IPhone 4 Bluetooth Issues

I too can't make my new iPhone 4.3.2 work with bluetooth. Not even the TomTom adaptor for car that i bought at the Apple online store. I had the phone replaced and I replaced the Itunes program and reloaded etc. Nothing works. My old iPhone 3 can find all the bluetooth equipments, but the new 4 can't. In used many hours on this. As some others don't seem to have this problem, I think it could be the bluetooth parts from one factory plant that works and another plant that doesn't. But this should not be the customers problem.

I've seem to have localized the problem. I have the BH-905i headset that uses bluetooth.

There are two possibilities to how the headset operates.

a) headset loses bluetooth connection after a short period and doesnt reconnect, and bluetooth deosn't offer the extra sound modes.

b) headset doesnt lose connection, and bluetooth offers the extra sound mode.

Iphone 4 Verizon with 4.2.6 fw preinstalled operates in mode a)

Ipad 2 with 4.3.1 fw preinstalled operates in mode a)

Ipod Touch 4G with non upgraded fw at 4.2.1 operates in mode b)

Ipad 1 with 4.2.1 operates in mode b), after upgrade of fw to 4.3.1 it operates in mode a) and after it upgrades to 4.3.2 it sill operates in mode a)

This leads me to conclude that a change after 4.2.1 fudged something up with the bluetooth connectivity.

My tempoary solution is to keep one device downgraded to 4.2.1 for bluetooth. My hopeful solution is that Apple may read this and make changes in the next fw. But considering that bluetooth user are only a subset of ios users, I wont bet too much on the second solution.

I'm using Iphone 4 with iOS 4.3.2 + Sony MW600 BT headset. Just a side note, I'm not a technician nor a programmer so excuse me if i'm wrong.

I have reasons to believe some of the BT problems is caused by software issues and not the phone itself. This is either issues from the iOS itself or from Apps that all of us have downloaded. Don't get me wrong, as update iOS 4.3.2 goes, it made the iPhone more BT friendly to my headset.

As you all have stated, the problems have occured a while ago. Could this be the introduction of multi tasking on the Iphone? Sounds far fetched but could be related as earlier iPhones or iOS do not have multi-tasking. I've also found viewing some notifications (opening an App) would cause BT to drop if there are Apps already running in the background. Maybe some Apps are conflicting if they are opened one after another? As multi-tasking might be the problem, could sounds from different Apps be conflicting the sounds from the iPhone itself and cause BT to drop? That is, too many sounds are trying to play at the same time.

Please try this if BT is a problem, as it has worked for me. Most of you would know this by now, but I'm assuming some of you may need step by step instructions.

Turn your BT device off. Go to settings > Bluetooth > press on the arrow and forget ur BT device. Close all running Apps in the background (double tap home button, press and hold an App until it jiggles, then close all the running Apps). Turn Off your phone by press and hold the sleep button. Slide to OFF your phone. Press sleep button again to turn On. Re-connect ur headset by pairing it again. After you've done that, make sure you only have one App open at one time. If BT drops, then you can reconnect it by going to settings and connect your BT device by tapping your device name in settings > Bluetooth. If BT fails again, repeat the process again. It is tedious but it seems like it is the only way for my headset to work with the iPhone.

Hope this helps!

I have the same problem with my iphone4 upgraded to 4.3.2

It fails to work with my Honda Crv Bluetooth as it is not able to discover it.

With further testing, it seems that it is not able to discover nokia n95, bb9000 and worse even my wife's iphone4 too. Bb9000 and nokia n95 are able to see this iPhone but failed to pair... My n95 works perfectly and now my excitement with this new iPhone I bought was killed by this nightmare I am faced! Can anybody shade some light???

I'm having a similar problem with my Vtech home phone with bluetooth. My 3G phone worked great for the past year and would automatically connect when I came home. I just upgraded to an iphone 4 and it keeps dropping the bluetooth and will NEVER automatically connect.

Absolutely unacceptable that I should have to manually connect each time. Can anyone (Apple, you too...) tell me how to fix this? Sounds like a software issue with Apple and one that has been in place since the beginning of IOS 4. This *****....

I bought the sound 1d 510 and it works fine with the iphone4. However, sound quality is not great on either end. I was able to connect my plantronics pro and in a comparison test the PP had far superior sound on both ends. Too bad it does not work 80% of the time with this phone!

Paul, if you look a few posts above, you will see that I have the Sound ID 510 also, & so far all is well. As a control experiment, I had the listeners compare my output both with the 510, and the corded earset that came with the phone. All said they sound identical. I want to clarify this because besides connectivity, people are having very serious muffled sound problems with certain Bluetooth's as well (such as the Icon) that are in a whole different category from yours. So be careful to say the sound is not great, because people might think the 510 is having the same problem as the other Blueteeth out there and avoid a reasonably good device.

