.

Officially, water resistance has become a feature of the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. Then Apple smartphones complied with the IP67 standard. The developers promised the water-resistant of gadgets when immersed to a depth of 1 meter and lasting up to 30 minutes.

The iPhone 8 and iPhone X received a similar level of water-resistant a year later (the same protection parameters were found in the iPhone XR and iPhone SE 2020).

In 2018, the flagship iPhone XS/XS Max models were protected against liquid penetration by a more serious standard IP68. According to the specifications, the gadget could withstand immersion up to 2 meters for up to 30 minutes.

The 2019 flagships iPhone 11 Pro/11 Pro Max also received support for the IP68 standard, but the manufacturer allowed immersion to a depth of up to 4 meters for up to 30 minutes.

The entire lineup of devices in 2020 (all iPhones with the index 12) again passed IP68 certification, but the specifications indicate a possible immersion to a depth of 6 meters for up to 30 minutes.

The most important thing that has not changed over time – the lack of warranty in case of flooding the gadget. This phrase is present in the specifications of all iPhone models (including iphone 13 vs iphone 12) since 2016.

In this way, the developers have secured themselves against millions of smartphones that have drowned in service centers. It is almost impossible to repair such devices, and replacing an iPhone with a new one in such a case would be very expensive.

It turns out that the smartphone has a characteristic, but the manufacturer is not responsible for it.

How Do They Test the iPhone XS Max Waterproof Protection

To understand how water resistance works in iPhone 12 Pro Max, it is necessary to understand how it is tested and certified.

In order to obtain the appropriate certificate of the desired IP category, a test batch of gadgets is tested under strictly controlled laboratory conditions. The test devices are placed in a container of fresh water and immersed very slowly to the desired depth.

After 30 minutes, the iPhone 12 is just as slowly removed from the water and tested for performance.

Here we see three key differences from real domestic conditions.

• First, the temperature and humidity in the laboratory rarely exceed 20-22 degrees and 50%, respectively. In everyday use, we can get the iPhone 12 wet in the summer during a serious heatwave without cool air, during a trip abroad in a country with high humidity, or in other excellent conditions.
• Secondly, the testing is done strictly in freshwater, and in actual use, the iPhone 12 often ends up in a swimming pool (with a lot of chemical elements) or in the sea (with a lot of salt). Such impurities will adversely affect the moisture protection or settle on other unprotected elements.
• Thirdly, in real conditions, the iPhone 12 will go to the bottom or reach the surface much faster than in the laboratory. The water pressure on the gadget will change sharply rather than evenly, which can also be a decisive factor.

These three differences do not allow you to hope for a successful outcome of a “swimming” smartphone in real life.

Even during the closest to real-life tests conducted by bloggers and enthusiasts, new gadgets with the highest possible parameters of moisture protection are used. At the same time, no one tells about the further fate of devices that have passed such a test.

Most often, it is not the very first immersion of normal wear in water that is destructive. During the debut “dive” iPhone 12 receives a certain dose of chemicals or salts, which subsequently have a negative impact on the protective pads or unprotected elements. And the subsequent dives after a certain time prove to be fatal.

What are the Weak Points of Water Resistant of iPhone 12 Pro Max

Now let’s take a look at what exactly is the water-resistant and normal wear in iPhone 12 Pro Max.

Let’s look at all the holes in the case, through which the liquid can get into iPhone 12 Pro Max.

1. SIM card tray. The good fit of the parts and the presence of an additional seal allows the new smartphone to easily tolerate contact with liquid in the place of the opening tray.

However, over time, the rubber seal loses its elasticity, and sometimes even stretches. In this case, each removal and installation of the SIM card turns into a painful procedure.

An iPhone on the secondary market may be sold without this rubber seal at all.

2. The SIM card tray pusher. This miniature element is also equipped with a protective gasket, which is pressed inside the case under pressure and is restored after the tray is removed.

As a result, replacing the SIM card too often will lead to rapid wear and tear of the gasket on both the tray and the pusher mechanism.

3. Physical buttons on the body (volume control, power and silent mode switching keys). Here, too, there is a rubber seal, which shrinks and expands as the buttons are pressed.

The keys are pressed much more often than the SIM-card tray is removed, which means that the gasket can start to leak moisture faster.

4. Lightning connector. The hole from the inside is sealed from the rest of the stuffing smartphone. In addition, there is software protection, which is able to detect a short circuit of the contacts and disable potentially dangerous charging.

