# Why does my phone give me the time every time I plug in the aux cable? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 25, 2024, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-my-phone-give-me-the-time-every-time-i-plug-in-the-aux-cable/999353 "2024-03-25T19:37:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![batsto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b2d939/32.png) [@batsto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/batsto)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2024, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-my-phone-give-me-the-time-every-time-i-plug-in-the-aux-cable/999353/1 "2024-03-25T19:37:25Z")
got an Android 8 I think? It’s a few years old. but lately it’s been doing something odd. I plug it into aux cable connected to a stereo every day to have it play music while I work. But lately, when I do that, somehow Google thinks I’ve asked for the time. So it announces the time to me. Which is annoying enough, but if I so much as bump into the aux cable even a bit, it stops the music and does it again. Why would an aux cable be triggering this behavior? More importantly how do I get it to stop? ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2024, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-my-phone-give-me-the-time-every-time-i-plug-in-the-aux-cable/999353/2 "2024-03-25T19:42:23Z")
Try a different cable. The fact that the music stops and the time is announced if you even bump it suggests to me that the cable isn’t fitting properly into the jack and making/breaking the connection when you touch it. I wonder if something about the way it’s doing that is triggering the time announcement as well. Not to say that it’s supposed to do that, but maybe it’s sending a rogue signal into the phone which is being interpreted as a command. Edit: you’re not alone. > **[OnePlus Community](https://community.oneplus.com/thread/1484726)** > > Introducing our new OnePlus Community experience, with a completely revamped structure, built from the ground-up. > Go to settings then search for headphones. It is visible under assistant device. Then tap headphone and switch off get help from google. It worked for me. Edit2, apparently it’s a common problem. [https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=android+phone+reads+time+when+aux+cable+is+plugged+in](https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=android+phone+reads+time+when+aux+cable+is+plugged+in) ---
**Author:** ![batsto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b2d939/32.png) [@batsto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/batsto)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2024, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-my-phone-give-me-the-time-every-time-i-plug-in-the-aux-cable/999353/3 "2024-03-25T19:49:19Z")
I does it with every cable I try. I’m going to see if I can find the setting mentioned in that article, it never occurred to me that this was a feature someone might want. ---
**Author:** ![batsto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b2d939/32.png) [@batsto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/batsto)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2024, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-my-phone-give-me-the-time-every-time-i-plug-in-the-aux-cable/999353/4 "2024-03-25T19:58:33Z")
Well, it’s fixed. I can’t believe it was that simple. Or that I couldn’t find the answer myself with Google, but thanks for that. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2024, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-my-phone-give-me-the-time-every-time-i-plug-in-the-aux-cable/999353/5 "2024-03-25T20:06:19Z")
> [@batsto](#): > > I does it with every cable I try. I’m going to see if I can find the setting mentioned in that article, it never occurred to me that this was a feature someone might want. The feature might be an audible alert whenever you attach the cable, and it will have a choice of alerts that can be selected. The time alert could be a default setting, or side effect of some other options selected on your phone. No one may have ever consciously selected that setting as the default but some audible sound to indicate a cable has been connected is a good feature. I assume you have a choice of audible alerts to use, or none at all. ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2024, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-my-phone-give-me-the-time-every-time-i-plug-in-the-aux-cable/999353/6 "2024-03-26T14:19:35Z")
Wired headphones frequently have various switches in the cable for communicating with the phone (mute, volume, answer call, etc.). They do this through the microphone ring on the plug. If you look at the plug you will see four connections, the plug tip and three rings - left and right audio, mic, and ground). A plain aux cable will have no microphone ring but a wider ground ring which overlaps the area where the mic ring would be and thus grounds the mic input. If the connection is at all sketchy that ground connection can get interrupted, which can fool the phone into thinking that a button has been pressed. Since this occurs with multiple cables it’s probable that your headphone jack is getting old. ---
**Author:** ![batsto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b2d939/32.png) [@batsto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/batsto)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2024, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-my-phone-give-me-the-time-every-time-i-plug-in-the-aux-cable/999353/7 "2024-03-27T12:15:51Z")
No, it was the ‘voice assist’ setting mentioned in that article Joey\_P posted. I changed that and the problem went away ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2024, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-my-phone-give-me-the-time-every-time-i-plug-in-the-aux-cable/999353/8 "2024-03-27T14:15:07Z")
I was pointing out a way the voice assist might be triggered by movement of the plug. ---
**Author:** ![batsto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b2d939/32.png) [@batsto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/batsto)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2024, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-my-phone-give-me-the-time-every-time-i-plug-in-the-aux-cable/999353/9 "2024-03-27T14:23:12Z")
Oh I see. Yeah, you may be right. I hate to think it…I don’t want a newer phone because so many of them either don’t have a slot for an SD card, or don’t have a headphone jack. I really rely on both of those things for my music. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2024, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-my-phone-give-me-the-time-every-time-i-plug-in-the-aux-cable/999353/10 "2024-03-27T14:28:16Z")
Right. So you won’t be able to avoid the aspect of this that manipulation of the headphone plug can look like random button pushes from a headphone with control buttons. You’re accepting this, as long as the phone doesn’t do something annoying when triggered by those phantom button pushes. That’s probably the best compromise answer you’re going to be able to work out, but if it’s enough for you then the problem is solved. And if it recurs again (for instance, an app update makes the app start responding to the false button pushes), you recognize the cause and have a head start fixing it.