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Hi I took apart my sister in laws iphone 11 to clean it as there was debris and dirt in there I cleaned ear mesh with 99% isopropyl alcohol the earpiece had been removed before I did this then I removed the earpiece assembly from the bracket and then reinstalled it now she is telling me when on calls the persons sounds far away but the only way she can hear them is by putting them on speaker what could be the issue is the earpiece damaged or is it the plastic holder ?
Hi Kash, Well, I honestly don’t have much confidence it will help, but here’s a page on some things to try for a muffled speaker. My iPhone Speaker Sounds Muffled! Here’s The Fix. It sounds to me like the speaker is going to need to be replaced. Under ordinary circumstances, you’d replace the entire speaker / front sensor assembly, but if you do you’ll lose Face ID. If you are even minimally able to use a soldering iron, there is a way to replace just the earpiece speaker and keep your Face ID working. I got the idea from a guy on YouTube who figured it out, and wrote a guide for the iPhone X on how to do that. Although the solder points on the iPhone 11 are different, the procedure itself is really the same. Start with the guide on replacing the earpiece speaker and front assembly, and follow it up through Step 23 and stop there. iPhone 11 Earpiece Speaker and Front Sensor Assembly Replacement - iFixit Repair Guide Read through the earpiece speaker guide for the iPhone X starting at Step 25 to see what needs to be done. iPhone X Earpiece Speaker Replacement Without Losing Face ID - iFixit Repair Guide Note that the solder points are different on the 11; they’re on the other side of the speaker, so you’ll want to flip it back over to do the soldering. Here are a couple of pictures showing the solder points; I assume that’s some sort of tape or foam covering them that you’ll have to remove.
You can actually buy just the speaker by itself without the front sensors and flex cable; a quick search turned up this one, but you can easily find others if this one doesn’t work for you. Replacement for iPhone 11 Earpiece Speaker You’ll definitely want to exhaust all of the software solutions first, so hopefully other members on here have more ideas of things to try. Good luck with your repair; let us know how it goes!
Sounds like the ear speaker mesh is still clogged. Have you looked at it under magnification? Due to the tiny size of the mesh it’s very hard to get it clean. I always do it under a microscope to see clearly.
