
Ask HN: 6 Months Later – Do you miss Apple's headphone jack? - ethanpil
I&#x27;m curious what the real world fall out is now that consumers have experience life with the option to exclude a headphone jack. I know many people who will &#x27;never upgrade&#x27; and others who don&#x27;t care at all. What have you seen and heard, and what are your personal opinions and experiences now that we have had time to digest?
======
datahack
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.

------
epc
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.

------
Jemaclus
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. :(

~~~
rahimnathwani
"I have to go buy an adapter."

A lightning to 3.5mm adapter is included in the iPhone 7 box.

~~~
Jemaclus
Ah, I no longer have the box. Guess I missed that.

------
brimstedt
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...

~~~
tedmiston
Assuming she has the iPhone 7, Apple makes a little Lightning to 3.5 mm cable
[1] for that use case. There's also a dock that does the same [2].

[1]: [https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MMX62AM/A/lightning-
to-35...](https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MMX62AM/A/lightning-to-35-mm-
headphone-jack-adapter)

[2]: [https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MNN62AM/A/iphone-
lightnin...](https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MNN62AM/A/iphone-lightning-
dock-black)

~~~
toyg
Dongles seem to be the answer for everything in Cupertino these days. This is
barely acceptable for laptops, which are usually carried around in bags, but
for i-devices this solution simply doesn't cut it.

~~~
tedmiston
I think it depends on how much one uses each port. Personally since AirPods, I
haven't used the headphone jack but I would be willing to bet Apple reverts
the headphone jack or makes a more integrated adapter with the next iPhone.

------
TheDom
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.

------
Jtsummers
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.

------
bradknowles
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.

------
tedmiston
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.

------
lewisgodowski
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.

------
Tempest1981
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.

------
ishbits
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.

------
BjoernKW
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

------
archagon
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.

~~~
tedmiston
Can you do a Lighting splitter with one going to the USB cable to debug and
the other going to a Lightning to 3.5 mm?

~~~
archagon
No, because every adaptor I've seen so far (except for the official Apple
dock, which is super awkward) only allows power, not data, through the second
Lightning port. This includes the Belkin one.

------
shosko
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.

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

