I'm curious about this - why do you no longer listen to music or podcasts? The phone comes with headphones that plug directly into the lightning port, and an 1/8" adapter so you can still use your old headphones.

Personally I just keep the adapter permanently attached to my 1/8" headphones. Only downside for me is the inability to charge at the same time, but then the iPhone 7's battery life is pretty great, so that's not a huge deal.

Probably because this person like many has multiple headphones. I have nicer "cans" I use at work. I have the crappy included ones that I use in the gym or when commuting. Noise cancelling buds for travel. And that's not even counting the times I might want to use the aux cord in my car. Having to carry around an adapter is dumb. I have a 6s and will not be upgrading to any phone without a headphone jack

The aux cord in the car was actually a major concern for me too when I was considering upgrading to the 7. And then I found this $15 bluetooth FM transmitter: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01KJJP1TG/

The sound quality is fantastic and it's easily way more convenient than using an aux cable: No cord, and it has play/pause and track skip buttons on it!

Also has a microphone for Siri/phone calls though I've never used it to speak to its quality.

There are a bunch of similar ones on Amazon with slightly varying features.

I do understand it would be frustrating to swap the dongle around if you have multiple headphones though. Worth noting that the "crappy included ones" that come with the phone are already lightning though so they don't need an adapter.

"just" by a dongle for each set of headphones you regularly use. For me, that means one dongle, but if I had 'work headphones' I would instantly buy a second dongle so I would never have to worry about this.

Obviously that is objectionable on a $$$ apple tax $$$ level, but pragmatically it's not much of an issue.

I do still miss the mini RCA jack, however, because on occasion I do forget my headphones & adapter and can't use any other normal headphones. (And I hate charging headphones and wearing batteries on my ears)

Do you remember to carry your dongle with you everywhere you go?

Do you carry a spare dongle in your pocket?

Like I said, I just leave my dongle attached to my headphones all the time. I forget the dongle even exists.

My dongle is my business, pal

Why would you buy a phone without an earphone jack? Knock on wood that's something I'd never agree to do :-)

I completely forgot it was 'missing' one until I had the phone for a week or two.

Thankfully all my listening is in the car, over the speaker, via Sonos, via AirPlay or Spotify Connect, or on my Bose QC35 or Jaybirds X3 bluetooth headphones.

It was a mistake. I sometimes think about "upgrading" (downgrading) to a two year old iPhone 6s to get a headphone jack again but it is not available in 256gb.

I'd never get a phone that doesn't have a micro SD card reader.

Something like https://www.fuzecases.com any good?

I bought an SE rather than a 7 last year because of The headphone jack size issue.

Yeah, it's a frequent pain in my behind. I always lose the stupid little dongle things.