Bluetooth issues on my iPhone 15 Pro Max with iOS 17.0.3

Hi Beaulechien,

Apple support asked me to reset my network settings and all device settings.

Didn't resolve the problem and having to redo all the app setups is a pain (cookie tracking, location etc) not least redoing FaceID and having to update banking apps.

Wouldn’t recommend trying any resets - aftermath is frustrating.

Like you, I noticed the commonality of 2010-2013 ish Porsche/Audi/VAG comments. So suspect that’s a clue.

Some recent threads on X/Threads aka Twitter as well eluding to broader Bluetooth issues.

Had a 13 Max Pro that never had bluetooth issues ever. I have an apple watch 8, Sony XM5, and airpod pro gen 2. They'd always instantly connect without issues as soon as they turned on/were taken out of their case. My apple watch never lost connection to my phone, always had live weather info, my sleep info never didn't record.

Got a free upgrade to the 14 Pro, then updated to ios 16 something and it started having bluetooth issues. Mostly ignored it because I had another free upgrade to the 15 Pro a few months away and figured the software issue would be fixed with updates. Nope.... It's only gotten worse.

Now I'm on the 15 Pro and currently on 17.2.1. All of my bluetooth devices almost never connect now. Not without rebooting my phone constantly, disconnecting and reconnecting them, or even having to fully reset things.

I've reset my network connections on my phone, forgotten all bluetooth devices and reset everything outside of fully backing up and flashing my phone.

Airpods will drop in drop out even when they do connect. I'll take one or both out of the case and they'll make the power up sound and even the connect sound, then just disconnect, or they won't even connect in the first place. I can be listening to them, answer a call, and they'll just disconnect.

I'll look at my apple watch and constantly see it not connected to my phone. It constantly doesn't record sleep info. The weather widget on my watch will constantly have no info and won't load. Even when it is actually connected to my phone they won't talk.

Sony MX5's no longer connect without rebooting my phone entirely.... Even with them showing connected in the bluetooth settings, they can't play anything and their app won't see them.

Oh and I can't use my Ford's bluetooth at all anymore, I have to use the apple car play with a physical connection.... And even that drops out sometimes...

This is nonsense and starting to get really frustrating!

As you can read back from my many posts, I, too, have an Audi. I have a 2010 Q5 with all the same issues. However, not to burst your bubble by zeroing in on cars as the problem with Bluetooth, my Gen1 Airpod Pros, as well as various other Bluetooth speakers and Bluetooth-connected devices, all behave the same as the unuseable Bluetooth connection in my car. He is an example...I purchased two brand new Goovee air purifiers (2 different models), which require Bluetooth in the initial setup. I had issues with both because the Bluetooth was not working. I had to hard reset the 15PM twice in order to complete the setup process. I am still leaning towards a software issue. With that said, I feel Apple was and has been fully aware of this issue prior to launch, but they put it out anyway. I do not think they know how to fix it, so the best course of action for them financially is to ignore it and pretend it doesn't exist. How else do you explain this rampant problem going unaddressed??? Honestly, is there a larger thread in Community than this one??? I will say no, so they are fully aware of this. To finish, 17.3 didn't change a thing.

That’s interesting. For me even resetting / refreshing the bluetooth system with factory BMW software made little, if any, difference.

In any case we should not have to refresh modules / reset software in cars. Not if it worked with prior iOS versions / iPhones. Apple’s been integrating bluetooth into iOS since 2007, and in Mac OS since 2003. Heck the chip in the 15 Pro is developed by them. It should not take 5/6 months to get this right. Did they just not test their devices with older cars / handsfree equipment? Some on this thread even mention issues with hearing aids!

Support has been great though, they’re calling me in a few hours with (hopefully) an update from engineering. I consider myself lucky that I still have my 14 Pro to go back to, worst case.

Just looked at my 14 Pro. No stackshot logs there, except for one relating to some Fitness data syncing.

So I think we’ve found the cause. There’s a memory overflow situation going on between the 15 Pro’s Bluetooth stack and Bluetooth devices. Related processes are:

addressbooksync

apple.pairedsync.appconduitd

pairedsync.nanophone

All 3 are pretty self-explanatory, I think. Address Book syncing, the process which probably negotiates device apps to work over Bluetooth, and the phone pairing process.

So there you go. If others with the same issue confirm the stackshot logs corresponding to when their Bluetooth drops out and with the same bug (288) flagged, we’ll have our answer.

I’ll share all of this with Apple Support so hopefully their devs can fix the code on their end.

Thank you for the update Hoody007.

I think we can agree that’s not a particularly helpful response from Engineering.

It’s not a BMW problem. Or VAG group. Or Dodge. Or Ford. Then there are the folks having AirPod, external speaker and toothbrush problem…

For me, they really have to engage with the concept that this is a backwards compatibility problem, which they might not haven’t tested for.

