Unable to connect MFi Hearing Aids on Sonoma 14.0

Hi abigail205,

We appreciate you reaching out on Apple Support Communities! We have a great article that can help you with pairing your MFi hearing aids with your Mac found here: Use Made for iPhone hearing devices - Apple Support

Within that article is a section that has steps that we'll go ahead and include here. However, we'd still suggest reviewing the article to ensure all requirements and pairing steps have been met before proceeding with these steps:

"If you need help

Try these solutions if your hearing device doesn't connect or work as expected.

Hearing device doesn't appear in Hearing Devices settings

• Make sure that your hearing device is compatible with your Apple device.
• Make sure that your hearing device is in pairing mode.
• Restart your Apple device. 
• If your hearing device is paired with a different Apple device, unpair it from that device. Then try again on your other Apple device.
• Make sure that your hearing device is updated with the latest firmware from the manufacturer. If it has its own app, that app can probably find and install firmware updates.

Hearing device is dimmed in Hearing Devices settings

• Make sure that your hearing device is near your Apple device.
• Unpair your hearing device, if possible, then pair it again.
• On Mac, if you're using a Bluetooth mouse, trackpad, keyboard, or other Bluetooth input device, turn off the input device. If that allows your hearing device to connect, your input device is incompatible with the use of MFi hearing devices on Mac. Solutions:
  • Use a wired input device, which connects to your Mac via USB instead of Bluetooth.
  • Use a Bluetooth input device that is known to work with MFi hearing devices on Mac, such as the latest models (not earlier models) of Apple Magic Keyboard, Magic Mouse, or Magic Trackpad.

Hearing device disconnects unexpectedly

• When using your hearing device, make sure that your paired Apple device remains nearby.
• If your hearing device is paired with more than one Apple device, it might switch (hand off) to the other Apple device when it detects an incoming call on that device, or when you start playing audio on the other device. You can control this by changing the Audio Handoff setting in Hearing Devices settings on your iPhone or iPad.
• Check the battery level of your hearing device. You might need to replace or recharge the batteries.
• Check for wireless interference.

Hearing device is connected but you don't hear audio

• Choose your hearing device as the sound output device.
• Check the microphone level in Hearing Devices settings."

If the same behavior occurs after completing those steps, it might be helpful for you to speak with Apple directly about this issue. Click the link below for additional assistance on this matter.

Get Support

Kindest regards!

I have new Signia hearing aids which work well with my iPhone 14 and new iPad Air, but not with my newish Mac Studio. I have scanned this thread and have not seen mentioned the fact that Macs require aids that support bidirectional streaming. From the Apple page on compatible aids:

MFi hearing devices marked with an asterisk (*) use bidirectional streaming, which enables you to talk hands-free. Devices that use bidirectional streaming are also compatible with Mac.

The list of Apple products that work with other hearing aids does NOT include any Mac. I don't know which of the aids people are reporting on here are bidirectional, but mine are not, so it's no surprise that they don't pair with my Mac. But since they come free from the UK NHS, I'm not complaining.

I use Bluetooth hearing devices with my iPhone and iPad, but I have just spent an hour and a half on chat and then to a couple of Apple support people, all of whom were extremely helpful.

After many tests and clicks, restarts, removal of software etc, it now appears that my 18 month old IMac 24” does not have hearing aid support/connectivity!!

Apparently, this was the first time that the tech guys had been made aware of this issue and were as flabbergasted as I am that Apple would exclude this important accessibility function from a major device.

I have submitted a request for this to be investigated as have the tech guys, but there is no mechanism for knowing when or even if hearing aid functions will be added in any future update.

BTW, it has not been included in 14.1.

Further to yesterdays post, I have spoken to Danlogic who have advised that if your apple device does not have MFI connection, I will require a "Danlogic phone clip. This would connect to the Imac bluetooth, allowing me to connect my aids to the phone clip. (Not sure if it is available on the NHS in the UL, but I have asked the question. If not, it is £150 and I am not sure if other similar devices on the open market would do the same job, but having spent a substancial sum on an Imac, I should not have to be digging and paying to find a work around because of Apples lack of inclusivity!

Hi, I have the same problem and with MacOS 14.1 it's still the same. I tried All of the given steps but nothing helped. I even spoke with the support and they had no clue what's going on, they just gave me the basic links on how to pair the devices.

Hopefully they will fix this as soon as possible.

What is also interesting: If I want to pair with the Mac and then look on the iPhone under hearing aids. Then in the place where it otherwise says "(not) paired", it says "paired on MacBook". But I didn't even saw my devices on the Mac

Devices: MBP M1 Pro and Cochlear Nucleus 1000 and Resound Enzo Q

If you read my post above, Apple have told me that they do not support MFI products on 2021 M1 24". Having spoken to the audiology department, the only work around is as above for which I have to buy for £150!

Response from my email, with a link for anyone to feedback directly to the Apple Accessibility team:

Hello Les,

Thank you for your email. You have reached the feedback address for the accessibility features of Apple products.

We give every concern thorough consideration and will pass along your thoughts to the appropriate group. We’ve continued to improve features, and add new ones, to support more customers in more ways, and your voice is a vital part of that process.

We also invite you to submit accessibility related product feedback directly to us at accessibility@apple.com.

With appreciation,

Apple Accessibility

I have Oticon More hearing aids which are MFI compatible and work beautifully with my iPad and iPhone. I have a M1Max MacBook Pro running Sonoma 14.0. I followed the directions and the Mac will not see my hearing aids. Tried having iPad and iPhone "forget" the hearing aids, rebooted multiple times, made sure hearing aids are in pairing mode each time, etc. all to no avail. Are there any more things I can try or do I just have to wait until a new release of Sonoma (e.g. 14.1) fixes what appears to be a bug. Advice would be appreciated.

I am glad to see this was brought to Apple attention, I too have done everything mentioned to try to pair Oticon Opn S and have been unsuccessful, looking forward to a fix in future update, hopefully soon.

I have upgraded my Macbook Air M2 to OS Sonoma 14.0 today and tried to pair my Signia Insio C&G ITC devices but no luck on searching avaliable devices in Settings > Accessibility > Hearing Devices. :-(

However, it works well with my iPhone XS Max and I hope such issue will be fixed soon in coming update.

Thank you very much.

That's a huge disappointment. I was waiting for 14.1 to hopefully solve the problem. I wonder if Apple is aware of the persistence of the problem, since their response of October 1, which tended to put the onus on the users and not a bug on Apple's part. Clearly there are enough of us who have tried enough things (both before and now after the 14.1 update) which pretty much rules out the former possibility.

I have yet to hear one success story pairing MFI hearing aids up to any M series processor Mac, would think someone would have tested this thoroughly given Apple’s focus on accessibility, hopefully next update🤞

Followed your instructions exactly without success. Oticon Model "More 1" hearing aids.

My hearing aids work fine with my IOS devices but not my MacBook Air with M-2 Chip.

BIG disappointment, and as I see I am not alone.

I will call Apple Care............

My issue exactly! Have tried every suggestion posted here & on several other

forums. Nada. : > ((((((((((

Just bought a new (expensive!) M3 MacBook Pro, as I was told my Resound HA's

would not work with M1. I desperately need my computer to connect with my HA's.

People on here keep saying they are hoping the next

Sonoma update (from 14.0) will fix this "bug", but already at 14.3 & still no

resolution.

Very obvious from all the posts here & on many other forums that this is a BIG

problem for those with hearing impairments.

Come on Apple! Do better! and FIX this problem. Will be returning my new

computer, as this issue is the only reason I bought it.