How to Turn Off Automatic Switch to Speaker for Calls on an iPhone

Written by Jack Lloyd

Last Updated: November 24, 2021 Tested

Is your iPhone automatically switching to speakerphone when you place or answer calls? It's easy to make your iPhone default back to using its earpiece instead of the speaker. This wikiHow article will help you turn off automatic speaker mode for calls in your iPhone's Accessibility settings.

Steps

1
Open your iPhone's Settings. To do this, tap the grey gear icon on one of your Home screens or in the "Utilities" folder.
2
Tap General.
3
Tap Accessibility.
4
Scroll to the fourth group of options and select Call Audio Routing. If you previously changed your default call audio setting to "Speaker", you can change it back here.
5
Review your options. This menu has three audio output selections:
- Automatic - Defaults to your earpiece for calls and speakerphone for FaceTime.
- Bluetooth Headset - Defaults to a Bluetooth receiver.
- Speaker - Defaults to the speakerphone. This option should currently have a checkmark next to it.
- If "Speaker" doesn't have a checkmark next to it, you may be encountering other problems with your phone. Try changing the setting to a different option (e.g., "Bluetooth Headset"), restarting your phone, and changing it back to "Automatic" for good measure.
6
Select Automatic. Doing this will disable your speakerphone for calls by default, though you can enable the speakerphone manually.
- If you have a Bluetooth receiver you'd rather use by default, you can check Bluetooth Headset instead.

Warnings

Disabling automatic speaker usage will make driving and receiving calls more hazardous if your vehicle doesn't have a built-in Bluetooth receiver.

Thanks!
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