Apple’s “Noise Cancellation” accessibility feature has been a staple on previous iPhones, but it may have been permanently removed from the iPhone 13 series, 9to5Mac reported. The feature is designed to “reduce ambient noise in phone calls when you are holding the receiver to your ear”, a feature that can help make calls easier to hear.
“Phone noise canceling is not available on iPhone 13 models, which is why you don’t see this option on the iPhone. [the Accessibility] settings,” Apple support told one of the 9to5Macreaders. When the reader asked for clarification, the support team confirmed that the feature is “not supported”.
Doubts arose about noise cancellation reddit and Apple support pages shortly after the phone went on sale, with readers noting that it was no longer available on the Accessibility page. The feature is still available in iOS 15 on earlier iPhone models, but it is nowhere to be found on the iPhone 13.
“Noise Canceling” typically uses the iPhone’s camera microphone to detect and remove ambient noise around you so you can more easily hear the other person on a phone or FaceTime call – something that can be valuable for the hearing impaired. The problem only applies if you use the device alone without, say, Apple’s AirPods noise-canceling headphones. (This doesn’t affect what others hear; for that, Apple introduced the voice isolation feature with iOS 15.)
Apple has yet to officially confirm that the feature has been permanently removed on iPhone 13 devices; so far, the only word on this has come indirectly from Apple Support. As such, Ploonge has reached out to Apple for further clarification.
All products recommended by Ploonge are selected by our editorial team, independent of our parent company. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.