The minority of smartphone users who still cares about the headphone jack finds this feature invaluable, no matter what year it is.
Here are some facts and relatable anecdotes to explain the importance of this feature, responding to anything from common suggestions to silly nitpicks.
Note: in this page, "headphone jack" refers to a 3.5 mm audio out jack, and "headphones" also refers to earphones, earbuds, etc.
Let's start with the obvious way to connect wired headphones when there's no headphone jack:
🔌 Adapters
"Get an adapter"
- You must always remember to carry it. It adds an extra thought that was absent beforehand.
- The adapter plugs into the only port in the phone, normally used for charging. This means you can't use wired headphones while charging, unless you get an enormous adapter with two ports, or you use wireless charging (not available on all phones) which is less efficient and you can't move your phone at all.
It also means the charging port will wear out sooner.
"Keep the adapter connected to your wired headphones"
- The headphone jack is not just for one pair of wired headphones. You could plug in different things at different times, like various pairs of headphones, speakers, stereo system... The adapter must be carried over.
Even if you had multiple adapters for all of your wired audio things, sometimes you may want to plug in something that isn't yours (like someone else's stereo - ever heard of the "pass the aux cord" meme?). Maybe you have your headphones you can borrow the adapter from, but then we're back to the issue of having to think about it.
"How often do you use someone's stereo? They'll surely have their own adapter"
- Rarely, but it was just an example. No matter how unlikely or insignificant the situation is, or how small the inconvenience is, the lack of headphone jack ALWAYS adds an inconvenience.
"Would you be okay with a phone with two built-in USB-C ports, so you can charge and use the little adapter at the same time?"
- It doesn't exist and it doesn't solve the other issues with an adapter.
So adapters are worse: you can lose them and they interfere with the charging port.
Well, how about the 🐘 in the room:
🎧 Wireless Headphones
"Get wireless headphones"
- A phone with headphone jack has Bluetooth as well - you can use wireless headphones there too.
The problem is NOT wired vs. wireless. The problem is taking away one option. The headphone jack was removed, not replaced with a newer alternative. - I already have good wireless headphones. They can't replace my good wired headphones.
- Wireless headphones have batteries that run out and they can't be used while charging.
- Don't forget other audio stuff you can use the headphone jack with.
"Charge wireless headphones in advance"
- They WILL be discharged when you don't expect it.
- What about in two or three years when they can no longer hold a charge? Their batteries are designed not to be replaced. You have to throw away perfectly good audio equipment just because its batteries are dead!
"The case of wireless headphones keeps the headphones themselves charged"
- Yes, that's just another battery. Does it last forever?
"Carry a powerbank to charge the headphones case"
- Yet another battery. Do wireless headphones charge as quickly as the act of plugging in wired headphones?
"When you see the case of wireless headphones is discharged, you know you've only got the charge of the headphones themselves"
- Doesn't guarantee the headphones are charged enough.
"You really have to charge wireless headphones in advance. Better be safe than sorry"
- So you can't live without thinking about the battery level of headphones?
"You do live thinking about the battery level of your phone though"
- That's only one thing. Why add another?
"Just charge wireless headphones for like 10 minutes, then they'll last for like an hour"
- No they won't. Even if they did, how is that better than just using wired headphones instantly for as long as you want? Maybe you needed to listen to something for those 10 minutes only.
Turns out wireless headphones aren't perfect and don't replace everything that can go in a headphone jack.
But hey, the headphone jack had to go away! Its disappearance did more good than harm. Or did it?
❎ Justifying Its Removal
"Removing the headphone jack makes the phone more water resistant"
- There are phones with headphone jack and water resistance, such as the Galaxy S7 to S10. Even the iPhone 6S has an early attempt at water resistance despite no IP rating.
"It is harder to make a water resistant phone with headphone jack"
- Many other aspects about manufacturing a phone are much harder.
- Why does it have to be water resistant? Plenty of "water resistant" phones get water damaged anyway.
"Removing the headphone jack makes the phone thinner"
- The headphone jack is 3.5 millimetres in diameter. Add 2 mm padding and that's 7.5 mm. Any smartphone is thicker than that.
"The headphone jack doesn't fit with other components"
- Nonsense. It fits on the Unihertz Jelly Star which has a 3.0-inch screen, but not on the Jelly Max which is 5.0 inches and 17 mm thick? (That phone was one of the last straws that made me write this page.)
"Removing the headphone jack allows for a bigger battery"
- The headphone jack is a tiny rectangle. The space you gain by removing it can't be occupied by extra battery, which is only one or two big rectangles.
Even if you redesign the internals to be a different shape so the battery can be a little bit taller or wider, how is that easier than making the battery deeper instead?
I'm no engineer, but I think it would be better if new smartphones were just ONE MILLIMETRE thicker. It would significantly increase the volume and capacity of a battery that would fit, no one would complain about the thickness, and it would eliminate the camera bump as the cherry on top. Unihertz did that with the Jelly Max (it's almost twice as thick as other contemporary smartphones), but they omitted that jack!
"The DAC in built-in headphone jacks is bad"
(DAC = Digital to Analogue Converter, i.e. the part that generates the sound waves that go into the audio cable)
- No, it's good enough. The one in the adapters or Bluetooth audio devices isn't better.
"The Apple iPhone removed the headphone jack to make room for the 'Taptic Engine®™'"
("Taptic Engine®™" = Apple's improved vibration motor)
- The iPhone 6S has headphone jack and "Taptic Engine®™". On the iPhone 7 (first model without that jack) the "Taptic Engine®™" inside was enlarged to make up for the empty space, not because it was necessary. It does have additional vibration feedback compared to the 6S, but that's just a software feature. The two revisions of that vibration motor feel the same. In newer iPhones, the "Taptic Engine®™" is about the same size as in the 6S, and the phones themselves are much larger. There could be room.
