How To Turn On Handsfree On Iphone 8

iPhone Speaker phone mode enabled by default By default, all calls on the iPhone will play audio through the standard earpiece at the top of the phone, and if someone wishes to use speakerphone they enable it manually by tapping on the "Speaker" button during an active call. While that may be the desired effect for most users, in various situations some users may wish to receive and make all phone calls with speakerphone activated automatically, without having to manually enable it every time by pressing the Speaker button.

That's what we're going to cover here, which essentially enables iPhone speakerphone automatically, setting it as the new default audio setting for all inbound and outbound phone calls and FaceTime Audio calls. This is a fantastic accessibility feature, but can also function as a helpful trick for other uses too.

How to Set Speaker Mode to be the Default for iPhone Calls

Want your iPhone phone calls to automatically be in Speakerphone mode? Here is how to set that up on your iPhone:

Open the "Settings" app on the iPhone and head to "General", then go to "Accessibility"
Look under the Interaction settings for "Call Audio Routing" and tap on it
Change the setting from "Automatic" (the default) to "Speaker" to make speakerphone the default for all calls made to and from the iPhone
Exit out of Settings as usual

Enable Speaker phone for all calls by default on iPhone

You can immediately test the setting by making or receiving a phone call, which will now automatically have speakerphone enabled on the iPhone. As noted, the speaker phone setting is also enabled for calls made to and from FaceTime Audio as well. Whatever the call type, you'll find the "Speaker" button is automatically highlighted now:

Automatically Enable Speaker Phone on iPhone

Now, tapping the Speaker button will turn it off and return the call audio to the earpiece of headset. This basically reverses the traditional iPhone default setting by enabling Speaker Mode automatically, rather than having it off automatically.

This is an incredibly helpful feature for a wide variety of use cases, whether for general accessibility, situations where an individual is unable or uncomfortable holding a phone up their ear and thus would benefit from having automatic speakerphone enabled, or even for situations when an iPhone earpiece speaker is malfunctioning or not working at all, and thus to continue making calls a user could turn to the speakerphone functionality instead. The latter situation can be a workaround for a device that is stuck in headphone mode and unresponsive to traditional troubleshooting methods.

Another option in the same settings allows users to automatically route all call audio to and from a headset, which can be equally desirable, assuming a headset is available. An obvious advantage to using a headset (or even the iPhone earbuds that come with the device) is that it is morel likely to offer some privacy, whereas speakerphone is, well, the phone call playing from the speaker, making it not exactly a private conversation if others are around.