Bluetooth Calls on iPhone 13 Pro Sound Poor After A Few Minutes

Ever since I began using the new iPhone 13 Pro, any type of Bluetooth calls (cellular, FaceTime Audio, Discord, anything) to my Xbox Wireless Headset sound extremely poor after using for 5-10 minutes.

The call goes from good quality to dark robotic-sounding, muffled and difficult to understand. It happens sort of at random, and occasionally improves at certain points and goes back to being poor.

The only current “remedy” I’ve found is switching the call to speaker or phone and immediately back, and it “resets” the process and starts the quality back to good again and eventually diminish into the quality I’ve described.

This only started occurring when I moved to my new iPhone 13 Pro on T-Mobile. I didn’t have this issue with the Bluetooth headset on my iPhone X. I also just tested FaceTime Audio on my iPad Air (2020, with latest update) using the headset and do not experience these issues I’m having on my 13 Pro (also running the latest software).

I’ve tried resetting the Xbox Wireless Headset, removing it on Bluetooth and reconnecting, etc. to no avail. I’m guessing it has to do with my phone rather than the headset, since it worked fine with my iPhone X and works fine with my iPad Air fine too.

Are these Bluetooth call issues a known issue? Or any suggested steps to fix these problems (that doesn’t involve a reset)?

Thanks in advance.

iPhone 13 Pro

Posted on Oct 11, 2021 8:34 PM

Top-ranking reply

unique_name

Level 1

0 points

Posted on Jun 21, 2022 12:39 PM

tldr, I had the same problem, turning off my old Apple Watch seems to have fixed it.

I had an iPhone X that I used with AirPods and Bluetooth sound in my car. I listened to music, podcasts and made calls with that setup without trouble.

I got an iPhone 13 Pro and kept the same setup from my old phone with the same usage pattern, and noticed occasional bursts of static lasting several seconds on both my Bluetooth setups. I read this forum thread and turned off my old Apple Watch several weeks ago, and the problem seems completely gone.

One interesting thing is, I never wore the watch. It just sat at home on its charger.

View in context

Similar questions

79 replies

Mar 9, 2022 1:34 PM in response to babz1e

Yep!

Mar 22, 2022 6:13 PM in response to S3vSt3R

You’re welcome, sorry to be the bearer of bad news though. Apple owes us!

Dec 16, 2021 6:02 PM in response to Hustleje12

Quick update of my end. Went in to the apple store yesterday for this issue where they advised I reset my phone and start “new” (no backups), which sucks of course. Ended up reseting my phone but it did not fix the issue, as I am still getting the “scrambling” noise while using Bluetooth devices on calls. Have another appointment on Monday where I’m expecting Apple to replace my new phone.

Dec 23, 2021 6:34 AM in response to Hustleje12

Another update... went back into the Apple Store for the 3rd time in 2 weeks. They replaced my AirPods for the 3rd time. I'm still getting weird noises on my AirPods and having scrambling noises when talking on the phone. No joke, I had to call 911 for a car accident I witnessed the other day and I had the interference noise while talking to the dispatcher.

The apple store told me they have "heard of this issue" and that there currently isn't a fix. The manager told me to "Reset All Settings", even after I just erased my phone and started new. I still did it and it did not fix my issue. There diagnostics is not picking up an errors. If they replaced my phone they said it likely would happen again. They told me to call Apple Support again and have them escalate it. I've erased my phone and started from new, replaced AirPods 3 times... I still can't use this iPhone 13Pro properly.

This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

Bluetooth Calls on iPhone 13 Pro Sound Poor After A Few Minutes