- If it was just an Apple issue, this page wouldn't exist.
"Pretty much everyone has removed the headphone jack from their newer phones, to sell their wireless headphones"
- And shame on them for trying to copy the status symbol. The only reason to go for an Android phone is that it's better than an iPhone. But without that jack, new iPhones and new Android phones are equally as bad!
- Wireless headphones are fashion accessories. Even the Apple ones work over standard Bluetooth, so people buy those even if they don't have other Apple products. Even if the headphone jack had never been removed, wireless headphones would have still sold like hotcakes. There's really no need to talk about them when discussing the headphone jack, but they keep being suggested as if they replaced everything that can go into that jack...
Indeed, the removal of this feature literally benefitted no one.
But surely you could move on from it, couldn't you?
🏝 A Different Lifestyle
"Just try a phone without a headphone jack. You'll get used to it"
- You're supposed to get out of your comfort zone only for things that are eventually worth it. Even if you got used to no headphone jack, your life wouldn't improve any.
- I owned a phone without headphone jack for nearly three years. Couldn't get used to it. It was a high-end, beautiful and powerful phone. No complaints about it besides the lack of this feature. I always had to work around it, despite owning adapters and wireless headphones too. It was always a mild inconvenience. It's switching back to a phone with that jack that actually improved my life. It's been over four years since that switch and I still appreciate it, while continuing to use bluetooth audio sometimes.
"Carry a separate device for music, like an MP3 player"
- If I wanted to do that, I wouldn't want a smartphone!
The whole point of a smartphone is to have one device that serves multiple purposes on the go. Remember the tagline of the first iPhone in 2007? A phone, an iPod, and an Internet communication device all in one. Despite other smartphones at the time already being superior, the iPhone combined these features well enough to become successful. And now they have to be separate again? Wow, so modern! /s - The headphone jack is not just for listening to music.
"There are still new smartphones with a headphone jack. It hasn't gone extinct like 8-track cartridges or floppy disks"
- The choices are extremely limited. Ironically, in recent years that jack is more commonly found on lower-end phones. It's such a shame that so many otherwise perfect phones can't be considered. No matter how many bells and whistles you add, nothing can make up for it.
- The 3.5-mm audio plug isn't going extinct because, again, it hasn't been supplanted by something more modern.
"Wired headphones get tangled up and fall off"
- Yes, that can be annoying. But I think this one disadvantage is much easier to deal with than all the disadvantages of wireless headphones.
- Even wireless headphones can fall off your ears, and it's harder to retrieve them because there's no wire. They're more likely to fall to the ground. Shoving ground germs in your ears, very healthy. Or even better, they could fall into places where you can't get them back!
- You're not eliminating wires if you use wireless headphones. You charge them with a cable, or by placing them on a wireless charger (which also has a cable).
"Get wired headphones with Lightning or USB-C plug. No need for an adapter"
- What if your preferred model of headphones or piece of audio equipment is only available with a 3.5-mm plug? Or if you want to use your headphones with something other than your phone?
- It still occupies the charging port.
"No one uses wired audio stuff anymore"
- Yes, I know I am no one. The irony is that when the iPhone 7 was new, most people complained about the removal of that jack just because they needed it for the aux input in their car stereo. Now those people bought a bluetooth receiver. But even back then, I was already driving a car with bluetooth included. That's not where I need that jack.
"Get a bluetooth receiver for your wired headphones"
- That's just a wireless adapter. It's fine in a stereo system without bluetooth because it's always in the same place. Not so much anywhere else.
All the disadvantages of adapters PLUS the disadvantages of wireless PLUS the one disadvantage of wired? Sign me up please! /s
"You're justifying keeping an old/cheap phone. If you were given the newest most expensive Apple iPhone Max or Samsung Galaxy Ultra for free, no strings attached, you'd take it"
- No I wouldn't. It's not everyone's cup of tea. Everyone also dreams of sports cars and jewellery and tropical islands, right?
- What's wrong with not wanting to create more e-waste? It doesn't matter how old or cheap an object is if it works properly for what you need.
"You're overthinking it. Use wireless headphones, and when they're discharged at an inopportune time you can use wired ones with an adapter"
- I want to use wired ones more often than that. Is that so weird?
- Is always having to carry an extra pair of headphones more modern than just carrying one pair that works anytime?
- Don't forget the headphone jack isn't just for one pair of headphones.
- What if your phone and your headphones are discharged at the same time and you don't have the huge adapter with two jacks?
- The adapter would have been okay if there was a valid reason for that jack to be removed. It's okay to refuse making your life slightly less convenient for this.
- This is the be-all and end-all page to answer all concerns about this topic. It took years of examining all possible situations to come up with everything that's written here.
"Okay, no headphone jack is bad, but you'll survive without headphones once in a while. Stop complaining"
- Just because it doesn't kill you, doesn't mean it should be accepted. Stop trying to convince anyone to accept an inferior experience.
You think having two cameras on a phone instead of three is a deal breaker, I think having no headphone jack is. - I don't use the headphone jack a lot. But I don't tolerate the inability to use that jack in situations where it WOULD be possible if it were built-in, no matter how unlikely they are.
- The removal of the headphone jack popularised people blasting sounds in public.
This page was written WITHOUT the aid of ANY artificial intelligence.
If you have feedback or suggestions, you can contact me on Mastodon or Bluesky.
Last updated on 28 May 2025