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iphone Headphone Jack Broken Off Inside (I've been i-Jacked)
This weekend I was visiting family for my father's 85th birthday. My son and my nephew had practiced the Beatles' "Birthday" song on their guitars for months, and I was to accompany them using my DigiDrummer app on my iphone. It was to be an awesome performance. Well, during our first rehearsal, the headphone jack in my iphone decided to lose its tip and remain inside my iphone. I wasn't abusing or twisting it, I didn't bang it or bend it, I simply pulled it out like any normal person would pull a headphone jack out of the iphone. Well, for some reason, this one decided to separate and leave a "space capsule" stuck deep inside.
My first thought was.. don't panic (I listened to my first thought). I'm sure I can just stick the plug back in and the broken off piece will magically reattach itself and come out. Guess again! This is when I started to panic! Luckily, I'm a pretty handy guy, and I immediately thought of ways I could get this out. I turned the iphone upside down and gently tapped the iphone on its head, hoping to dislodge the broken piece... nope! Then I tried sucking it out (with my mouth)... nope! Then I tried a vacuum cleaner with the corner attachment tool... nope nope nope! "So... what would any other normal geek do in this case?", I thought to myself. "GO ONLINE!"
Yes, once online, I found a whole community of unlucky people who had found themselves in the same situation. Most were far more desperate, sticking a drop of super glue on a Q tip stick, then sliding it into their phones (some actually had success, some ended up gluing a Q tip in their phones). I personally would not recommend that option unless you're James "Bond". Others had paid Apple $199 to replace the phone (which is what Apple recommended YoPauly to do). Well, YoPauly thought about that option for about 3 seconds before walking out of the brightly lit white store.
I then decided to buy the smallest, thinnest set of tweezers money could buy ($8.99 at my local super market/pharmacy)... Nope, that idea didn't work either, but it did manage to scratch the inside of the jack a bit 
. I w
ent to see a lock smith (nope), a jewler (nope)... nothing seemed to work. I tried sliding different size drinking straws and swizzle sticks in the phone, trying to slide it around the broken piece of jack... those ideas didn't work either! My last resort was to just give up and live with it. After all, I am not one to use headphones anyway... but with this little piece of jack stuck inside, the iphone assumed I was wearing headphones all the time, therefore disabling the ear piece. I was forced to use my speaker phone to make calls, which would do crazy things when my face touched the screen... "ugh!!!" Not to mention having no private phone calls again, and not being able to hear videos or music or DigiDrums through the iphone speakers.
Finally, using my 10X magnifying loupe to peer deep into the headphone jack port, I hoped to gain a better understanding of the problem. This is a really cool tool that I think every geek should own, but in this case it only made me feel that much more helpless. I decided to sleep on it and let the wheels turn a bit more before giving up. I slept on it for two nights (no, not the iphone).
Now, a few days later, and back at work, I decided to consult with a far more experienced geek in our work's electronics shop. Let's call him John. John took a quick look into the jack port and immediately headed for his work bench. There he pulled out what I thought would be a very specialized tool made to extract things from tight, deep places. Some sort of super extractor-micro-needle nose expanding pliers or something... nope. He grabbed a small drill bit ("Oh NO!", I thought). He carefully slid the drill bit into the tiny hole, put some side pressure on it and pulled it back out. "Ting!" That "ting" noise that you just heard was the tiny end of the jack hitting the floor. "There you go" he said. I couldn't believe it. A DRILL BIT?!?! "What kind of drill bit did you use?", I asked him. He walked over to a different work bench where he used his caliper to measure the diameter of the drill bit. ".500 mm", he said... "Not sure what that would be in a common drill bit size though". I thanked him and walked out in amazement, knowing that I now owed him some high quality chocolate and root beer!
In literally less than a minute, he had done what I had been struggling with for several days. And to think.. in one of my weaker moments, I even consi dered trying the super glue idea!
Lessons learned:
1. Be careful what you stick in your iphone. Check it out before you plug it in, and don't use cheap connectors.
2. Don't pay $199 to have Apple replace your perfectly good iphone.
3. Don't give up!
4. Get a second and third and fourth opinion if need be.
5. Don't stick super glue inside your headphone jack port.
6. Find someone geekier than you to help you figure it out.
7. Use a .508 mm drill bit (also known as a #76)
YO !
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|128.114.232.xxx |2009-11-25 16:14:39 YoPauly - re: Thank youYou're welcome. I'm glad to know that it worked for you as well!
Peace
Yo
Freaking Pingo wrote:I love you
I had the EXACT same problem, except it was a logitech z-5500 surround sound system. I broke my headset into the jackstick input, and i could not do anything! I was also close to the solution to use the Super glue idea, but then i read this post, and THANK GOD IT WORKED! I asked my father to bring me a small drill, and lucky he is a smith so he is good with tools, the next day, it works with a charm "Excep t i can't use my headset 4; But i got another extern sound card, so thats not a problem
So Thank you, because of you, you saved my z-5500 logitech surround system
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|124.179.84.xxx |2009-11-30 10:26:28 Di - I've been iJacked tooHi Pauly,
Thanks so much - it does work. I did most of the same as you but luckily found your site and solution. After a bit of drilling (by husband) it was fixed - yeh!! I just can't be without my iPhone music in my car. I read your story and lol!! Good one - will have to see what else you write.
