iPhone 12 Pro Max Bluetooth Issues

my son and I both just got the pro max and both of us have the BT issues and sometimes for me at least it takes a hard reboot plus toggled off BT and putting the phone in AP mood before I can get it to pair with my headphones. It’s a PAIN in the ***.

I am having EXACTLY the same issues! I just upgraded from the XS to the 12 Pro 2 weeks ago. After trying everything I called apple support and they ran analytics remotely and said it was a bluetooth problem with the phone and told me to go and exchange it for a new phone at the appple store. I did that last week but I am still having the same issues. I guess if it's a handset hardware problem I have probably been given a replacement from the same factory made batch so thus the same hardware problem. I have tried everything - upgraded to latest ios, upgraded my car software (Subaru 2020 model), forgot all bluetooth devices, reset the phone etc. And still - every time I get into my car the audio cuts in and out until I turn bluetooth off on my phone and then turn it on and reconnect. I'm at the point where I'm seriously considering returning this 12 Pro phone and going back to the XS which worked PERFECTLY!! Not good enough appple....

I have found the reason for disconnection issue of My Bose headphones and iPhone 12 Pro max. When my Bose headphones connected simultaneously with 2 devices together at that time I was facing issue of disconnection of headphone with my iPhone. I started connecting my Bose headphones only with one device either Laptop or Mobile. Than it sorted out. No now concerns.

Hope persons facing similar issue after connecting single Bluetooth headphones with 2 devices. They can try to connect only with one device at a time. This will resolve your concern.

Did you call Apple Customer service?

This happened to me this morning also. No devices showed up, including the one I had just turned on. I was kind of hoping that when I restored my back up, it would restore the list of Bluetooth devices that were known to the phone, but no joy. However, after multiple tries, and waiting a significant amount of time, many minutes, my Jambone JamBox finally showed up.

I actually have tried many different things to get this working. Have gone as far as erasing the phone and setting up as new with no data and still have the issue. I keep saying there’s something wrong with either the Bluetooth chip or the software for the Bluetooth chip. And I was super p.o.’d when they told me that “it’s not our job to make the phone work with your 3rd party device, it’s the 3rd party devices manufacturers responsibility to make sure their device is compatible with the phone.”

And I get this, but they basically stopped helping me when engineering told them this. It seems like it’s something Apple needs to work on when I had no issues on 2 older devices and only have the issue on the 12 series phones.

🤦🏻‍♂️

I purchased two iPhone 12 Pro Max 256GB phones (one for my wife and one for myself) and both have proven to be impossible to set up in regards to Bluetooth. Neither phone will recognise any of the devices we have working on our iPhone 7's. Both keep searching for devices (left this running for hours) and never finding any.

I have removed all of the Bluetooth devices from the iPhone 7 and even deregistered the iPhone 7 from my Apple account so that only the iPhone 12 is registered, yet the iPhone 12 still fails to identify any Bluetooth devices. This is the same for both iPhone 12's. I have even carried out a full reset and new set up on the iPhone 12 (having only undertaken the full set up process 3 days ago when they arrived) and the problem still remains. I initially thought (as some others did) that perhaps it was the wireless Quick Start process that had caused the issues through naming duplications etc. and the iPhone 7 data remaining on the Apple account and in the cloud but this has proven not to be the case.

Our iPhone 7's both had around 8 Bluetooth devices connected to them (Volvo car, Ford car, Jaybird headphones, Suunto watches etc.) and each initial connection set up was easy and quick. Our iPhone 7's always seemed to find the device we were looking to set up. This is not the case with our iPhone 12's. Apple online chat couldn't resolve the issues and a call with the Apple Tech Support team didn't identify a problem when they undertook the remote diagnostics check. They stated that both the IOS and the Bluetooth chip were showing as fully working. Obviously something is seriously wrong as Bluetooth set ups should be both easy and fast.

I have decided to send both phones back to Apple for a full refund. While Apple have been helpful and did not question this decision, it's a very disappointing experience with two very expensive products. It's hard to believe that a company like Apple can have got the basics so wrong. I suspect that there is a fundamental IOS issue and that there will no doubt be a software update to fix it but the question is when. It is seriously making me consider an iPhone alternative.

It is still in the iCloud I think. Try changing the name in the network for the Bluetooth device. The devices must not identify the 12 pro Max as your 7. The iCloud must show you have two separate iPhones not 12 replace 7.

I found another reply that helped. I also have the Bose Soundlink. Download the Bose Connect App and follow instructions. Problem solved! Apparently the same will work for Sony (Sony app) and JBl (JBL App). Apple still needs to do a true fix on this

I also had iPhone SX Max. Same thing with me. I found that some things transferred over and some needed to be re set to new device or IPhone. I noticed all my Apple devices, headphones like beats set up right away. Others i need to reset them.

If connecting and reconnecting is happening to all your Bluetooth connections then it’s the Bluetooth of your iPhone is broken and you should get a replacement. If it is only happening to some devices than it’s the Bluetooth devices that is broken or not compatible. The other thing that can cause it would be some others wave are interfering.

