How to fix unbalanced speaker stereo on iPhone

In this troubleshooting guide, we go over all the solutions to fix the issue of audio imbalance in the left and right sides of your AirPods or wireless earphones when listening to music or watching videos. These tips also help if you get uneven or unbalanced stereo sound from your iPhone’s internal speakers.

Check the left and right speaker balance

iOS accessibility settings has the option to adjust the audio balance of the left and right sides. You, your kids, or someone with access to your device may have tweaked this, so follow these steps to set things right:

1. Open the iOS Settings app and tap Accessibility.
2. Tap Audio & Visual.
3. Set the Balance slider perfectly in the middle at 0.00 to get balanced sound from both left and right channels.

AirPods, earphones, or the speaker may be faulty

It’s also possible that one side of your wireless or wired audio device has lost its full sound output capability, which can cause either the left or right side to sound louder than the other, resulting in imbalanced audio. Cleaning the speaker grills may help. We have talked more about it here: What to do if one AirPod sounds louder than the other

Clean your iPhone’s top earpiece

All modern iPhone models (except the new iPhone Air) support stereo audio by using the top earpiece also as a loudspeaker when you’re listening to songs or watching movies. Now, when holding the iPhone vertically or horizontally, if you feel an audio imbalance, it could be that the sound is getting blocked. Clean the top earpiece as well as the bottom speaker grills with a soft, dry brush.

Restart your iPhone

It can also happen that the audio imbalance is because of temporary glitches in the system. Simply reboot your iPhone to rule out this possibility.

Update to the latest version of iOS 26

While rare, the audio imperfections in the left and right sides could also be due to software bugs. Install the latest version of iOS 26 from Settings > General > Software Update.

The problem may be with the audio or video file

Not all music and video files have proper stereo channel audio for an immersive experience. When you play some old songs or a poorly converted video file, the audio may only come from one of the channels, either left or right. See if enabling Mono Audio from Settings > Accessibility > Audio & Visual helps.

It could also be a hardware issue

Finally, I read a few user complaints of imbalanced audio on the new iPhone 17 and 17 Pro. If you have already checked through the above solutions and the problem continues, get your device inspected at an Apple Store. If it’s a hardware problem, they will fix it or offer a replacement, provided your device is under warranty.

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