Bluetooth connection issues on iPhone 16 Pro

Resetting network settings worked like a charm for me! Migrated from 13 mini to 16.

Would have never guessed to try this solution on my own.

And a good moment to get rid of all those outdated wifi passwords ;)

I only connect to 2 or 3 wifi networks automatically anyway - and for those I can easily remember or acquire the passwords.

Thanks!

I've just been through the same issue. turning of bluetooth (in the settings not the toggle) worked for me eventually. but There was one crucial element. I had the phone connected to a Windows 11 computer via PhoneLink. I disengaged that connection and forgot the related devices. After that I rebooted my bluetooth. that did the trick. Now devices are connecting again.

There seems to be an issue with managing multiple connections and third party connections in general. that or apple inteligence decided that I should not be connecting to windows. (lol little joke but I wouldn't know)

In the end I am not saying that this is the issue or that this will work for me, but it might help to see if there ARE any active connections on the blutooth issues not withstanding. Hope this was of some help good luck with the issues.

Only way I can play music on iPhone 16 is to disconnect my watch. Then everything works fine. Not great as want to use to control music in group fitness class from my watch

I was having the exact same issues with my car until I went to the car’s Bluetooth and deleted every other phone that had ever been paired with it. Once I did that and restarted the car and the iPhone 16, the 16 finally paired, finally, after 3 weeks of trying. Before this the car and phone recognized each other but would not pair.

As soon as I read a good portion of your post, I was waiting to see if you have a VPN on the phone. Get RID of it. Don't just turn it off. GET RID OF IT. VPNs are completely not needed on an iPhone and often cause connectivity issues like you're seeing. Others in this thread have solved their issues by dumping their VPN. I wouldn't use one on my iPhone 16 Pro Max if it was free or you paid me to use it.

For me the problem is solved with the below steps, but I don't know for how long.

Apple support told me to do this first before resetting the settings.

Follow the steps quickly

> push volume up

> push volume down

> Hold side button(power button) till its turning off

They also told there are coming some fixes.

Regards,

Upgrading to iOS 18.2 finally seems to have resolved the issue for me

The only thing that worked for me was initiating the pairing from the Bluetooth device - not the phone. The phone was useless, it would just spin and spin and spin. I tried resetting network settings, rebooting, turning on and off various things, renaming my device (yep that was one idea I found on YouTube).

I found a post here that said do the pairing from the device, and that did it. So thanks for that one!

From what I'm seeing (meaning in at least my case), it's not really an Apple issue per se, but rather how Bluetooth is structured. For my hearing aids and my car, I had to "Forget Devices", and then pair like I had to originally, and then it all worked just fine.

This was my situation (I set-up new iPhone from old one) and this worked (reset network settings) for me. Bluetooth connection is much more stable. Thanks!

I’ve spent hours with the techs on the Bluetooth issue - 16e skippiing and stuttering - the only solution is to disconnect my garmin watch - which I figured out myself. Not ideal

Call Apple at 1-800-MYAPPLE. (692-7753). They're very quick there. Just tell the first person you talk to (you know -- politely. Don't ruin his day and make him feel like a useless raisin lol) that multiple people in Apple Discussions are having the same problem and you think you're probably going to need a senior advisor because it's a complex issue with multiple possible causes. Or words to that effect.... That'll get them to move along quicker.

And never hang up before you get a case number bc if you need to call back, they'll never find your case (I know this bc as a broadcasting teacher, I had lots of Apple products and was often on the phone with them, especially at first).

I finally fixed the bluetooth issue I had with my Bose speakers. My phone was showing the speakers but wouldn't connect. I had tried everything from forgetting the device to rebooting iPhone, doing the network settings thing suggested, etc. In the end I had to reset the speakers themselves and then repair them.

I had this problem, until I discovered that I had to go to all the third party devices that had been paired to my old phone and “unpair” them (at the third party device). That was easier said than done as many devices are very difficult to unpair….

This is going to be a longer post than I intended. There's no solution here for this issue, or specific advice for troubleshooting it, so please feel free to skip it.

The most important, productive piece of advice you'll get from any discussion in this forum will be to make sure you contact Apple Support. While this user forum is a great place to discuss your experiences or vent your frustrations, it's important — to everyone sharing your issue — that you also make actual Apple techs aware of what you're experiencing, so they can research and resolve it.

If you're having a problem that you need fixed immediately, in addition to posting about it here you should install the official Apple Support app on your phone and use it to report your issue; the app will direct you to the best place to find help, possibly in person, possibly via phone support, etc. You could also just go directly to Fortunately, iPhone 16 devices are new and still fully covered by AppleCare+, so you're likely to get a response that's quick, friendly, and free.

It's important to be aware, tho', that searches on Apple Support's official website, support.apple.com, will often direct users to these discussions as well as to official support articles; that might seem unusual, but it's because of Apple users' long history of discovering workarounds and sharing them here.

We're still waiting for that breakthrough in this thread, obviously — but when it arrives it'll come from someone who ignored posts suggesting their problem doesn't/can't possibly exist, or that if it exists, it must be an easily-resolved PICNIC issue.

And feel free to disregard statements that there can be no problem with software like iOS unless it affects all users — it's obviously false, unhelpful, and discourages you from sharing information about what does, in fact, seem like it could be unusual behavior. It's the opposite of what these discussions are meant for.

(There are, naturally, myriad reasons why some users experience issues with a software or software product while others don't. Apple is better about quality than most, and by a wide margin — but not perfect, and many popular, successful Apple products have at times experienced problems that were prickly to troubleshoot *precisely because* they only affected a small subset of use cases. If you've owned or used many Apple products over the past 40 years, you probably recall a few.)

The good news is, Apple is also better than most at solving even the prickliest of these issues, eventually; it just takes time. In the meanwhile, please simultaneously use Apple Support and post in this forum about what you've done to troubleshoot this problem, whether on your own or with Apple Support's help — and don't let anyone deter you from doing that. Even just venting your frustration here is fine; in fact, it's probably better to do that here than to Apple Support techs, as long as you're using both.

Apple users have a proven track record of poking around until they find something that works, and this forum has a proven track record as the place those workarounds are shared. Please don't be discouraged by unproductive posts implying that since not everyone shares your problems, the problem must be you.