Q: starkey halo

I'm trying new Starkey aids and am disappointed in the connectivity. Having to reconnect all the time is a pain. I cannot get them to pair with my iPad though and I wish very much to do that. iOS accessibility shows them pared but I get no streaming. The Trulink app just spins and spins. I've completely disconnected shut down and restarted several times with no luck. I do not understand the idea that I have to disconnect from one device to connect to another. I have other devices that have multiple recognition.

Maybe I'll be lucky and the release tomorrow of iOS8 wil cure the problem. However, I think it's the app and HA problem. We'll see.

Hopefully this will help.  I too am hoping that iOS Accessibility will allow streaming from multiple devices, but until that becomes a reality (iOS8? iOS9?) consider "pairing" to be equivalent to "marriage."  We have bigamy laws, saying ya gotta divorce one before marrying the next.  That help?

Now, as far as streaming from your iPad, here's what I do:

     1.     Siri, turn bluetooth off (on the iPhone)

     2.     Siri, turn bluetooth on (on the iPad)

THEN I DO NOT USE TRULINK on the iPad.  I JUST use the iOS to stream my TabloTV app or podcasts, or whatever I want to listen to.  So EXIT TruLink on the iPad.  Open SETTINGS, Bluetooth, and make sure that you can see the Halos.  If you can, you should be able to stream with no further action.  Note that some media will have to be cranked way up.  My TabloTV volume is "just barely adequate."  iTunes is plenty loud.  Some podcasts are strong and some are weak, but thats a function of how they were recorded.

Jim

unixman@mac.com

Parrish -- don't forget that any Bluetooth device connected to more than one iPhone/iPad is going to have to be disconnected from one in order to connect to another. A Bluetooth device is only going to be able to connect to one at a time. Devices can be paired with more than one device at the same time, but the connection is always to a single device. I have found that to be true with wireless phone headsets, my car radio and other devices over the years.

dogsitter - in order for me to hear phone calls adequately, I have to use the TruLink app to control the volume. Simply turning up the volume on the phone doesn't cut it. However, I am having very good luck with the TruLink app, as long as I remember to reconnect before I try to use it.

Oh sure, but you haven't been able to TAKE CALLS on your iPad, so you haven't needed TruLink on the iPad.  Now all that WILL PROBABLY CHANGE TOMORROW when iOS 8 comes out -because you'll be able to take the call from your iPad with iOS 8.  Then when Yosemite comes out (October?) you'll be able to take the call using your Mac as a speaker phone -but still control your Starkeys from your iPhone.

An-tici-pa-tion.....  I am SO PSYCHED for YOSEMITE!  Many of the iOS 8 features are dependent on the interaction between our iDevices and our Macs!

I can't find this document. I've searched over the Starkeypro.com site and cannot locate it. Can you send the exact link?

I don't see a reference to a document.  What document are you referring to?

Under Bluetooth the Halos never show up the ball spins eternally, well not quite, so far in this life it has never stopped. . In Accessibility Hearing Aides, they do. Also, to get the tripple click thing to work with home button, I have to Go under accessibility and go all the way to the bottom of the screen and click on Accessibility Shortcut and select the hearing aides.

Bafflements:

1. Why all the clicks? To get the HA's to work, it takes so many its a wonder any of us can get them to work. I have a Sena SMH10 sound set for my Motorcycle helmet. It never fails to connect automatically when I turn it on. It's like magic. The only thing I ever had to do was pair it originally. Never lost the pairing, never have to do anything else. If it were this much hassle, I would have returned it.

2. Why if my iphone recognizes my hearing aides and they work, does the Trulink App not work?

3. This is a trulink and Apple issue. Why is the method for disconnecting from the device so convoluted? Turning off bluetooth does not work because with my iPad I have a bluetooth keyboard I need to be able to use whether or not I want my HA's connected. So again numerous clicks through the labyrinth.

Maybe iOS8 will solve all this, but I doubt it.

One success story. I thought I was losing connection with my left HA but instead the dome I was using allowed the Aid to move so that it was apparently not properly place in the canal. I changed domes (had two kinds). Now I hear very well. Don't even need to use streaming with the iPad. Although, I may find thins I will.

Okay, now I see what you mean about the spinner when you are in Settings/Bluetooth.  Back out of that.  I get the same thing, but thats not where I control it.  I just use the TRIPLE CLICK to get to the iOS control screen.  Even though you get the spinner in BlueTooth, ignore that and just use triple click.  Should work fine there regardless of the spinner in bluetooth.

I don't use TruLink at all.  It is a pain.

I know what you mean about not wanting to turn off bluetooth on the iPad because you use a keyboard.  Same here.  But you can then turn bluetooth back on on the iPad AFTER your HA's connect to the iPhone, and the HA's should stay connected to the iPhone, and the keyboard to the iPad.  This isn't terribly elegant, but for the time being it works.  Yes, it is a hassle, but this is the bleeding edge of the technology.  To get around that, you'll have to pull a Rip Van Winkel until all the technology catches up.

You and I are just "ahead of the curve."  ;D

Parrish - I can understand your frustration. I was frustrated, too, until I talked with a Starkey rep.

I made the mistake of thinking that, because the aids connected to my iPhone via Bluetooth, that they would work just like any other Bluetooth device. THIS WAS NOT A CORRECT ASSUMPTION.

