Apple backlash: Trouble with iPhone's EarPods

Apple's EarPods appear to be having a few teething issues to be worked out. Photo / AP

The removal of the headphone jack was the most controversial decision Apple made when designing its latest iPhone, and it appears there's still a few teething issues to be worked out.

When the company showed off its new wireless earbuds earlier this month most people seemed preoccupied with how easy it would be to lose them.

But for those with an iPhone 7 who have not sprung for the $229 AirPods but instead relied on the wired lighting headphones that come with the phone, or chosen to use a lightning port adaptor to connect their headphones, there seems to be an annoying problem.

Users are reporting that a glitch with the headphone technology causes them to crash after a certain amount of time being plugged in, reports Business Insider.

Users can still hear to music but the controls are frozen meaning people are unable to pause the audio, operate volume controls, activate Siri or use shortcuts to answer phone calls.

According to one Twitter user, it seems to freeze after five minutes of inactivity while others say it appears to be random.

Others online were quick to report experiencing the same thing.

While undoubtedly a frustrating issue, it's a pretty minor one in the scheme of things and ultimately comes down to software.

Unlike the traditional 3.5mm analog jack, Apple's lightning port relies on software to function and the unintentional freezing of headphones amounts to a bug in the system.

@siracusa @atpfm this seems to happen with my lightning EarPods as well, not just adapted 3.5mm headphones

— Michael Cailler (@michaelcailler) September 18, 2016

According to an Apple spokesman, the problem will be fixed in the next software update for the iPhone 7.

But for now, if you're experiencing the issue, function can be restored temporarily by unplugging the headphones and plugging them back in.