This worked for me: iPhone 12 Pro Max / For Escape 2016 (SYNC), both with most current software versions. I had three iPhones listed in the car bluetooth directory, one of which was the pre-exisiting iPhone X. I had swapped the sim from this to the iPhone 12 Pro Max when i configured the new phone.

I first deleted all existing phones, then tried pairing with the iPhone 12 Pro Max. It took numerous attempts over a 15 minute period but was ultimately successful. I have not tried using phone apps on the car screen yet. This was supposed to work on the previous setup but never did.

Hi KevinSWilliams,

I am facing the same issue like you and tested everything similar to as you did, in fact reseting the phone and being an average RF semiconductor engineer almost every Technical and software/app based test etc. etc. but it doesn’t fix this.

After reading many complaint and reviews on different websites it seems like Apple Technical team failed to find the cause of the problem from a decade. And, I can see how efficiently they hire talents and support staff after talking to there technical representatives.

Apple really need to learn to hire talented professionals what they deserve to be in there company and shouldn’t just push everything on their core 20% Engineers. In fact they never check profiles on there job portals and uselessly pay a lot to a good amount of less qualified hires.

Anyways with some possible testing I performed I think the probable cause could be

1) Bluetooth Receiver firmware. as iPhone fails to receive the signal -( can be easily fixed by iOS update if it’s just instruction protocol mismatch) or else could be transceiver design bug or IC Mask layout integrity issue.

And if it is a other hardware lacking :

2) defected Bluetooth ICs or Packaging of miniature RF antenna inside the BT-IC. Could be % Yield issue.

3) Packaging defect specific to this model design ( as this is almost identical to iPhone 5/5s design which had wifi / bluetooth problem too). The closely placed and routed Bluetooth IC and the Wifi chip and broadband signals on the motherboard causing interference. As I notice it disturb SIM signal reception when we enable BT during device search.

4) And lastly could be, the magnet of compass is near RF antenna, notice some tolerance of few percent in showing North. All those models which has Bluetooth issue also has variations and shows wrong North and gps location.

Companies like Qcom / TI / Brdcom could have put a dedicated team of paid engineers for doing this failure analysis even if it is a defect in a design by their own technical project team. Surprised ! What Apple was doing for the whole decade!!

Hi, I have a very similar issue. I had bought and updated my iPhone 12 Pro Max (IOS 14.4) (Early Oct 2020 Manufacturing) over the air from my old iPhone XS two days back.

1. Followed a step-by-step process to connect my Tag Heuer Connected Watch only to find it no longer connects.
2. I tried connecting the same to my wife's iPhone 12 Pro Max (IOS 14.3) and this time the watch connected seamlessly.
3. I tried connecting other Andriod Bluetooth devices to my iPhone12 Pro Max, and I am unable to view them under Bluetooth> available devices. While I am able to connect the same devices to my wife's iPhone 12 Pro Max.
4. I then contacted customer care and after showing them the above through screen share, they concluded that this is a 3rd party issue and mentioned to me that I need to contact the 3rd party manufacturer for the same.

It's very clear to me that this is not a 3rd party issue. If it was a 3rd party issue the watch would have not connected to my wife's iPhone 12 Pro Max.

I think this is either or a combination of the following issues :

A. The issue is with the IOS 14.4 update

B. This is a hardware issue.

C. Or a Combination of both

Details of the issue that I am facing: When I transferred my data from my iPhone Xs over the air to my iPhone 12 Pro Max, the Bluetooth settings were transferred over as well. If so and in ideal circumstances, the Bluetooth devices should connect. But the strange thing is that it is not even showing up in the available Bluetooth device list. What's even stranger is that I can see that the watch is connected as per the control center. Another proof of the same is that the Wear OS app on my phone is suggesting that I need to forget the watch and reconnect. Unfortunately, as the watch does not appear under the Bluetooth settings menu, I am unable to forget the watch.

Apple needs to address this immediately and I don't think it's correct to pass it on as a 3rd Party issue. Do let me know if there is a solution to the same?

(P.S. I have reset the watch to factory settings every time before connecting it to each of the iPhone 12 Pro Max.)

I am new to Apple, first one was the 12 maxipad or whatever they call it. I had a lot of trouble and got a new one, Still had a lot of trouble. A friend had given me his old 6s to play with first. I fumbled around and set up a pretend account or two to get it working. I got it all fixed up, signed up, paired up etc. I read something about previous pairing, accounts, icloud, blah, blah, etc. Out of desperation or sheer stupidity/ignorance I cleared up the old 6s, unpaired everything and made sure there was nothing on backup either. Then I tried to pair several BT devices on the 12 (mpow, bose, apple, taotronics and a few more no name gizmos) Well darn if they didn't all work perfectly. Even added em back to the antique and they worked there too unless they were not capable of dealing with being paired to 2 hosts simultaneously. Now I may not have fixed anything, maybe new software d/l fixed it or the stars lined up differently. I have no clue. I just know it worked for me and has been flawless for about 6 months and accepts about anything I throw at it. Don't ax me how or why 'cuz I'm really old and understand none of this stuff. Best of luck.