I’m trying to establish what the various Bluetooth/WiFi chipsets are across the various iPhone variants.

Does anyone else know?

There is an incomplete picture available online but I’ll keep searching. Worst comes to it, I’ll try and procure some pre-loved devices myself and do my own teardowns.

In iFixit’s teardown of the 15 Pro Max, they fhink it’s ‘probably’ apples own Bluetooth/Wifi module. I have my doubts about that given the announcement to make their own chips was only made in early 2023.

It’s not impossible that the Pro and Pro Max have different wifi/BT chips given they have the new 3nm A17 Pro processor.

Keep plugging at the engineers. I’ll start next week …

This is precisely it. My car is confirmed to use bluetooth 2.1, and bluetooth is backwards compatible. That’s how it should be, that’s what the standards say, and that’s what BMW has confirmed. I regrettably don’t have any other bluetooth devices to check, aside from my AirPods Pro (which use bluetooth 5), my Apple Watch (5.2), and my Ember mug (Bluetooth 4 LE).

The Pro/Pro Max do use a new wifi/bluetooth chip, it’s the only iPhone that uses 6E. To think of it, I haven’t tried turning off wifi on the phone. Maybe there’s some interference going on…

Same for me with my iPhone 11. I think the common issue is the update to iOS 17+. My other family members have older iPhones but older iOS' and they can still connect to my car's UConnect system without problem. I'm the only one having the problem, and it literally started the first time I started up the car after the iOS 17.2.1 update.

Only workaround I have for car is Alexa auto. I don’t have the usual options I can hang up by steering wheel but I can voice command it to hang up at least. All my calls and music go through it and aux. Strangely no Bluetooth issues with that but 3 other devices constant issues.

This bluetooth problem is consistent and crosses numerous devices. I have an iPhone 14 Pro Max, and the latest update is driving me crazy. I have to restart my phone constantly. You have to do it with the (stupid) PhoneLink (Windows OS, and a horrible app that I'm removing, but I learned this by accident.), my Bose headphones, my car (UConnect), and ANY other Bluetooth device. It's clearly been caused by an update. Fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiix it. You broke it, now fix it.

The Bluetooth starts working immediately upon restart. I thought this was a problem just with my car, but now I see that is ALL bluetooth devices.

I WILL say that it's NEVER happened with my Apple airpod pros. Never. That's a bit strange, and I think that there is a technical detail in there that is probably meaningful to someone (engineers). I've never had a Bluetooth connection problem with them, but I use them nearly every day, but every single other device is a mess.

I don't know if anyone has a workaround or a fix (some sort of rollback????), but help would be a blessing.

Question for folks with problems in older cars…

As I previously stated here, that once the phone has disconnected and reconnected to my 2013 Audi, usually after 40 seconds, the connection remains stable.

For the last day or so I’ve been playing around with connecting to the car and asking Siri a question which requires a long answer (eg what are the news headlines and weather forecast), then disconnection and reconnection happens.

Calls remain stable thereafter.

Not 100% certain this works, but keen to know if anyone else can replicate.

Installed 17.3.1 last night and haven't been able to test yet, not holding my beath.

All the same as everyone else 15 Pro Max and my Infinity 2012 QX56. Audio just drops in and out every second, sometimes displays the track info, other times nothing. Till I found this forum I was going to lose my mind. Have figured out a way at least on my QX to get it to working, might take 1 or 5 tries but it eventually works.

From the QX's head unit, I press pause and then press play. What exactly happens during the pause and play, not a clue, but it works.

 I have opened a support case with Apple regarding Bluetooth issues on my iPhone 15 Pro. I have followed up multiple times with the case number, but I have yet to receive a solution.

I visited the local Apple store's Genius Bar where they reset my iPhone to its factory settings, erasing all data. Just like buying an iPhone for the first time. However, this did not resolve the Bluetooth issue, and I had to reinstall all my apps manually since no iCloud was restored.

I am unsure if the Apple support and engineers monitor community sites where people post updates.

I suggest that we all open support cases for the Bluetooth issue to grab Apple's attention. This is the only way Apple engineers can focus on a resolution and provide us with software/firmware updates.

Yep, agree with you.

Similarly flagging the issue on your own social media channels.

Everyone reading this chat should open a support case, reference this chat and refuse pointedly to accept that resetting the phone will resolve the issue. Likewise refuting any suggestion buying or upgrading third party hardware / software.

Problem in my reading and experience lies with iPhone/iOS backwards compatibility on Bluetooth.

Update: After turning off the Wi-Fi for a two of days, it worked perfectly, but then it started again with the same issue. Now I'll try resetting the network settings and see how it goes... If the issue persists, I'll contact support to know how to proceed, since they suggested trying the Wi-Fi deactivation test and then resetting the network settings.