Microphone Not Working 17.30 / iOS 26 / iPhone 17 Pro

I tried to factory reset my watch today with no luck. Running iOS 26 on iPhone 17 Pro. 17.30 on fenix 8 47mm AMOLED. When answering a call or trying to use the phone assistant, nothing is heard or responded to. I tried a voice note, and while it recorded my voice the playback is extremely quiet even at the highest volume playback. Please help!

  • Hello. I am sorry to hear you are having trouble with the microphone. First I would recommend cleaning your watch using the steps in this FAQ, then allow your watch to dry and see if the issue continues: My Garmin Watch Speaker or Microphone is Muted After Being Exposed to Water 

    If there is no change, I would recommend reaching out to Garmin Product Support. 

  • While I appreciate this suggestion (and had already tried it), I think it’s fair to assume this is a software issue given the volume of complaints on the new line of iPhones here in this thread. It’s happening on my wife’s Venu as well on a new iPhone 17 Pro.

    I will reach out to support as suggested, but was really hoping to help you all debug this to fix it for everyone vs sending replacement devices unnecessarily.

  • Really you think that we all have water in our microphone? Read this thread, many users has problem so its BUG!!!! Not water in microphone.

  • Are you kidding me with that answer? You didn’t even check! The microphone works perfectly with voice memos and other "on watch" functions - it only stops working with newer iPhones like the iPhone Air during phone calls or with Siri. This is clearly a software bug!

  • The microphone works perfectly with voice memos and other "on watch" functions -

    The OP mention this is effecting Voice notes for them as well. So you may be experiencing a different issue. It would still not hurt to try the cleaning. 

  • While technically correct that voice memo playback is quiet. I did state that the microphone did work in that scenario and not in interactions with the phone. Which is the primary issue here. For everyone. OP (me) included.

    It’s amazing to me that nobody at Garmin has a Fenix 8 and a new iPhone that can confirm this is indeed broken as it seems to be. Not sure why it’s being fought, including when I got a hold of support last night and am yet to hear back. Couldn’t be more basic functionality of a smart watch these days and it’s just being shrugged off.

  • Hello I just want to give you an update on my Fenix 8. Garmin exchanged my two weeks old Fenix 8 with a new watch and it arrived today.  The new watch work flawlessly with the iphone 17 pro.  both call and phone assistant work.  Now i dont know what is going on whether its compatibility issue or the watch is defective.  

  • It’s really strange that they replaced it, because the microphone isn’t the issue. I connected my Fenix 8 to my old iPhone SE 2020 without unpairing it from the Air (I just turned off Bluetooth on the Air and paired it with the SE). Everything worked fine - the phone assistant works, calls have audio, it even picks up whispers. Then I turned off Bluetooth on the SE, the watch reconnected automatically to the iPhone Air… and unfortunately Siri doesn’t hear anything from the microphone. During calls it’s completely silent - I can hear the other person, but they can’t hear me.

    So I don’t understand how replacing the watch could have helped, when resetting settings doesn’t fix it and it’s clearly not a physical fault :(

    Maybe the issue is with the Bluetooth module itself, maybe it’s not fully compatible with the new Bluetooth 6 in the newer iPhones, and perhaps newer units of the Fenix 8 already have an updated Bluetooth module?

  • Just got yesterday My new phone Air (26.01) and paired with My F8 (17.30). I report same problem: any anwer from Siri.please Garmin take a care of this issue!!!

  • It hasn’t been working for me either since iOS 26 with version 17.30.

    But I have a question for you all, regardless of that — has making phone calls with the watch ever worked well for you?

    I can hear the other person clearly, so my speaker is fine. However, people always complain that I sound unclear, choppy, and hard to understand. So I can’t really have conversations because others can’t understand me.

    It was the same with the iPhone 13 and earlier Fenix versions.

    Has anyone ever been able to have clear conversations?