Speaker on iPhone 4 Not Working

I encountered a problem with my iPhone 4 yesterday, my speaker suddenly was not working.  Considering I had just had the phone for 2 days (yes, I'm behind the times), it was frustrating to say the least.

I first noticed it when I tried to use the speaker phone but I could not hear anything.  I hung up and called the person back, but still it would not work.  I turned the phone off and turned it back on.  Nothing.

I then tried to see just what I could hear out of my phone.  I could not hear Youtube.  I could not hear my music.  What DID work was when I had headphones in.  But still, the speaker would not work on my new iPhone 4.

I looked for solutions online, and got the usual responses.  Insert the headphones in the jack a few times.  Blow dry the phone (in case some condensation got in there).  Try turning the phone on and off again.  Still would not work.

So, how did I get the speaker on my iPhone 4 to work again?

The solution was so easy.  I'm not a technical wizard so I don't even know why this makes the speaker work again.  I just restarted (rebooted?) the phone.  You know, the trick where you press down the hold button and the home button for about 10 seconds until the Apple logo shows up.

The phone restarted itself and the speaker worked again.  So simple and didn't require a trip to the Apple store.  Maybe I have the only phone for which this is a viable solution.  After all, none of the threads I read online mentioned just rebooting the phone.

But if the speaker on your iPhone 4 is not working, try it out and see if it works.