Ask HN: 6 Months Later – Do you miss Apple's headphone jack?

I have a 7+. For the most part I've stopped using headphones (wired or wireless) with my phone. If I want to listen to music I revert to an ancient iPod or my iPad. While the 7+ fits in various pockets, the stupid lightning dongle juts out just enough that I can't use it with the phone in my jacket pocket.

I have a collection of Beats headsets, and thought that by now Apple would have introduced a "native" lightning-to-beats cable.

I'm not an audio nut, but I find the audio quality over Bluetooth to be subpar with the 7+ compared with previous iPhones & iPods. Initially I could only keep a BT connection for 10-15 minutes before the phone would drop it and I'd have to power cycle the headset. Same headsets with a ~3-4 year old iPod work fine, and the audio quality is ok.

I have odd ears, so the Apple earbuds and Airpods don't work for me, they constantly fall out.

Kind of ambivalent whether dropping the jack was the right idea or not. Feels like Apple put all of their money on Airpods + bluetooth being the only correct answer and that that's the problem.

I have an iPhone 7. I also have a hearing aid that is Made for iPhone, meaning that it connects to the iPhone using Bluetooth. Audio streams directly to my ear. It's pretty sweet. It's taken me from being terrified of speaking on the phone to having a job where I spend at least 2 hours a day on phone calls for business.

Unfortunately, three days ago, my hearing aid's BT antenna stopped working or something, and now it won't connect to my phone. Holding the phone up to my ear works fine, but I miss a LOT because the sound quality is much less. (Your microphone -> my phone speaker -> my hearing aid microphone -> my hearing aid speaker -> my ear.) And super unfortunately, because the iPhone 7 doesn't have a headphone jack, I can't just plug in my headphones. I have to go buy an adapter. I don't want to do this, because I don't normally need an adapter and don't want to spend $40 on one when I'd only need it for a few days until this is fixed.

Also, since I'm profoundly deaf, Air Pods are completely useless to me. It sucks. It really, really sucks. I met with my audiologist on Monday, and they're sending me a new hearing aid that should work, but in the meantime, I'm stuck holding the phone to my ear and being unable to follow conference calls in any meaningful way.

I feel like Apple could have sold Air Pods while keeping the jack. :(

Yes. My headphones (Bose QuietComfort 25) are not wireless. While the extra adapter is only a minor annoyance, I am mostly frustrated by the fact that I can not charge my phone and use my headphones at the same time.

Frankly, Bluetooth audio sucks. It works almost good enough most of the time, but when you really need it then it flakes out on you.

I'm not sure if the problem is my headset or my phone, but I really hate, loathe, and despise Bluetooth.

I understand the desire to make the phone more waterproof, but there are other phones out there that are equally waterproof and still have the headphone jack.

It's moderately annoying. I'm particularly miffed that there's no actual way, even with accessories, to use my Apogee Jam or to debug apps while using headphones.

A musician-friend, who owns several pairs of headphones (and obsesses over them), said he misses being able to try out new headphones, or friends' headphones.

Yes, not being able to listen to music and charge the phone at the same time (or connect it to my laptop) simply sucks.

Apple's answer to this of course is: Use AirPods! So far I'm not willing to pay €200+ for Bluetooth headphones that might even have worse audio quality, though

My girlfriend lives in another country, so we spend a lot of time on the phone. My wireless headset shorted out (they said it'd be fine for running, but a particularly hot day and a lot of sweat seemed to fry it). I picked up a battery case, or the battery simply wouldn't last all day for the amount of time we end up spending on it some days without needing an extra charge during the day.

Otherwise, it functions well enough, but I wish they'd bring back the 3.5mm jack. It's also a non-standard headset that I'm carrying around, which means when I want to plug a headset into my laptop or desktop (such as at work), I have to have a separate one for those systems.

We came to to summer house today.

Needless to say, the equipment here is not the latest.

My wife wanted to put on some music - right, she can't connect her phone to the stereo because the missing jack.

