iPhone 11 on iOS 13 having Bluetooth connectivity issues

We had a bunch of issues when we moved my spouse from her android to iPhone11. I've had an apple phone since day one, and never experienced any issues with Bluetooth.

Her issues were primarily car connect problems, and it seemed to occur in either my 2020 Jeep, or her 2017 Veloster, where the android device worked fine.

We both have model 11's of the phone. I have the pro, she has the non pro. For me it was get in and go. Just had to remove the iPhone X profile and add the 11. For her, it would not work. We tried everything mentioned in this forum, but I could not get anything stable expect car play, which works great with either device. In the end, I removed all settings (phone stuffs) from the Jeep, then reset the entire Uconnect system inside the vehicle. Following that, I removed the battery terminals for 15min, and that did the trick. No more issues. Why? Who knows.

The Hyundai was the biggest issue, but the easiest to fix. There's the typical menu option where you can add/remove the phone, and another menu option for Bluetooth settings. Because we cleared her old android phone from the system, those secondary settings reset to default. It's critical that those settings be changed in order for the phone to connect when you first start the car. Not sure if this applies to all Hyundai vehicles, but these changes enabled her to use the phone in both autos without issue.

For those with other types of cars/trucks, it may be worth while digging around in your menu screen to ensure there are no hidden BT options.

Aside from that, ensure that all BT devices are removed before you start and while it probably does little, try to reset network settings on the phone.

Bluetooth is an evolving standard that changes every few years. The newest iphones have the latest implementation of this technology, whereas car manufactures take longer to update. Even a new 2020 may have a older Bluetooth chip on board, and certainly that 2013 model will be even older. As the spec evolved, so did the speed, and capabilities. While they claim backwards compatibility where the iphone 11 should be able to connect to say a 1.0 spec, its not always that easy. There are over 30 thousand members on the BT list, and that makes for a lot of different devices on the market. I have a Sony smart speaker from 2008 that uses BT 2.1, but its just not 2.1 that could be the problem, but also any BT chip that has energy saving features. I can use my old S3 from Samsung with that Sony speaker, and my iphone 5 works ok as well. After that, none would work, including my wifes old S5 from Samsung. While none of this should apply to the latest gadgets, especially airpods, it would certainly apply to automobiles.

I have a solution!

I had no issues with my older phone and once I got my brand new iPhone 11 Pro, I couldn’t hold a Bluetooth connection! We trouble shooters multiple things. Apple Care told me that my “back up may be corrupt.” So finally, as a last resort, I ERASED my phone to factory settings! Once I tested the Bluetooth in my car again, it was perfect. It held the connection! Once I tried to reload my “backup” info back into my phone, the problem came back! He was right! Somehow I had a corrupt “backup.” It sounds ridiculous, but it worked. So I have an empty phone that works perfectly on Bluetooth. Bittersweet! Save your photos and notes in iCloud. Use Google Photos if you’d like. This way you can have them easily accessible through your factory reset phone!

This might not work for everybody but this is what an Apple engineer told me to do. You must restore from a laptop via Apple in iTunes. First backup your phone into iTunes. Then Do a full erase. (The same as if you are selling your phone). Then restore from iTunes. (NOT CLOUD OR ANOTHER PHONE OR IPAD). This is because when doing a restore from a laptop or computer iTunes downloads the latest program and firmware.

I did this and so far my problem seems to have been solved. My Bluetooth earpiece stayed connected ok but people I was speaking too couldn’t hear me. Now they can. I don’t know if it is permanent but one can hope. I don’t know about the connection to your car, my taxi doesn’t have that. Good luck all.

I cured my 11 by doing a full restore from iTunes. Not the cloud or another phone or pad. Otherwise you could be copying the error. I pulled the lead when my memory was empty then reconnected for full restore. That way no old program was in my phone. Good luvk

Be sure to delete your connection from both your car and your phone and then re-pair.

Sometimes configuration information changes between iOS releases and it can confuse the head unit.

SOLVED - Upgraded software to 13.1, re-paired speaker now working fine

IOS 13.1.2 release, addresses issue where Bluetooth may disconnect on certain vehicles. I have not had time to install and test.

I have an iPhone 6s . I have been facing this issue after I upgraded to IOS 13& also persists after upgrading to iOS 13.1. The only way around I found is that rather relying on auto connect.. I got to bluetooth under settings and click on the particular device and connect it through settings on iPhone. Then the connection sustains. But yes auto connect doesn’t work and disconnects after few seconds

It is rather odd, Bluetooth works 100% with my AirPods, Anker SoundCore speaker and JBL Go 2 speaker. Yet, sometimes it won’t connect to my 2014 Dodge Dart Uconnect 8.4 radio.

I turned off “Hey Siri” and now it connects 90% of the time. Disabling that also eliminated the pops and crackles during phone calls made in the car through the Bluetooth connection.

Maybe try disabling “Hey Siri” as a workaround until Apple fixes the problem?

Mine seems to be resolved with my iPhone 11 Pro Max and Plantronics PLT_Edge bluetooth headset after forgetting on iPhone and then repairing. It is no longer disconnecting after 60 seconds or so. I had paired this headset initially with iOS 13 when I received the phone and then updated to 13.1. I have also paired my 2016 Jeep Wrangler Uconnect after updating to 13.1 and have had no issues there either.

As I mentioned before I think I fixed it

1. backup to computer using iTunes
2. restore iPhone as new - not from backup
3. when iPhone is new again, restore from the backup you did on your computer using iTunes.
4. remove Bluetooth pairing from iPhone and vehicle and then repair.

i have been driving around in my wife’s Mazda now for 30 min or so with her phone with no dropouts.

if it disconnects again I’ll repost

My 2018 Highlander seems to work fine now after updating to 13.1.1.

After the update, I first deleted all paring information from both my iPhone and Highlander. Disabled the BT on iPhone. Restart both iPhone and Highlander and then repair them.

I tried everything I could think of to connect my devices to Bluetooth with no luck (on iPhone 11 pro). I realized I still had Bluetooth turned on and my devices connected to it on my old phone. I turned off WiFi and Bluetooth on the old phone and my iPhone pro immediately connected to those devices. So for me it was having Bluetooth turned on with the old phone that was the issue. It works beautifully now.

As Apple support were not helpful I got onto a FitBit forum. The suggestion, if you have your old phone, is to open its Bluetooth and forget all devices then switch Bluetooth off. Then go to the new one -- and for me - hey presto they all paired.