iPhone bluetooth not working in my pocket

Do you have a source for this I'd like to see what further info I can glean.

It does seem quite possible that they've introduced bugs into the bluetooth stack in iOS 4 especially with regard to A2DP -- wouldn't surprise me one bit.

I tested iOS 4 through beta on my 3GS and while I did have some issues with bluetooth, these were generally associated with control failures or throwing audio to the wrong output. Some of these same issues I see from time to time on the iPhone 4.

On a positive note, while these are tricky issues to track down but once the engineers working on the bluetooth stack at Apple identify issues they will get resolved.

I wear my Iphone on my waist inside a belt case and use it in a Lexus RX350 with Navigation. I connects every time and I have no problem with audio which is stable.. I also use the bluetooth with my Sony earphones with music which is clear and stable. In the house wifi is on all the time.

I think I've noticed the beginnings of a pattern to reproduce the stuttering bluetooth.

I think I've found that switching between bluetooth headsets recreates the issue at random intervals. In my case (as I've mentioned before) I have a Jawbone Icon and a Motorokr S9 -- I switch between the two throughout the day. I noticed today that things seems to get bunged up again after switching back and forth between devices. Also possibly after connecting, disconnecting, and reconnecting the same headset. I haven't quite found anything that I would say is 100% reproducible but then I haven't been spending time testing -- it's just stuff I noticed in regular use.

I should also mention that even when things are working acceptably, I can still contort my body into positions (or put the phone in places on my body) where I can reliably cut off the signal. This however I could do with my 3GS running iPhone OS 3. In fact, it was way easier to do with my 3GS so overall I would say that the iPhone 4 is better as long as it hasn't gone wonky needing to be rebooted.

One more note: I was speaking to one of our RF Engineers where I work and he confirmed something that I'd heard but wasn't sure was correct. The frequency that bluetooth uses (2.4 GHz) does not do a good job penetrating human tissue. so for someone like me with a bit of a spare tire if I place the phone just below my gut and against my body the signal will be cut to a headset I'm wearing 100% of the time.

Trying to pin this issue down and yours is an interesting case. Are you running iOS 4 on your 3GS? Did you have and use your 3GS before iOS 4? If so, did you use it with the Jawbone in question? And if so, how did it work for you?

Also, have you tried rebooting the phone? It definitely seems to (at least temporarily) resolve the problems for me.

I'm trying to gather use case info on this issue: How long have you been using these with your iPhone 4? Do you routinely power-cycle your iPhone 4? Thanks.

I am routinely power cycling and rebooting the phone. At this point, bluetooth is completely unusable. Three different headsets and not one works properly. Callers can barely hear me and there is much static. I have restored twice and have restored and set it up as a new phone once more. Problems persist no matter where my phone is, including in my pocket, on the desk next to me, in my hand, or even right next to the phone. I do not know what else to do.

I believe I need to go to an apple store to get this sorted out. I will probably do that today and report back later.

Just started noticing the problem yesterday with my iPhone 4 and Jawbone 2 headset. Have only been using the phone a few days now. Last night I was on the phone a few hours and noticed the following things:
(1) As soon as the phone went into my pocket I started getting complaints from the person I was talking to that they could hear me. Whether it was the same pocket as the ear I had the bluetooth in or not.
(2) I had the phone on my night stand, was just lying in bed and as soon as I rolled away from the phone I'd get complaints of bad sound quality.

From these two things, I think it does have something to do with interference with the body. I've had a 3G for two years and have never had any problems with bluetooth so this is extremely frustrating. I'm interested to see if this is a manufacturing defect or something that is wrong with all iPhone 4s.

So went to the Apple store yesterday to see if there was something wrong with my bluetooth in the phone. Took my three headsets with me (Voyager Pro, Jawbone Prime, and Motorola H15). Explained the sound issues with all three and the constant disconnecting and reconnecting. Employee explained that the way iO4 handles bluetooth differs from previous versions as the bluetooth goes into low power mode and disconnects to save power. However, he was not sure why all three headsets were having sound quality issues.

The employee was very pleasant and went ahead and swiped out the phone with another one. Voila, bluetooth works extremely well, almost on par with my 3G. I may have just had a faulty bluetooth chip. Not sure why but it sure does seem to work a WHOLE lot better. Thanks Apple for doing right by me.

I am having similar issues. IP4, connected to a 2009 Toyota Bluetooth system. Worked flawlessly with my 3G.

I have erased all settings, rebooted phone, tried every way of pairing. Phone is always in a plastic holder 3 inches from stero or in cup holder. Result, static for the other end. No one can hear me and my calls get s garbeled and fade in and out. I hear just fine.

My 1G and 3G all work great, but not the iPhone 4.

I have not yet contacted Apple. I keep hoping I will find a solution on these boards.

I have the same problem with mine: from time to time the other part is getting a lot of static if I'm on BT.

Having this exact same problem with the iPhone 4 paired to a Jabra Clipper, even after the iOS 4.1 update. Has anyone seen any improvement?

Really disappointing, other the the constant stereo audio dropouts when the phone is in my pocket, the iPhone w/ Jabra Clipper work great. Even more so now that 4.1 gives us full AVRCP support.

I am totally baffled. I have £300 Motorola MM450 headset which has seemed to be immune to all these problems since I got an iPhone4 in June. Updated to iOS4.1 ten days ago and overjoyed by implementation (finally) of AVRCP. Happy days. Last few days though have suddenly started experiencing problems with audio (music) stuttering. Now here's the thing. Works fine out my pocket in the palm of my hand. Put it towards my pocket (either side) and as I start to put it in there, sound starts chopping. Same if I lay it flat on my chest with my hand over it. Same if I put the phone in palm of hand and put other hand on top. Yet with it sitting on the table I can walk 10-15m from phone and it works fine. Now here's the weirdest thing. This morning everything was fine on my 40 minute train ride in from the countryside to London. Phone in pocket, sound perfect. Then, 2 minutes from London Bridge station suddenly the problems start. Totally bizarre. I have only experienced the problem in London, nowhere else. Riddle me that kids....

I have similar problem with a VTech telephone. I connect via Bluetooth, but the connection doesn't stay. I leave the iPhone next to the base station (not in my pocket) and it doesn't maintain the connection. If I do perchance get a call, it has a lot of static and the volume goes up and down. I had hoped that iOS 4.1 would offer some relief, but alas, no help. The VTech phone shows that the phones are connected, but they are not! I have the same problem in my car with a JABRA hands free. This is a wide spread problem, not just certain brands or applications.

Sounds a lot like what I'm experiencing with my Jabra Clipper and iPhone 4. I was really hoping the 4.1 update would deal with this but it's starting to look like I might need to schedule a Genius Bar appointment.

Message was edited by: Marlon Rubio