Bluetooth audio problems Catalina

Apple Support suggested undertaking a NVRAM reset (see link below).

I have been testing it since and I haven't experienced anymore issues after an hour (it usually disconnected in less than 5 minutes before this).

Let me know if it works for you guys.

NVRAM Reset: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204063

(Don't worry it doesn't erase your data)

I had the same problem when I upgraded to Catalina 10.15.2. Then after suffering for a while I read somewhere that they fixed this usse in 10.15.3. Upgrading to 10.15.3 solved this for me.

Everyone has to call Apple (1-800–692–7753) and tell them:

1) This is a Catalina issue and the problem has NOTHING to do with viruses (lol), & NVRAM reset + bluetooth pref delete + blutooth debug + disconnecting/unpairing & every other trick tried here do NOT work. I repeat this is a bug in MacOS Catalina. None of the suggestions in this thread will work. You can only downgrade to Mojave until it is resolved by Apple who will takes months to fix this unless enough people direct them to this thread. You can see there's at least 300 people with this problem on this thread alone because on the first post of this thread, about 300 people have checked "I have this problem too." This is a major problem for Apple because it's been around since the beta yet hasn't been fixed this whole time.

2) That there's hundreds if not thousands of people or more with the same issue (Refer them to this thread) There are also threads across the internet with the same issue ie Reddit and random websites.

I've been on Mac since OS X Tiger - and this is the first major upgrade with some mission critical failures. How this OS was released like this and this bug ignored despite plenty of complaints on the Beta is baffling.

Anyways, nothing will be done unless YOU call in to Apple (1-800–692–7753) and tell them the above points.

Hey, just wanted to provide an update that i'm part of the Beta for 10.15.3 that just came out, and it appears that this update finally has the fix for this issue. Immediately noticed my headphones we're connected better as soon as I updated, and for the past 3 days, there has been 0 issues with disconnection. As of now, it appears apple finally handled this issue in 10.15.3

d_fuser, XPC error - it means coreaudiod can't communicate with bluetoothaudiod (at least I think so :D ) and then removes all devices that are from bluetooth. Can you open Console app and leave it working and when happened, search for a line "bluetoothaudiod" then, to check what killed it or what happened with it at all?

I have the same issue with Sony WH1000-XM3 on MBA (13", early 2015) Catalina (10.15.3). I guess I have solved this temporarily. The disconnection might be caused by the software interference. The process is as follows:

1. install Bluetooth Explorer from apple deveploper website, which contains in Addtional tools for XCode. (No need to install XCode if you don't have it)
2. Start Bluetooth Explorer, Utilities -> Event log (shortcut: ⇧+⌘+0)
3. You can moniter for a while with bluetooth headphone connected. There might be some error log appear in the logging window, something like,

Endpoint has been activated through legacy launch(3) APIs. Please switch to XPC or bootstrap_check_in()

• If you can identify the cause of the error log, fix it. Otherwise, you can use EtreCheck to assist you locate the cause of the error.

(For my case, I have two major error log, a) shadowsocks-NG, which persists with a plist file to start after I uninstalled it, b) Google chrome updater looking for a full path located in an older user path which I've changed the name.)

• After eliminating these errors, the event log will looks clear as follows:

Process: Bluetooth Explorer 7.0.0
Operating System: Version 10.15.3 (Build 19D76)
Date: 2020-02-11 08:41:59 +0000

PS: FYI, I also enable force use of aptX via Bluetooth Explorer as gmrandazzo suggested in another thread.

Thankyou so much for this post.

My hardware and the steps that worked for me:

1) MacBook Pro 2016/16GB/512GB/15"/2.7GHz I7

2) Sound BalsterX Katana

3) I already had XCode installed

4) Used the provided link to download the additional utilities

5) Had to find the official Apple doc

6) Activate/Launch Bluetooth Explorer (no windows appear, however the menu is active at the top).

7) Click Bluetooth Explorer in the dock (Menu at top becomes active)

8) Click tools/Audio Options

9) Check "Disable AAC"

10) Click Close

11) Reboot - I could not find the "Reset Bluetooth Module" in version 11.

12) Connect to you SBX Katana

13) Click/Press Alt-Bluetooth logo in the top meny bar - Hold this combination/Do not release

14) Move the mouse to hover over SoundblasterX Katana - Note: Codec is SBC

15) Play music and be happy :-)

From my limited understanding of what I did, I think the Apple bluetooth module cannot determine the appropriate Codec to use. This means using the wrong/incompatible codec results in no sound which, from my reading, is where everyone is as of right now.

The remaining problem here is, that while this process may work, it requires a reboot between devices that need AAC and SBC or whatever other codec your device needs. Also it is unclear to me if it is possible to manually force a particular codec on a particular bluetooth sound device.

Hope this helps someone.

PhillB

Some people also said AAC codec works incorrectly in the latest versions. So probably if you turn AAC off, sound will be working ok again. It can be turned off in Bluetooth Explorer (might be needed to download it from Apple website at first). After changing codecs settings, airpods will need to be disconnected and paired again.

As has been said numerous times on this thread - NVRAM reset + bluetooth pref delete + blutooth debug + disconnecting/unpairing & every other trick here does NOT work. I repeat this is a bug in MacOS Catalina. None of the solutions in this thread will work. You can only downgrade to Mojave, and/or contact Apple who will takes months to fix this.

Hi!

Not sure if you already have solve it but, I had the same issue and just found out that the issue is a "corrupted" bluetooth device list.

I followed the steps on this post https://www.catalinaosx.com/bluetooth-not-working-catalina-os/ and it solved the issue.

Hope it helps!

Found this on in a reddit thread about the issue and this seems to fix it for me as well:

"I was d*****g around with the Bluetooth Explorer application, I noticed my headphones were defaulting to AAC in Catalina. Turns out, my headphones are quite old and s**t and don't like fancy new codecs. I went and force-disabled AAC (which is default in Catalina?) and now my audio is in sync."

The Bluetooth Explorer is available as a download in the "Additional Tools for Xcode" package on Apple Developer. You can only disable AAC for Bluetooth Audio and force usage of aptX globally and not for each device, though.

I can easily reproduce the issue. As soon as system needs additional memory it kills idle processes and it thinks for some reason (some bug in the code) that "bluetoothaudiod" is idle and kills it.

You can open application "console" and search for two words: "killing_idle_process" and "bluetoothaudiod" and you should find the same.

I will request support from Apple.

Sorry for delay, had to finish urgent work.

Ok so, I updated to 10.15.3 and now I tried to overload memory to reproduce issue with bluetoothaudio (I did it easily previously many times to reproduce the problem: overload memory, boom - bluetoothaudio lost) and now I did what I can to overload everything and bluetooth didn't disconnect. So it seems it fixed now :) Yay! Will write later again, but I think it's the end of the issue with bluetoothaudiod in Catalina.

rayjayjohnson - which data are you talking about and what happened?

Today after another problem with failed bluetooth audio I have checked one more time in which state is my BT connection to speaker - it was connected, but speaker wasn't listed in output devices. After killing process "coreaudiod", speaker was available in output devices. So, may be problem not in bluetooth? have you any thoughts about it?

Possibly can help installing Bluetooth Explorer from apple website. Then to open it and in menu go to Tools -> Modify software and device configuration -> and ticket "Full factory reset" and perform the action.