Bluetooth audio problems Catalina

I have similar issues with my bluetooth earphones. I updated yesterday to Catalina and now my bluetooth earphones constant freeze at random time, while on Mojave they were working perfectly.

Same here, it connects with my bluetooth system, my output is set on that specific bluetooth system, but when i play music, there is no sound, even when my volume is 100%.

Is this issue ever going to get resolved?

I have MacBook Pro with Catalina 10.15.6 (the worst decision of my life)

Does someone from the apple team care to address all these queries? :S

You did this on Terminal? (I'm not a sophisticated user)

THIS WORKED!

Having the same issue where all devices are stuttering when receiving bluetooth connection from my macbook pro. Running Catalina 10.15.6.

Same problem on Big Sur as well.

Has anyone found a solution for this problem? I am running Catalina 10.15.7 and can't get my JBL Charge 3 to stay connected longer than a few seconds.

Updated to BigSur 11.2

Day 1 after update: The issue is fixed temporary.

DAY 2 after update: The issue comes back.

Apple, Please fix the issue!

Same issue happening with a Jabra 75 UC and a Plantronics Legend on a 2017 13 inch MacBook Pro after upgrading to Catalina. I'm running 10.15.1

If I'm on a VOIP call over Zoom or Hangouts the audio drops out within a matter of minutes. The same headsets work flawlessly on my phone and Windows machine.

I've tried all of the resetting tricks and PRAM/SMC clears.

This is super annoying and I'm surprised something this wasn't caught during QA. It only appears to affect Bluetooth audio because my mouse and keyboard seem to work normally.

You could redirect 'dmesg' output to a file, like eg.:

sudo dmesg > ~/dmesg-output.txt

[it will create 'dmesg-output.txt' in your home directory; to read more about it either check 'man bash' or any book on *nix shell scripting fundamentals]

Then, you could search this file for whatever strings you want, eg.:

grep -Ei 'bluetooth|audio' ~/dmesg-output.txt

[again, to learn more about that command check any *nix book on regular expressions or 'man grep']

You can also search '/var/log/system.log' for relevant info.

Thanks tmarciniak for the link,

I just hanged up with them, after 50 minutes troubleshooting.

We checked if I had a malware app (e.g Clean My Mac...) and suggested to use THE ONLY app Apple recommend: MalwareBytes (they have a free version and a free premium trial of 14 days)

To be honest It found an adware installed as a Chrome extension, I removed it and testing now, will tell you guys if it worked.

If any of you guys is willing to give this a try with me, could you please share the name of that bloody Adware so we close this issue if we confirm it. (I didn't screenshot it by mistake)

Same issue here - began with the upgrade to Catalina. I have an iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2019) and use it with my Sony WH-1000MX3 headphones. Audio connection randomly reverts to built-in Headphones (speakers) connection - Bluetooth still shows the Sony headphones as connected. Selecting the Sony headphones from the audio list in the menubar fails to reconnect them as audio output. Only fix for me is to power the headphones down completely and then turn them on again. Seems to begin happening when the iMac is under heavy load (rendering) but then persists even when normal load is restored. Very frustrating.

Bluetooth problems with Sony WH-CH500 bluetooth headset after Catalina update. I've taken all the actions outlined by the OP and no joy. I am using a 2018 MacBook Pro.

Exact scenario:

1. I turn on the headset
2. Bluetooth automatically connects (Macbook Pro and Headset)
3. 15 seconds later Bluetooth disconnects. If I try playing media in this 15 seconds it just waits and will them play through laptop speakers after the disconnection.
4. After this if I manually connect from the Bluetooth icon in the menu bar the connection works and doesn't disconnect after this.

So the problem appears to only occur when with the initial automatic connection. Everything is okay after the subsequent manual connection.

Same version as you: 10.15.1 (19B88)

I just have a little cheap bluetooth earbud. Dropping issue seems to be fixed. (I think its normal to drop when its not being used for a while so I think its fine) but I do have that static issue that comes and goes and only way to fix it is to restart the computer. I've never had so many issues with upgrading OS. My brother did his upgrade and has a known issue where the system just died after install and never been able to reboot. It's crazy. He had to go buy a new computer. He has to make an appointment to try to see if they can salvage his computer after his update. I don't think I will ever do an upgrade again.