Hi all!
I hope you are all having a good day.
Today I was on the phone with a friend and noticed a few strange things happening. I have some useable vision so noticed that the screen was flickering, like going dark and then lighting up again. I've had these issues before but not for a long time and never this prevolent. I solved it by routing the phone to speaker and /or turning off VO. When the screen was dark I could hardly hear the person on the other end and VoiceOver wouldn't work. When the screen lit up it would go dark again as soon as I touched it. And when I hung up the audio didn't route back to the speaker right away like it was supposed to. It stayed routed into the earpiece until I turned the volume up and down a few times, which fixed it. I have an iPhone SE 3 with the latest iOS version. Has anyone else experienced this?
By Lily Rose, 19 March, 2025
Forum
iOS and iPadOS
Comments
I can't say that I have…
I can't say that I have experienced anything like this exactly. I, too, am on an iPhone SE 2022, running iOS 18.3.2. Typically I use some form of headset/earbud when making phone calls. I do this mainly because I am lazy, and dislike holding a phone to my head. However, those few times that I absolutely must hold the phone to my head, the only issue I have had is where voiceover will sometimes get stuck if I pull the phone away from my ear, and will not automatically switch the speakerphone, or vice versa whereas it's in speakerphone too long, and when I bring the phone to my ear, it stays in speakerphone and attempts to blow out my eardrum.
Otherwise, I have not experienced anything as you have described above with regards to call quality.
Unfortunately, I am fully blind, so cannot say whether or not I have had issues with screen flickering. Though, since you mentioned the screen flicker, I am curious if perhaps there's an issue with the proximity sensor on your device. If possible, can you get to an Apple Store to have them check out your iPhone?
If the screen is randomly dimming and brightening during a call, it could possibly be that the proximity sensor is glitching out on you, it may need to be replaced.
Just throwing out ideas here. 🙂
I haven’t seen anything like this ever before.
The issues you described above probably are because of a bad proximity sensor, or maybe a bad LCD/screen.
I think the iPhone SE models use an OLED screen rather than an LCD, but could be wrong.
I have seen my devices as well as another persons device rapidly switched between speakerphone and the earpiece and quick succession, which also caused their audio on my end to cut in and out as it switched. This was on an older phone, and only happened a few times.
The other person that I saw this happened to was using an iPhone SE. Does the screen flickering happen when you’re not on a phone call? Does it happen just with first party apps, or does it happen with third-party calling apps such as WhatsApp, Facebook messenger, etc.?
LCD
@Levi Gobin,
The SE model iPhone use LCD. I think only the later iPhones in the past few years are using the OLED display.
Then it sounds like a broken LCD to me.
I have owned previous Apple devices that have had broken screens, and people have said they have seen lines, and flickering in those devices.