You can't use Settings->Bluetooth to manage your aids. You MUST USE Settings->General->Accessibility->Hearing Aids. This is the only path that will successfully and completely pair your hearing aids with your phone. I also learned that, once I reconnect my aids to my phone, I have to wait until the Settings->General->Accessibility->Hearing Aids->(my hearing aids)->Presets displays the "common names" (i.e., Normal, Car, etc.) for the presets instead of Preset 0, Preset 1, etc. before I launch the TruLink app. I have found that if I launch the TruLink app before the phone has completely renegotiated its connection with the aids, I might have to reboot the phone to get the reconnection to work. Not every time and more likely because I am in too much of a hurry to just let it finish renegotiating, but having been a Windows user from 1989 until earlier this year, I find rebooting to be....therapeutic. YMMV

Again, please recognize that Hearing Aids are specialized Bluetooth devices that behave according to their own rules of engagement. I am not enough of a technical expert to know exactly why this is, but I am (for now) content to live with a somewhat laborious step-by-step connection and reconnection process I have to go through to successfully use my hearing aids with my phones. This is not an ideal situation by any means, but because of the vast improvement in my hearing with my Halos, I am more than willing to overlook a little bit of a labyrinth to get to where I want to go.

Regarding your iPad, your Bluetooth keyboard and your hearing aids - I don't know that there is a solution that will please you at this time. I understand that you want to be able to use both devices with your iPad and that disconnecting Bluetooth to solve one will cause problems with the other. My suggestion is to follow a strict process of connecting your devices each morning (I'm assuming you put your hearing aids in each morning) and tweak it until it works for you. My recommended process to start with --

1. Begin with all devices powered off.
2. Power up and insert your hearing aids.
3. Power up your iPad. Wait until the presets are recognized as noted above in Settings->General->Accessibility->Hearing Aids->(my hearing aids)->Presets.
4. Launch the TruLink app - this will either perform the final steps of reconnecting or merely validate that it is complete. My results are so far inconclusive on this point. I believe that if I let enough time pass after step 3 (substituting "my iPhone" for "your iPad" above), I won't have to launch TruLink until I need to use it to change the behavior of my aids just prior to my first phone call of the day. However, I am still trying to remember to do things in the right order each morning....
5. Power up your keyboard and let it connect to the iPad

At this point, you should be ready to roll for the day. Let us know how you get on.

NEWS ABOUT iOS 8 !!!

Carumba!  I'm running iOS 8 now on both my iPhone 5 and iPad Mini.  HERE'S WHATS NEW!

1.     In Settings / Accessibility there is now a HEARING AID MODE that says something like IMPROVES AUDIO WHILE STREAMING.  And my audio DOES seem improved after 3 phone calls and listening to some music.

2.     BIG NEWS!  I was using my Starkey i90's with the iPhone, and started the movie AVATAR on my iPad Mini, and there was a POPUP saying,

"Attempting to take connection from another device"  A second later, I heard Avatar in my hearing aids, but was still able to control the MICS from my iPHONE!

I'd like to know how that happened. My hearing aids seem to connect almost flawlessly to the iPhone, but not to the iPad. All I get is the spinning ball. I even had to turn Bluettoth off on my iphone because I did not want it to forget my hearing aids. Still nothing on iPad. Went through whole shut down and restart. There should be a tutorial for all these changes.

Things missing:

1. No disconnet option exists any longer. There is only forget this device.

2.  There should be a tutorial for all these changes.

3. God only knows what more.

Had I not read on the internet that one should not approve activating icloud drive if one uses icloud until Yosemite was released a lot of my important documents would have been lost.

I now have 24 hours experience with iOS 8, my Starkey i90's and an iPhone (5) and iPad Mini.

Everything worked perfectly the FIRST time I tried iOS8.  I could STREAM from the iPad, and CONTROL (TRIPLE CLICK SCREEN) from EITHER device.  Then LAST NIGHT I started having trouble with the iPad.  This morning, I couldn't connect from the iPad at all, and went through the "Forget This Device" routine.  It wouldn't pair.

SO ON A HUNCH I replaced the batteries in the Starkeys, and everything came alive again.  -Not just a matter of opening and closing the battery doors, but actually trying FRESH batteries.  YES!  All is working fine again.

NOTE: you can open the triple click window on iPhone and iPad, and actually control your aids with either device.  Yes, adjusting the sliders on the iPhone will raise or lower the volume, and a second later, you'll see the sliders on the iPad move as well.  No kidding!  BUT you can only STREAM from one device at a time.  Therefore, STREAMING and CONTROL are completely separate.

It is worth noting that for some reason, I had to RE-PAIR my aids to the devices.

So.... I can open TABLO TV on my iPad, and watch either LIVE or RECORDED TV, and while doing so, CHANGE THE MICROPHONE VOLUME on the aids from the iPhone OR iPad.

Parrish - have you tried re-pairing your hearing aids to the iPad and iPhone?

Let us know where you're at.

I tried everything. When I finished loading iOS8, I re-paired my aids to iPhone.Then I did to the iPad which worked first time. After that no. Since that I have paired and re-paired with iPhone after doing the forget the device thing and trying to pair with the iPad. I got message that Dogsitter got "Attempting to take connection from another device" but thought it was doing something weird. Of course, there are no instructions avaiable on these issues so what does one do? There is some info in the OS8 manual for iPad. Can't spend time with it now. Have work to do.