Bluetooth connection issues on iPhone 16 Pro

They updated the app two weeks ago, and seem to release bug fixes at least once a month. I can appreciate the frustration when they don’t reply. I’d give support another try and in the meantime contact Apple Support and see what they suggest.

support articles below.

Contact Apple for support and service - Apple Support

Official Apple Support

Live Chat with an Apple Advisor in Messages. 

I've been having this problem since I bought an iPhone in October.

Apple Genius bar, support chat/call can't solved this problem.

There are a lot of things in this thread's response who are just saying "REBOOT" or "RESET". 

I've already done it, and even though it's not a fundamental solution, they repeat something parrot-fashion.

I know it's an extreme expression, but they are not really having this problem, and they don't know the inconvenience of people who do.

Also, I have already submitted feedback on this issue, but I can't get any response.

The feedback only shows that more than 10 of the same issues have been reported.

Below is a part of my feedback.

My devices/ver

- [A2992] MacBook Pro M3 14" (MacOS 15.3 Sequoia)

- [A3297] iPhone 16 Pro Max (iOS 18.3)*

- [A2084] Airpods Pro 1 (6F21)

- [A3003]Apple Watch Series 10 (WatchOS 11.3/22S555)

- [A2220] iPhone 11 Pro Max (iOS 18.3, Using another account for work)

First Problem Occurred

October 6, 2024 (1 day after purchase)

Occurred iOS version at

- 18.0

- 18.0.1

Main issue: Bluetooth not connected and paired

Issue Details

- This issue only happens with iPhone 16 Pro Max I have.

- Bluetooth status is ON

- Already paired devices are not connected (Connection Unsuccessful Message)

- New device is not visible in the list (Continuing searching devices)

- Pairing pop-up not coming up near new AirPods/Apple Watches

- Fail to connect Mirroring feature on MacBook(Sequoia 15.3)

- When opened Airpods between iPhone 11 Pro Max and 16 Pro Max after remove Airpods Pro from iPhone and Find My, Pairing pop-up only appears in 11 Pro Max.

- Even issue occurred on iPhone 16PM, Pairing remains normal and works perfectly on My MacBook, Watch and AirPods.

I've tried 

- Bluetooth Off/On (at Setting-Bluetooth toggle)

- Reboot device

- Reset Network Setting

- Reset All Setting

- Remove all VPN profiles

- Remove all Bluetooth devices

- Remove all Wi-Fi

- Reset Airpods Pro

- Cleaning Airpods Pro

- Reset Apple Watch

Notes

- The cause of this problem is unclear how, why, and when it occurs. I can't figure out which is triggering this issue.

As a result, It is difficult to reproduce this problem intentionally.

- The "diagnosis" I ran with an Apple support counselor said all the hardware was perfectly normal.

- This issue has occurred about 30 times since the purchase on October 5 and has occurred in all iOS versions of iPhone 16 Pro Max.

- It is a Bluetooth problem of iPhone 16 Pro Max that appears from third-party products to Apple products (include GoPro, Ricoh, Apple watch, Airpods, Boss speaker etc)

- Reset or rebooting the device seems to have resolved the problem, but the problem occurs again at terms of as short as 40 minutes and as long as 6 days.

- I didn't see any abnormal operation of any other function other than Bluetooth connection issues.

- When I turned Bluetooth on and off about 100 times on iOS public 18.1, it took about 5 seconds for Bluetooth to turn on and back on normally. (3 times)

since 18.2, the problem was not resolved this way.

- It's hard to say that it's a Bluetooth compatibility problem.

My AirPods is Bluetooth 5.0, and it connect well to 3GS using Bluetooth 2.1.

And problem also occurs between iPhone and watch that use same Bluetooth 5.3.

- Also it's hard to say it's a VPN profile issue.

There was nothing wrong with the 11 Pro Max using VPN due to company security, and the Bluetooth is working perfectly.

[Edited by Moderator]

The connectivity issue was resolved by doing a Master Reset on Sync in your vehicle. Of course you will need to reprogram your radio and any other custom settings.

Problem solved!

I put my Headphones in Discovery mode instead of pairing and IPhone Bluetooth found them immediately and they work fine! I’m so happy now!

My 13 Pro Max worked perfectly! My Apple watch 8, Airpod Pro 2nd gen, my Sony Xm5's, and all car's bluetooth would just connect pretty much instantly! There was never any drop in/out, having to reboot to connect, or delayed connecting. It just worked.

I've since had a 14 and currently 15 pro, and they've both had horrible bluetooth and wifi issues. I'll have to put my airpods back in the case 2 or 3 times before they finally connect. Heck it'll even say my devices are connected in the settings then start blasting music from the external speaker when I press play. I'll have to reboot my phone up to twice a day to get my Xm5's to connect. AND my Apple watch 8 will be "connected" but not actually connected causing massive battery drain on it while it's constantly searching for signal. One of the only way's I can tell is when the weather widget stops showing the temp, then if I try to use the watch app I can't see any of my watch's info like how much free space it has, nor can I search for updates cause it's "Not connected."

Still have my 13 Pro Max that's fully updated, after testing it, bluetooth still works flawlessly on the same devices.

This has been an issue since the 14 release sadly and it still doesn't seem to be fixed.

I’ve had issues using Bluetooth with my iPhone 12 when I had it. It was doing very similar things as to what my iPhone 16 pro is doing now. Like switching from my car radio to my headphones or vice versa. It’ll make it sound like the audio is almost underwater or radio quality. The only way I found to fix this is reconnecting the device. Or not switching back n forth. I have to shut off one of the devices completely for this glitch to not happen. I also have to repair a specific set of earbuds I have every time I want to use them. Very annoying this happened to my iPhone 12 when it had a version of iOS 15 as well. I’m hoping they’ll fix these issues with updates if not this is very embarrassing for apple. we’re all having these issues! Sorry this wasn’t a solution but I’m hoping it’s the explanation.