I have to connect my Nexus and will be in charge of music all weekend.

No, i don't miss the jack on the iPhones...

I've been using AirPods for a few weeks now. Here's my experience.

I'm using a 6s still, so the option for wired is there. There are definitely small glitches in audio playback wireless vs wired. Using AirPods for phone calls, I've been told people can hear me more clearly than the built-in iPhone mic. Between AirPods on the go and being able to play Spotify on my Echo, I haven't used my wired headphones since.

One thing to note is AirPods don't work for me at the gym or any movement beyond walking. Apparently the shapes of my ears are a little different and the left one falls out frequently. There are some aftermarket rubber things you can put on them to give them better staying power like the Bose earbuds, but I haven't seen any that you can use with the AirPod charging case. The charging case is such a core feature that having to put on / take off rubber covers with every use is unrealistic. I'll probably end up getting a second set of wireless earbuds exclusively for the gym. Tried all of the models that Bose makes but didn't love any of them. Overall, the AirPods are a 3.5/5 for me, but I've definitely accepted wireless audio at this point.

It sucks.

I have beats from apple and AirPods and it still sucks. I'm constantly having to swap headphones and they are always running out of batteries. Older houses I visit - which was super common on a trip to the Far East recently - only have headphone jacks available. Hotels are the same over most of the world.

The problem I really have is that there is utterly no benefit to removing the technology. Like, what is the upside? Nope. I can't find one. It's incredibly stupid that I can't charge and talk on the phone at the same time without a freekin' adapter - still sucks all these months later, and yes, it happens frequently.

I really feel like Apple f'd up. I am seriously considering finally moving to another platform after a decade on Apple.

It's the same problem with my new MacBook Pro with the bar - there is no material benefit to the change. It's not making my life better and is actually generally making my technology life more of a hassle.

I miss Steve.

Don't miss the jack. Do miss the freedom of using any headphone.

I own several pairs of headphones and surprisingly I don't miss the jack.

My daily Bose Quietcomfort 35's have excellent bluetooth and switching between my iphone 7+ and my computer is quick and easy.

I keep an adapter on my home stereo aux cable. For the rest of my wired headphones, I usually use them with my computer, not my phone.

I use my wired earbuds far less now, but they're great to have as backup.

You guys are suckers for using Apple and you get what you deserve.

I miss it.

Planes are also getting rid of their screens. Yeah, I should have known when we went on our last family vacation.

So my wife and I watched movies are on our phones over the wifi system. Know what sucks? Can't charge and use headphones at the same time without an adapter.

Apple users in a nutshell:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbmgV7Oyp0w

When Apple announced the removal of the headphone jack, my initial guess was that it wouldn't really affect me all that much. There are only 3 times that I use the headphone jack on my phone: while driving (I use a cassette player adapter), while exercising, and on the airplane. Obviously, I'm not going to be charging my phone while exercising, so that use case doesn't really matter.

As for when I'm driving, I ended up buying a small bluetooth receiver to plug my cassette player adapter into, so now I can just connect to that wirelessly, and continue to charge my phone (if needed). I'm fortunate enough to live less than 5 miles from work, so charging while driving during the week isn't really necessary for me. However, it's definitely nice being able to charge on weekends if I'm driving farther distances.

On the plane, I think there are enough entertainment options (in-seat entertainment, iPad, iPhone, Kindle, Switch, etc.) that I don't foresee running into a situation where I haven't been able to charge my phone because I've been listening to it non-stop. I just traveled from LA to Milan and back last week, and I think the lowest my phone's charge got to on the plane was ~50%.

So, for me, I don't miss the headphone jack. BUT, with that said, I think it definitely helps that I have a 7 Plus, just because of the larger battery. Before this, I had a 6 (not Plus), and near the end of it's life, the battery was absolutely atrocious. I think that's now my largest concern (although maybe not as much with the Plus) with the lack of headphone jack.

Apple users in a nutshell.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbmgV7Oyp0w