Anyway, thank you from Australia
Di
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|128.114.232.xxx |2009-11-30 19:44:45 YoPauly - re: I've been iJacked tooHi Di,
I'm glad you found my article, and that it worked out for you. Let the music play once again!
Peace,
Pauly
Di wrote:Hi Pauly,
Thanks so much - it does work. I did most of the same as you but luckily found your site and solution. After a bit of drilling (by husband) it was fixed - yeh!! I just can't be without my iPhone music in my car. I read your story and lol!! Good one - will have to see what else you write.
Anyway, thank you from Australia
Di
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|71.231.71.xxx |2009-12-08 02:18:46 davezartman - did you drill or just pressureGREAT post! Question, did John actually drill, or only use side pressure? Thanks,--D ave
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|63.249.117.xxx |2009-12-09 05:55:55 YoPauly - Don't Drill !Just inserted the bit, and with a little side pressure, pulled it out!
VOILA!
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|75.201.138.xxx |2009-12-24 16:28:16 elmhurstboy - how did he work that drill bit?Its sounding like the drill bit was small enough to jostle the tip loose. I don't have access to those parts so I went to a Home Depot and they didn't carry drill bits that small. Oh, I'm hoping I don't have to use glue
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|63.249.117.xxx |2009-12-25 07:51:41 YoPauly - re: how did he work that drill bit?elmhurstbo y wrote:Its sounding like the drill bit was small enough to jostle the tip loose. I don't have access to those parts so I went to a Home Depot and they didn't carry drill bits that small. Oh, I'm hoping I don't have to use glue
Yes, it fit very snugly and with just slight side pressure and a "flick ", the broken piece came flying out. I would not recommend glue!
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|63.249.117.xxx |2010-01-12 22:31:22 Nick - I love imperial measurements."Use a .508 mm drill bit"
LOL I love imperial measuremen ts... gotta put that .008 on the end so that it is exactly 7/89's the size of a hogshead of mead
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|210.84.23.xxx |2010-01-28 07:44:33 nick Murphy - excellentHAHAHHA
awesome. took me 20 seconds. you bloody legend.
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|68.170.176.xxx |2010-03-20 00:04:50 Jason - amazing!This just happened to me, so of course I scoured the internet!
Let's assume, for one second, that I would pay $200. I am going to a conference in 9 days and I need a working cell phone. Not an option...
However, this is so much faster and more elegant than anything I would have to do, and cheaper!
Thanks for posting!
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|68.170.176.xxx |2010-03-20 00:09:14 YoPauly - re: amazing!Jason wrote:This just happened to me, so of course I scoured the internet!
Let's assume, for one second, that I would pay $200. I am going to a conference in 9 days and I need a working cell phone. Not an option...
However, this is so much faster and more elegant than anything I would have to do, and cheaper!
Thanks for posting!
Glad you found my post, and glad it worked for you too!
YO
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|68.170.176.xxx |2010-04-12 00:00:51 rjc - tooth pick worked for lintNot sure how it happened, but a combinatio n of lint and dirt managed to pile up enough to push the headphone jack out 1/4 of an inch. Using a toothpick, I gently jostled back and forth, finally pulling out a clump of debris.
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|68.170.176.xxx |2010-05-17 20:38:51 Anonymousthis post was helpful, but when it came down to it the drill bit didn't work. I had to turn to my tech side and open the thing up and figure out a way to pop the sucker out. it was pretty easy. they iphone only has two screws holding everything together. their at the bottom of the phone on the inside of the speaker and mic. take those tiny suckers out and then carefully pop the glass off the phone this was suprising to be that the bulk of the technology was in the glass. you can do this with either very soft leverage with a small (eye glasses screwdrive r) or do it like the pros and use a strong suction cup to pull the glass up. once you're inside you can locate the head phone jack in the topleft corner. there will be a small screw that holds it in place, unscrew that and lightly force the jack down with the same screwdrive r. Be carefull there are components that you dont want to mess with. once its loose flip it up and over to get to the bottom of the jack. then simply push the st...
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|122.109.174.xxx |2010-07-10 09:20:27 AnonymousIn addition to what everyone else has been saying. I had a similar problem but it wasn't a metal object or something stuck in the iphone headphone jack, my headphones just stopped going in one day, without warning.
I got a very thin flat head screwdrive r and scooped out a bunch of lint/fluff that was pushed down in the bottom of the socket. It took a fair bit of pressure to get it out from the headphones compacting it so much. After scooping out about 5 lots of lint/fluff my headphones now go in perfectly again.
I was very happy it was something this simple. I thought at first that something inside the headphone jack had broken off.
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|68.170.176.xxx |2010-07-27 19:38:34 AnonymousHad the same problem, headphone jack broke off in my i-phone. Tried several things but the one that worked was putting small amount of superglue on the end of the broken jack and then put broken jack back into the phone. The pieces lined up and the glue pulled it out.
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Last Updated (Thursday, 18 February 2010 18:22)
I had the EXACT same problem, except it was a logitech z-5500 surround sound system. I broke my headset into the jackstick input, and i could not do anything! I was also close to the solution to use the Super glue idea, but then i read this post, and THANK GOD IT WORKED! I asked my father to bring me a small drill, and lucky he is a smith so he is good with tools, the next day, it works with a charm "Excep t i can't use my headset 4; But i got another extern sound card, so thats not a problem
So Thank you, because of you, you saved my z-5500 logitech surround system