[Edited by Moderator]

Good afternoon,

I spoke to Apple's assistant in Portugal about the problem. And it has been forwarded to the engineers. Support says that they haven't had many reports and if there are, it's been reported here on the forum that they have no way of checking and escalating the issue. So for a heavenly resolution, it's a good idea to contact Apple support and report the problem as well. That's what I was told. Now I'm waiting. I've done everything and it doesn't work. Thank you

I bought a 16 pro for my wife and a pro max for myself, both 1TB. My wife’s phone has zero Bluetooth issues while my pro max has Bluetooth Tx issues on multiple receivers.

While listening to music on my Bluetooth receiver, the audio cuts out for about 10 seconds and then comes back… constantly. Also when making calls in the car using CarPlay (two different vehicles), after a minute or two, the person on the other end of the call cannot hear me while I can hear them. I have to quickly change to speakerphone back to Bluetooth every couple minutes. My wife’s 16 pro does not have these issues using the same devices.

I thought my phone just had hardware issues and got Apple to replace my 16 pro max. Now I have a different pro max and it has the same issues! I don’t know how or why the Bluetooth functionality would be different between the 16 pro and pro max but it certainly is and Apple needs to fix this.

You are assuming ALL iPhone 16 Pro Max phones have Bluetooth issues. Mine doesn't have any. That doesn't mean you don't have issues, but to assume Apple needs to fix something, which doesn't affect many other users isn't the best course of action. What needs to be figured out is what is causing the issues for you. For one thing, do you by chance use a VPN or Anti-Virus software on your iPhone? If yes, they should be not only turned off, but removed from the phone completely. They can and do cause such issues as you're seeing and are completely unnecessary on iPhone.

LindyMae53 wrote:

Have tried multiple ideas for getting new iPhone 16 to find Bluetooth devices. No luck! Please help!

And yet you've listed none of the multiple ideas, so we couldn't possibly guess what you did and what didn't work.

I will ask the most obvious question. What happens when you put the Bluetooth devices in Pairing Mode, per the manufacturers directions? If they aren't in Pairing Mode, you can't pair them to your iPhone.

I have at least a dozen Bluetooth Devices paired with my iPhone 16 Pro Max. Each device had to be put in pairing mode, then you open Settings > Bluetooth and if they are in pairing mode, you'll see the device on the bottom of the Bluetooth page in Settings and once you tap it, it will pair.

I did some thinking about this, because the Bluetooth kit in my car doesn't have an unpair/forget function — but I realized I could accomplish the same thing by pairing it with a different device. (My car kit maintains only one paired device at a time.)

So I took a new iPad mini (A17 Pro) out there and paired it with the car kit to make it "forget" my iPhone 16 Pro Max. I then verified that the car kit was forgotten in the iPhone settings, too, and then reset network settings on the iPhone. When everything was up and running again, I tried forgetting the car kit in the iPad settings and paired the car kit with my iPhone again — and the iPhone still would not reconnect automatically when starting the car.

The new thing I learned during this process, tho', was that while the iPad was paired with the car kit, it did reconnect automatically. This now feels even more to me like an iPhone-specific problem, and possibly hardware-related?

I think I've mentioned this before, but it still seems important to me that if I have Bluetooth settings open on the iPhone when I start the car, I get a pop-up modal saying the car kit wants to pair (or connect, I forget the wording) and asking me to approve/deny. I don't think I've seen that modal on any other device, ever.

Certainly. I was just pointing out that if it was an iPhone issue, it should affect just about everyone. The trouble with issues like this is Apple has no control over the infotainment systems in peoples cars. So for you, this is a doubly difficult issue to isolate. Is the iPhone? Possibly, but I'd hazard a guess if we were to connect your iPhone to my car, it would connect reliably. So that would kind of rule out iPhone as the culprit.

Since we are all users on this user to user only forum, I'm not sure anyone here can diagnose or fix this issue for you. I'd contact Apple Support and your car manufacturer for help with this.

I have noticed bluetooth issues with connecting a xbox game controller. I always have to do forget device before I can actually pair the controller. On a side note, I use the xbox game controller on many devices (iPad, MacBook, iPhone) and I understand that I have to repair when switching devices, however, this happens even if I want to connect to the same device I had it connected to before...

You're not writing anyone from Apple here. This is a user to user only forum. If you want Apple to help you, schedule an appointment at your Apple Store Genius Bar, take your phone and however many Bluetooth devices you can't pair with you and let Apple help you in-person.

-point taken lobsterghost1. It still is a shame so many software’s of today are not vetted properly anymore. Or released and the public used to vet them while the public suffers after paying for higher end products.

I go way back in this area and while I understand the numbers, it’s a low quality product world anymore.

FANBOT wrote:

Recently got the 16E. Don’t think this is isolated to just the 16 but an IOS issue. Have been to the Apple Store 4 times. Spoke with apple support. Every time it’s the blame game not what is the issue. Tried wiping the phone, using a backup, factory reset, resetting networks settings, resetting all settings. Nothing has worked

For what it's worth, I've been able to do some testing with a couple other iPhone models running iOS 18 (and an iPad mini (A17 Pro) running iPadOS 18), and they haven't been able to duplicate the issue one particular device has had connecting to my iPhone 16 Pro Max.