S21+ Bottom Speaker Not Working Since Updates... Why?!

[GregS21pluss]

The media speaker (bottom speaker) has suddenly stopped working here & there throughout the day & everything will play through the ear piece on my S21+5G. Resetting it usually fixes the issue. 

This has been since One UI 4.0 update. I don't want to reset my phone 10x a day, what do i do?

[AndrewL]

@GregS21pluss: Are you using a particular app when the issue occurs? To troubleshoot the issue, please try restarting the phone in Safe Mode. This will disable all third party apps, and help to determine if the problem is stemming from an external source. To enter Safe Mode, press and hold the Power button until the 'Power off' prompt appears on the screen then release > Touch and hold Power off until the 'Safe mode' prompt appears then release > To confirm, tap Safe mode.

Monitor the performance for a few hours, depending on the frequency of the issue. If you notice an improvement, restart the phone as you would normally and delate any recently installed applications. 

[Alicefoxxo]

I'm having this issue too, it looks like a lot of people are actually. Booting in safe mode does nothing to fix it.

[c0dly]

This also happened to me. No damage to my phone at all, no water. All sound is coming out of the earpiece speaker. I have done safe mode, numerous restarts, and I also just performed a full factory reset to no avail. I had to remove about 10 authenticators to do that so this is pretty inconvenient.

[AndrewL]

@c0dly: Please can you try heading to the Samsung Members app > Press and hold on the app icon > Diagnostics, and run through the Speaker test. Does the sample song play clearly through the bottom Media speaker during this test? If not, then please head to samsung.com > Scroll to the bottom of the page > Contact us, and reach out to our Help Desk via your preferred channel, and an advisor will be able to assist you further, and arrange an inspection under warranty. 

If the sound plays through the speaker as expected, then please try heading to Settings > Sounds and vibration > Sound quality and effects > Dolby Atmos > On > Adapt sound > Run through the setup process. 

[c0dly]

Andrew,

I ran the diagnostics and sure enough, the bottom speaker does not work. I am not convinced this is a hardware issue? Several other people are having this same problem that just appeared after the recent updates?

[Zabuzamomochi]

C0dly I'm having the exact same problem as you and I've done everything uve tried to and im also convinced its software not hardware because i noticed that the ear piece  speaker gets louder than normal but nothing out the bottom and it only started after the update. I was just wondering if you've found anything out about it to fix it

[woodywyatt1]

I have the same problem. I even went as far as changing the bottom speaker. Still no sound. Very frustrating 😞

[Speedyjr16]

I have the same issue and its frustrating. Did anyone get the bottom speaker to work?

[c0dly]

Andrew,

I really think that this is worth looking into on Samsung's side. Numerous people are reporting this all over the internet. It does not appear to be hardware. Something in the software configuration is routing sound output to the earpiece instead of the bottom speaker. Any update would be great, this is pretty annoying and inconvenient considering what I paid for this phone.