My new iPhone 11 keeps disconnecting bluetooth devices

13,2 fixed my Bluetooth issue on my 2018 Toyota Highlander and my 11pro.

I troubleshooted with a senior advisor at Apple and they know that there is a problem. They are trying to diagnose and release a fix ASAP.  The more people that contact them, the more information they have, the sooner they have the information, the quicker they will be able to resolve the issue(s). They simply do not have enough data to solve it. I was asked to communicate this on this forum. So please call Apple ASAP and troubleshoot with them. iPhone technical support: (800) 694-7466 (800-MY-IPHONE)

Updated to 13.2 today. No dice. Using a Plantronics Explorer 50 and it disconnected after about 5 minutes. That was also after forgetting and re-pairing the device.

It's not due to an old copy of an iphone introducing some bug as Apple likes to suggest. We proved that at the Apple store when we completely wiped the phone clean and restored it as a brand new install. The phone disconnected from the headset immediately on 13.1.3 while the iPhone 8 running 13.1.2 and the iPhone 8 Plus running 13.1.3 were steady as a beating drum.

Apple agreed and replaced the phone under warranty, but it hasn't changed anything. Same issues with the two Plantronics Explorer 50 headsets I have, the Bose QC35 headphones, the bluetooth adapter in my car, and my Suunto running watch.

The new Bluetooth 5.0 headset I purchased seems to be fine though. That's a NewBee LC-B41. It was cheap, it has great battery life, but it's not as comfortable as my Plantronics, and it isn't as easy to use. For example, if I leave home with my phone, I can't reconnect the headset by tapping a button. I have to either turn the device off and then back on or go into phone bluetooth settings and manually connect again.

Both my wife and I have iPhone XS models. They both do exactly this on our 2019 Toyota Highlander. This started with iOS 12.4. It was not a problem before that. I've experimented heavily with this issue. It clears up temporarily after a reboot, I've noticed. But fear not, it will eventually return.

I'm pretty sure this is related to notifications that come in during phone calls. My call drops tend to be centered around a push notification timing. Toyotas have a feature where they will read you text messages. I suspect something occurs whereby iOS is trying to determine whether or not a given push notification is eligible to send to the car radio and then it craps out in the process. As a result, bluetooth calls either get routed back to the phone, or flat out disconnected. No new calls can then be made via bluetooth until the car is turned off and back on again, or the phone is rebooted. I NEVER get disconnected using my phone to send music to the car. I can stream it all day long without a single disconnect. Purely call-related.

I've tried every reset type imaginable to include wiping the phone and restoring it. Nothing works. A phone that doesn't work as a phone. Way to go, Apple! I've had tickets open with them since August. They keep collecting logs from me but take so long to review them that a new version of iOS comes out and then they ask me to recreate the issue and send in more logs. Multiple times I've played this game now. Unless you recreate on whatever is the current version, they won't even look at your logs in hope that some other part of engineering fixed the issue in the latest release. There are so many releases occurring these days that it's pretty much impossible to get them logs and have them look at them before a new version comes out. Again, I say "way to go, Apple!". Seriously considering moving the entire family to Android. This is beyond ridiculous that a $1000 phone can't fulfill it's basic purpose.

The latest update seems to have fixed it for me. I’ve not had a recurrence since anyway.

Update: iOS 13.2 beta 2 appears to have solved the issue for me

In the settings to to bluetooth. Here you see the paired device. tap on the "i" at the end of the line. Here you find a toggle to deactivate the Sync of contacts, caller lists, ...

all that is crazy. since hardreset did solve it for say 5-8 times i had to shut down it fir different reasons and had it turned off for a while and since then i had no issues now for 4 consecutive days....

despite that i called apple and just asked the guy to just report the bug in order create bug reports....

Happy to say the new update Update 13.2 fixed the bluetooth problem with my 2010 Porsche Panamera. Hope it works for everyone else. All the other things I tried did not work until this new update came out.

man...that really sucks. with my iphone7 after ios 13.2. everything works. i now have 13.3 beta 2 and it's still working. but i had to shut it down after every install and restart because otherwise it kept showing the issue. this is really really ******...

FredFitz wrote:

Yeah some times I wonder if Apple even looks at the boards. Mine connects for about one second. I only know that because an icon shows on Jeeps display.

Wonder no more! As it says explicitly in the Terms of Use that you didn’t read (but who does?) Apple does not participate in Apple Support Communities; it is a user-to-user technical support forum. Apple offers a number of ways to communicate directly with them; this forum is not one of those ways.

For general feedback: https://apple.com/feedback

For Apple tech support, which sounds like what you need, there are several ways:

• Install the Apple Support app from the app store
• Make a Genius Bar appointment—>https://www.apple.com/retail/geniusbar/
• Use the Contact Support link at the top of this page (you can chat when available, or have them call you)
• DM @applesupport on Twitter

I was on Apple support tier one for quite awhile last night. I thought I was headed to tier 2. Tier one returned to the phone and said tier 2 wanted to know if my 2 bt devices were close together and perhaps interfering with each other. Uh. Isn’t that the very definition of blue tooth - lack of interference.

I recorded a screen capture of the problem - here is what’s happening. Maybe if everyone verifies the same thing they will work on a fix -

1). You are happily connected.

2). Suddenly your Bluetooth device is no longer providing you music/sound etc

3) wait a full 10 seconds or so watching the Bluetooth connection screen in settings. You will see that Bluetooth actually turns off totally and then quickly back on. At that time your devices must now reconnect.

I told Apple this is our iPhone 11 actually shutting the Bluetooth off then on. I’m still at tier 1.

last night as requested I reset my phone back to new. The error continues to happen. I expect a call from Apple at 8.

In my opinion, Apple already got the $1500 from me, and I don't think they care about fixing the issue.

So far I have done the following, and I still have disconnects with car bluetooth and Jabra i75t.

1. Reset phone as new
2. Reset Network Settings
3. Replace AT&T SIM card
4. Apple Genius Bar did diagnosis, and everything OK
5. Replace iphone under Applecare
6. Restore from backup
7. Restore as new iPhone
8. Apple Genius Bar did diagnosis, and everything OK. According to them, it might be some application. Because the diagnosis was successfully, phone cannot be replaced.
9. Restore as new iPhone, and only necessary applications
10. Phone is still disconnecting

I tested clicking on connect in Bluetooth when getting into the car and, nope. It keeps disconnecting. - again, here is the pattern

1) Auto Alexa connected.

2) Bluetooth car connected

3) while talking to Alexa she stops responding - Exactly 34 seconds later I watch the switch on the Bluetooth connection on the 11pro switch to off (by itself) - now all Bluetooth disconnects.

4) the phone Bluetooth switch, by itself, turns back on with on 3-4 seconds.

5) everything connects eventually.

if anyone has your earbuds disconnecting regularly, can you watch the Bluetooth switch to see if within 34 seconds it turns itself off?

I also have a problem with WIFI. At first I thought it was bad coverage on a particular WiFi but I’m recognizing the it does not matter where - the browser won’t work unless I switch WiFi off and back on as if it also is losing that connection.

It came on Speaker setting. I switched to Automatic and now it hasn’t disconnected. Have you tried turning your phone off and turning Bluetooth off for a minimum of 5 seconds? I did that because of another issue I was happening. That article also told me to make sure my charger was plugged into the USB in my Lexus. My dealership had me plug it into the other area (what used to be a lighter in cars). 🤷🏻‍♀️ Not sure but this worked for me.