iPhone 12 Pro Max Bluetooth Issues

I had the same issue - I have a pair of over ear headphones in the app for my headphones, I had to reset the devices that my headphones were paired to. Once I cleared that list, it immediately connected my phone. In short, reset your headphone so they are like new.

I wonder: Is everyone who is experiencing this issue, putting each of their BT devices into pairing mode, so it can pair with the new phone? That made a big difference for me. My new phone didn’t inherit the paired connections of all my BT gadgets, after being restored from backup. But when I put each device into pairing mode (typically by holding the on/off button for a few seconds) everything went back to normal - the phone saw the device, and was able to pair with it. I confess, it had been so long since I last paired the phone with a new BT device, I’d forgotten it was a necessary one-time step. Sounds dumb, but it worked for my iPhone 12 PM, after experiencing the same symptoms everyone is describing here.

I had the same issue with my new 12 pro. And I finally got it to pair with all my Bluetooth devices. When I went into settings and hit where my name is, for Apple ID, cloud, etc., I noticed that my old iPhone X was still listed under devices. So clicked iPhone X, then on the next screen I hit remove from account. Once it was removed from the account it started to connect to all of the devices. Even went to the car and it connected there as well.

Hope this will helps anyone with the same Bluetooth issues.

From trying several different things I found that it has to do with the wireless transfer from an old phone.

I was using an iPhone XS Max. I moved to an iPhone 12 Pro. I performed the wireless transfer and the first thing it did after the transfer completed, restarted, and got back to the home screen was several popups in a row saying it could not connect to bluetooth devices, and instead of the names it was their MAC addresses. Some things connect fine and others cannot even be seen by the phone.

I performed a reset and set it up as a new phone, and all of my bluetooth devices could be seen. I reset the phone again, and this time restored from a backup and the problem was back. I have had iPhones for way too long and have way too many apps to wipe the device and set it up as a new phone. Apple needs to fix this with an update to iOS.

If you still have your old iPhone, delete any Bluetooth devices from it. I was unable to connect with Bluetooth devices on my new iPhone 12Pro. Someone suggested deleting devices from your old iPhone. My old iPhone 7 was sitting dead in a drawer, so it seemed unlikely that it could affect my new phone. However, I plugged it in, deleted all Bluetooth devices, and thankfully that solved my problem. If anyone has their old iPhone, it’s worth a try. Good luck!

I had the same issue on my new iPhone 12 Pro Max with latest iOS (11/03/2021)

I also had to Unpair / "Forget" my Headphones on two other devices that my headphones were paired to (a Dell laptop & my old iPhone XS)

Once I "Forget" the pairing on both devices - they appeared in my new phone.

I could then add them back / pair them on the laptop etc & it all NOW co-exists BUT needed to be on the iPhone 12 Pro FIRST before being paired on anything else

HTH

Wayne

That’s the problem. Furst batch hardware failure. Apple replaced my first batch iPhone 12 pro for a second batch model. Result: Not even 1 problem!! Same specs, same backup, same AppleID.

Trust me. 100% hardware related

Following advices form this blog I solved. You need to go to the each previous iPhone u have registered and click “forget this device” for each Bluetooth device you want to connect to the new iphone12. It worked seamlessly.

Just received my new iPhone 12 Pro Max two days ago, upgraded from iPhone X. I had the same bluetooth issues as everyone here, where my new phone would not recognize any third party bluetooth devices, such as my Sony wireless headphones, external sound bar, speakers, etc. After much fiddling around and reading through this comment thread, here is what finally worked for me. On my old phone, I went to every listed bluetooth device and selected "Forget This Device". Then, after backing up to the iCloud twice (just to be sure!), I erased all content and settings from my old phone. I was going t have to do this anyway since I'm sending back my phone for the $700 rebate. I then accessed my Apple ID account that lists all of my Apple devices. I found my old phone listed, clicked on it and selected "Remove from Account". I restarted my new phone and then manually reconnected to each bluetooth device, same as I had to do originally, e.g., on my Sony headphones, holding down the power button for several seconds until the lights started blinking and then the device finally showed up on my phone. I am running IOS 14.3. Hopefully this helps someone else.

Reset everything including your headphones..

I had these issues first time I tried to pair to the same exact headphones, I completely wiped all Bluetooth devices from my new phone and reset all Bluetooth devices also and have not had one issue since

I have spent 2 hours on the line with Apple Support on this subject and none of their remedies worked. Based on that I was not prepared to go for their last resort fix, which was to restore the phone to its factory settings.

I spent most of the day experimenting and discovered this fix, which worked for me at least and is so easy it's worth a try:

• Go to icloud.com and sign in.
  • If you click on the link to your account. you will see all your Apple devices.
  • It was unclear to me from the names assigned which was my new and which was my old phone, so I clicked "find phone" on each name to be sure. I have no idea if this step is relevant, but that's what I did.
• Sign out.
• Try again to pair your iPhone 12 with your devices - mine all worked with no hassle.
• Sign back into icloud.com. All my bluetooth devices are still paired.

It may be a complete fluke, and I may discover tomorrow morning that it doesn't work anymore. But it only takes a few minutes so it's worth a try.

Good luck

Had the same darn problem. On/off, not very good sound at either end when used with phone, very good sound with Bose NC headset. Apple sent replacement and shazzamm......perfection. It seems all BT functionality is just perfect. I actually bought 3 different BT items to make sure it wasn't a problem at my end and none worked right. Now they all perform flawlessly.

A person on this thread said to turn your headset (mine is a Sena snowtalk2) off to reset it. The factory resent on Sena is to click on the right earphone button for 15 seconds. I did that and it worked! Immediately upon turning the Sena back on, the Sena paired with my iPhone 12 max pro phone.

I just followed a great tip from AkisPG and eliminated every Bluetooth device from my old iPhone 7, which was sitting completely dead in a drawer, so I had no idea it could affect my new 12Pro. I am thrilled to report that, after a month of absolute frustration with my new phone, it now pairs with my Bluetooth devices. If you have an old phone, give this a try. It's much easier than calling Apple, doing a factory reset, etc. I was about to return my phone until I tried this. Thank you, AkisPG, for this tip, and good luck to everyone with this ridiculous issue.

Folks..

I solved this issue with my 12 Pro bluetooth disconnecting third party speakers after 1 minute or so. It has nothing to do with iPhone12 software or chip. Turned out, my older iPhone also had these speakers registered in Bluetooth devices. Forget all of them, reset network settings, and problem solved. Works like a charm.

Cheers