old iPhone craps out on sound recording

[bloke]

I have a crappy old iPhone (which I wish Mrs. bloke had never gotten for me). I'm thinking it's one of those "late 5's that's basically a 6" old things. I would rather have picked up something non-i, but she went and bought these things.

I don't have time to go get another one...OK I have time, but I'm not motivated. I'm just not a "technology" (nor "money on technology") person...I mail checks, and eschew online banking (etc.)

A while back - particularly with loud $h!t - the sound on my video recordings cuts down to next-to-nothing (sort of like some sort of decibel filter...??) Needless to say, this sucks.
Is this a setting, or just a old-$h!tty-fone-fug-up?

Eventually (quite recently) the phone bullied me into an update (after - once again - I clicked "later"), and the problem is still there.
(I'm sure the phone listens to me condemn it to hell - as I do regularly, because - after the update - my route thingie was changed from miles to kms...and I'm sure I could click way down into the bowels of the phone and fix that but - well - I'd rather fix horns (and type complaints about it - into a textbox on tubaforum) than see about it.

I could toss it in the trash, but (nowadays) peoples do texts me 'n' $h!t, so I would have to go buy something else (again: not motivated).

Is this P.O.S. fixable?

If not, my first choice would be to shrug my shoulders and do without that feature.

I guess I should have put this in another forum, but - if that feature still worked - I might actually post a few tuba-playing dad-jokes on here...for your entertainment and annoyance.

[Three Valves]

She got you into this, I say it’s up to her to get you out!!

[jtm]

For audio, free MOTIV app that works with Shure plug-in mics will also work with the built-in mic, and it should let you bypass all the automatic level setting stuff. It may also let you configure the audio settings that stay active in the background when you record video, but I'm not positive about that.

You might need to find a new phone pretty soon anyway as 3G gets phased out.

[matt g]

Is it actually software, hardware, or both? These may not be separable.

If the microphone sensitivity is such that whatever you’re feeding it is over spec, then there isn’t much you can do other than moving away from the microphone.

[LibraryMark]

If your phone is a 5-ish thing then it's battery is probably going to be toast soon anyway. Time to get a new one.

[bloke]

If/when I toss it, I may not replace it.
Phones are for those who make them and those who provide us with cell bars and _G "service".
The purpose of them is not for our convenience but the purpose of them is tracking, listening, and watching.
Too many times, I've named a product or someone's name - when the phone was sitting (supposedly) "idle" - guess what...??
(You already know, of course.)