Apple may have dropped built-in noise cancellation on the iPhone 13

Apple’s “Noise Cancellation” accessibility feature has been a staple on past iPhones, but may have been permanently removed from the iPhone 13 series, 9to5Mac has reported. The feature is designed to “reduce ambient noise on phone calls when you are holding the receiver to your ear,” a feature that can help make calls easier to hear. 

“Phone Noise Cancellation is not available on iPhone 13 models, which is why you do not see this option in [the Accessibility] settings,” Apple support told one of 9to5Mac‘s readers. When the reader asked for clarification, the support team confirmed that the feature is “not supported.”

Questions about noise cancellation came up on Reddit and Apple support pages shortly after the phone went on sale, with readers noticing that it was no longer available on the Accessibility page. The feature is still available with iOS 15 on past iPhone models, but is nowhere to be found on the iPhone 13. 

“Noise Cancellation” normally uses an 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 hard of hearing. The issue only applies if you use the handset by itself without, say, Apple’s AirPods noise-cancelling earphones. (It does not 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 about it has come indirectly from Apple Support. As such, Engadget has reached out to Apple for further clarification.