How to stop iPhone from randomly and spontaneously playing audio?

Question

How to stop iPhone from randomly and spontaneously playing audio?

iPhone is randomly and spontaneously playing audio from a video I recorded recently. iPhone 14 Pro, updated to iOS 26.1 a couple days ago.

There is nothing in the “now playing, there are no apps open, all were swiped up and closed, and the only way to stop the audio is to restart the device. I checked app settings and turned off background refresh. I deleted the video (permanently) from all of my photo apps and deleted it from the one messaging app I sent the video in. I deleted the messaging app it was sent in. I opened an unrelated Twitter/X link with an unrelated video and toggled ‘unmute’ and the only audio playing was somehow this haunted audio that has been plaguing my phone since yesterday.

Please help! This audio bug is waking me up in the dead of night. Apple, is this a bug in the update? Please fix asap.

Posted on Dec 12, 2025 9:12 AM

Reply

Answer 1

LD150

Level 10

100,011 points

Dec 12, 2025 12:43 PM in response to Nymzical

Factory reset is basic full on fix, often advised by Apple support themselves . Don't be afraid of it, so long as you take care of all your data in iCloud.

Backing up and restoring backup in this case is inadvisable if the glitch is baked-in.

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Answer 2

LD150

Level 10

100,011 points

Dec 12, 2025 12:27 PM in response to pizza_hut_salad_bar

I have seen one similar report this year. That was a disembodied mans voice! We hope it is not a prank.

All I can suggest is when the audio plays, swipe up to the app switcher and look through the apps that are open and try to spot the culprit.

If there are none then it may remain a mystery.

If it was mine I would restore the phone to factory settings and start again, build up the apps from scratch. That would if course require everything that can sync to iCloud should be sync'd in ordervtomorserbe as much data and of course photos and videos.

Back up first as a precaution.

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Answer 3

Nymzical

Level 1

8 points

Dec 12, 2025 12:34 PM in response to pizza_hut_salad_bar

I'm having this same issue! It has started while I was working. It's always videos I've taken of my cat recently. I'm scared to do a factory reset as I've taken a long time to curate my phone already. It happens like 3-4 times a day and has woken me up several times. I'm thinking about just contacting support and whatever happens I can come back and update this. Posted the day I'm like "PLEASE SOLUTION."

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