So I would ask if you could do the control experiment with your 510 & corded earset also. If your 510 is indeed inferior to the earset, let me know & I will stop endorsing the 510.

Did a power off and back on with the iphone and it recognized and connected to my BT device right away. I'll reply in a few days if the problem is fixed.

Perhaps there were apps running in the background that were causing the problem. If so, which one.???? hmm

Hi flyinmn, I think The Apps that cause my BT to drop are the ones that has their own media player .That is, playing music through a custom media player from the App and not using the iPod feature through the iPhone. On the other hand, Apps that has a short cut that uses the ipod features of the phone.

Apps like, Trapster definitely did cause my BT to disconnect. It has it's media player or a short cut to iPod in the App. Soundhound works sometimes however if it BT drops I've to Off and On my phone. Soundhound is the same. It has a link to the IPod feature as well. Just remember to full close Apps you're not using. I'm starting to think there are a lot of conflicts within the iOS

with Apps.

I found this out through trial and error testing. Good luck everyone!

Bluetooth connected automatically today after doing a restart yesterday. Only apps used today were ipod, email and photo's. Will start using my favorite apps one at a time until I find the one causing the problem.

Also, I've been having wifi connectivity issues when connecting using airplay. Those did not occur today at all so it seems similar to the BT issue.

Reading through this thread in some ways I am lucky - my iPhone 4 (running v4.3.3) connects to my in car Parrot kit, I can make calls and receive calls BUT I have no volume control of the speaker at all - the volume buttons on the phone do nothing in this mode.

All previous phones - Nokia, Sony and Blackberry connected fine and their volume controls adjusted the level fine.

Why oh why can't my iPhone?!!

Same BS issues here. Apparently we have to contact the media and put a "gate" on the end of it to get any attention from Apple. This is just crazy, this has been an issue through multiple firmware, multiple headsets and vehicles and they are just ignoring the issue. Spectacular Antenna design on the iphone 4 Steve Jobs, just magical..Not only does it drop MORE calls than the old phone but it couldn't keep any type of BT connection if my life depended on it.

I get it. People at Apple are SOOOOO cool that they never dare use headsets apparently else they would also see you can't even put the **** phone in your pocket without it losing connection. That plus the on again, off again BT to iphone audio connection which works only when it feels like it. Such a joke.

If iphone 5 has these insanely STUPID issues, ones which other phone makers solved YEARS ago, expect a stink to be made...then you can have a press conference where you try to belittle the press and say we should trust you, while you still pull this type of crap out the other side of your face.

I have an issue with my iphone 4 as well on two blue tooth connections. 1 with my new toyota yaris and one with my handsfree blueAnt. The toyota connection sound is scrambled and then it settles after 2- 3 minutes. My BlueAnt handsfree does not get detected, and it worked well with my iphone 3. There is a real issue with the iphone blue tooth and we need an urgent patch from apple.

Same problem here. Before first update on iPhone 4, bluetooth worked fine in my Nissan Titan. Ever since then, nothing but problems connecting. Bluetooth system doesn't ring, no information displayed on system, etc. etc.

I waited patiently for the next update...........no change, next update........no change. I've called Apple Care, and apparently they don't. (Care, that is). They blame it on the Bluetooth manufacturer, and recommend I call them to have them update the firmware on the system in my truck. Being as desperate as I am, i did so, but with no luck. I can't blame them. It's Apple's issue. Why is Apple not addressing this?

As much as I've supported and been a fan of Apple, I'm about ready to follow in my friends and coworkers footsteps and head for the nearest Droid dealer.

My problem is just the connect problem. I have Parrot handsfree in two cars and two GPS units with handsfree support and a Plantronics stereo handsfree and they all behave the same so it must be a iPhone issiue. If BT is enabled on the iPhone but no device connected for 15minutes or more the iPhone4 can not "see" any of the devices and the devices can not "see" my iPhone. But if I disable BT and enable it again they all connect instantly. If I have a BT device connected it seems to work without problems for me as long as I have at least one device connected. I have no problem keeping the BT connection up for a whole day in the car for instance. So for me it looks like some software firmware crashes in the iPhone BT. I am not sure but I think it hapends faster if the iPhone is in an environment with other unpaired BT devices compared to if the iPhone is in an environment where there are no BT devices.

I did never have this problem with my old iPhone3G and my wife has an older iPhone4 with older software 4.3 and it works fine for her. I run on 4.3.3 and have this problem. My wife do not dare to upgrade her iPhone since she is afraid that she will have the same problem as I have.

I was hoping 4.3.3 would fix this since it seems to be a quite easy fix, but no.

Please Apple fix this problem since it is really annoying that the handsfree do not work when I get into the car and I have to get the phone up and restart BT each time and as far as I can see it must be easily corrected or at least add some code that automatically restarts the BT when it goes down if Apple don't can / are willing to fix this the real problem.