The user will receive a warning; after which they will have to dry the smartphone or ignore the warning by turning on charging immediately. If the iPhone is completely discharged after getting wet, the software protection will not work and there is a risk of shorting the contacts while charging.

Even with this level of protection, ingestion of saltwater can lead to oxidation of the contacts with further problems.

5. A protective layer between the screen and the case. The composite design of a smartphone involves the assembly of two main modules: a frame with a back cover and a front panel with a screen. An elastic rubberized seal is installed between these elements.

This is a rather weak point in the whole system of moisture protection. The gasket is disposable and in case of opening of the case must be replaced by a similar one. In addition, the thin layer wears over time, from temperature, crushing and twisting of the case, from bumps and falls, from particles of moisture and dust that have fallen on it.

Depending on usage conditions, this gasket will keep its properties from 6 months to a year. Do not expect that after a year of use iPhone will not let moisture inside.

6. Openings for speakers and microphone on the bottom face. Initially, there is a porous seal between the case and the stuffing. In addition, the holes themselves are covered with a very fine mesh, through which virtually no liquid penetrates

Even if moisture does seep in, it will settle on the speaker diaphragm and not damage the rest of the stuffing. The exception, as in other cases, is saltwater. It can oxidize the contacts and damage the diaphragm.

In addition, outside elements in the bottom of the smartphone are protected by plastic dividers and critical parts are encased in epoxy. Even if the speakers, the microphone or the Lightning port leak a small amount of liquid, it won’t have too much of an adverse effect on the rest of the device.

7. Speaking speaker on the front panel. Here the situation is complicated by the too dense layout of the elements, which are hidden under the “bangs” of the device. In a small area, there are several important sensors and a smartphone camera.

All this is protected only by a fine mesh, covering the speaker. Liquid penetration, especially under pressure, can damage the nearest modules of the device.

Particularly critical will be the breakage of the Face ID sensor system. An inoperable face scanner significantly reduces the value of the smartphone on the secondary market or results in a very expensive repair.

The sensor itself is not replaceable, because it has a hardware attachment to the motherboard. This is necessary to ensure the protection of data on the device.

As a result, you will have to work with the gadget without Face ID or invest in the replacement of the sensor and the motherboard, which will account for most of the cost of the gadget.

Many service centers confirm that it is the Face ID sensor that most often fails as a result of moisture. This happens either when moisture is trapped under slight pressure through the mesh speaker, or through a worn gasket around the perimeter of the case.

Otherwise, a new gadget that has no worn elements and has not been opened for repair is well protected against moisture for up to one year.

Can I Get My iPhone 12 Pro Max Wet and Use for Underwater Photography

The Apple smartphone lineup has this water-resistant and dust resistance:

• iPhone 6s and older devices water resistance: not designed for immersion in water and get liquid damage.

• iPhone SE 2020/XR/X/8/7 water resistance: up to 30 minutes in a maximum depth of 1 meter.

• iPhone 11/XS/XS Max water resistance: up to 30 minutes in a maximum depth of up to 2 meters.

• iPhone 11 Pro/11 Pro Max water resistance: up to 30 minutes in maximum depth up to 4 meters.

• iPhone 12/12 mini/12 Pro/12 Pro Max water resistance: up to 30 minutes in maximum depth up to 6 meters.

As you have already seen above, several factors can affect the decrease in water resistance.

It can be different from the laboratory conditions under which the dive takes place. The chemical composition of the water, the temperature and humidity of the environment, the pressure exerted on the smartphone. Even the deepest tests do not provide guarantees against trivial coincidence and human error.

During the life of the iPhone 12, it is subject to natural wear and tears. The case is periodically squeezed and twisted, the smartphone is heated to high temperatures, the seals (like the rubber on the SIM card tray) are worn and stretched.

Even drying process an iPhone 12 that has been left in the sun or charged with wireless charging can cause the protective seal to warp and further allow moisture to enter the case.

In any other complex device or mechanism, the rubber elements are considered expendable. This is why we regularly change the gaskets in a car or perform a wristwatch repassage. In the smartphone industry, such procedures are not yet available due to the limited average life span of the iPhone 12.

Such water resistance exists more as a precaution than as a chip for daily use. The manufacturer denies warranty service in case of moisture ingress in the case, which makes the function very specific.

IP67/68 water resistance, in most cases, will save the iPhone 12 after accidentally getting into the water. But regularly exposing the device to such exposure is definitely not worth it.