Bluetooth audio stuttering issues on my iPhone 16e

Over on reddit others have confirmed that it's related to having multiple bluetooth connections (e.g. fitness tracker + headphones) at the same time. Moderators, can you escalate this to Apple please?

I am having the same issue when iPhone 16e is connected to any bluetooth device (tried three different ones including Beats headphones). This does not happen with any other iPhone I have and had.

With Apple support tried:

- playback of music & podcasts via Apple's app, as well as music from youtube via Safari

- using it in different locations

- forced reset

- factory reset

- flight mode (mobile connect & WiFi off, Bluethooth on)

- replacing the phone with another iPhone 16e

None of that fixed it.

Support was escalated from Germany to the US. The Engineers came back with "delay is expected behavior". I was never talking about delay, but the sound cutting out, stuttering if you will.

They told me they will NOT attempt to address this issue because there are not enough complaints about this (yet). Everyone in this thread with the same problem: please open tickets with Apple's help desk and be persistent to escalate it before it gets shut down.

Update 3:

Updated to iOS 18.3.2 (22D8082) and still no change.

Come on Apple, pull your finger out, this is totally unacceptable.

Uodate 2:

I spoke to Apple Support US, they rang me in the UK about an hour after I got off the phone speaking to EU/UK Apple support. It was essentially a longer version of the questions list I was asked by UK/Europe support, but I disclosed more details, firmware and serial numbers of the different devices were taken, etc. The only additional thing I tried, which still reproduced the problem, was that I put the phone in airplane mode and bluetooth audio was still stuttering but it didn’t do that when playing over the built in speaker (obviously playing downloaded music here, so it was not a streaming/buffering issue).

Then they had me install a profile on my iPhone which logged the Bluetooth and Wifi signals / exchanges in a diagnostic report, which ran for about 20 minutes, whilst I reproduced the issue and noted down the time (to the second) of whenever the audio stutters. This was done with data over Wifi, and data over 5G. Then they phoned me up again, the logs were packaged up, and sent through. All they could do was tell me the data and timestamps etc. were going to be looked at by engineering and they would contact me back if they wanted me to run more test…

Dunno if this will help but at least someone called me, took data, and believed me when I said I had this issue. I’ll let you know if I hear anything.

Update:

I called Apple Support and of course, none of the proposed solutions fixed it. They said “it is not a known issue” when clearly we are all experiencing it. I was told to take my phone back to the store I bought it from and request a refund / exchange for a new device.

This is clearly either a software issue or hardware design issue. Swapping the phone is not going to change anything but I basically have no other option but to do this and then contact Apple support again if it keeps happening.

I wish I had no bought this phone, it is clearly not ready for release if it has these basic connectivity issues.

Yes, I have the same problem, too. I found a couple of reddit threads with people experiencing the same issue. In my case it appears that the stuttering is related to having another bluetooth connection (an Oura smart ring). If I close the Oura app, so it's not running in the background, the audio appears to work OK, but it's early days and I'm still investigating. Do you have multiple bluetooth connections other than the headphones? I hope it's not a hardware issue with the phone.

My iPhone SE 2020 didn't have the same problem.

I've just been in contact with Apple support I'm using the IOS 18.3.2 software and having the same issue as you guys iPhone 16e audio stuttering. Apple advisor said the following:

Thank you for bringing this to our attention also. I want you to know that Apple is aware of this situation and we're working hand-to-hand with our developers to fix this stuttering audio as soon as possible. We know that this kind of experience isn't the one that we want for you, specially with new Apple devices, we apologize in advance for any inconvenience you might have encountered when trying to play music

I've had the same issue. Every Bluetooth device I connect to has intermittent issues. I tried all the above on trouble shooting and more including: bluetooth reset, bluetooth forget and re-aquiring devices, soft reset of network settings, reset of all settings, icloud back up, factory back up. I have worked with six different Apple technicians and spoken with Apple support it has always been a blame game. Apple please elevate this issue

I have the same problem with my Iphone 16e. I had no problem with my iphone 11 pro. This is annoying :\

Not fixed with 18.3.2.

my extended family bought 3 of the iPhone 16e models, two on launch day and one a week ago, to replace really older iPhones. I upgraded from an iPhone 11 Pro to the iPhone 16e, and noticed I would have stuttering and disconnections with my AirPods Pro 2 that I had purchased in December. I ended up getting the AirPods Pro 2 swapped with a new unit under AppleCare+ after two genius appointments thinking it was the AirPods Pro 2 that were faulty despite no hardware faults found in them; I had tried the AirPods Pro 2 with two iPhone 16e and had issues, and had tried Bose QC35 and had no issues. However when heading home with the new AirPods Pro 2 the stuttering and disconnects continued; multiple every few 5 minutes. I then tried the iPhone 16e with my Cardo Edge motorcycle headset and it to would have stuttering and disconnects.

in summary, two iPhone 16e (all that we tried with Bluetooth devices; one white; one black; they are in ESR Magnetic Cases) had issues with these Bluetooth devices:

AirPods Pro 2 original

AirPods Pro 2 replacement

Cardo Edge

and the one of those two iPhone 16e that I tried worked fine with a Bose QC35z

i had done factory reset and restore from iCloud on the two iPhone 16e, as well as the erase network settings, and disabling of AdGuard DNS's local vpn server, and using only a single or multiple Bluetooth connection/remembered-device, all had no effect all to no avail.

i phoned with Apple and they seemed unaware of any specific iPhone 16e issues however did acknowledge it was a new device and did acknowledge they are do have known issues with Bluetooth connectivity.

however I tried my AirPods Pro 2 replacement and my Cardo Edge with a family member's iPhone SE 2022 and no issues. And I didn't have any issues with my prior iPhone 11 Pro which I haven't used since all this upgrade drama began.

so maybe it is an issue with the iPhone 16e or maybe the iPhone 16 or other recent models in general (as per Apple's commentary). Maybe it affects new Bluetooth version devices, as my Bose QC35 are super old. But the AirPods Pro 2 and Cardo Edge are newer Bluetooth versions.

it happens regardless of which AirPod settings were toggled, it happens indoor and outdoor, it happens regardless of wifi and cellular, it happens regardless of battery and charging status

I'll be returning one of the iPhone 16e and giving the other to a family member who doesn't use Bluetooth headsets, and I'll take their iPhone SE 2022.

guess this is what happens when you get new devices, just wish it would have been more transparent so I wouldn't have needed to do all this debugging myself and have my time and money wasted.

hopefully it is just a software issue they can fix in a few months

here are some screenshots of the disconnect reconnect flow; obviously can't screenshot audio stuttering

most notable on apps like prologue (audiobooks), Endel (sound waves), safari (YouTube and rumble), but I don't notice it on normal phone calls; however audio quality is so awful on that one can't tell if the distortions are the Bluetooth issue or the call signal issue

no Apple Watch, when I'm out an about the stuttering will occur with only my iPhone 16e and the AirPods Pro 2

is everyone using magnetic cases? I wonder if that has an impact; will be something for future users to look into who aren't returning theirs

I’ve contacted the Italian support, but they didn’t know nothing.

I’ve spent half an hour talking to an IT specialist gathering data for the engineers and I’m now required to initialize the iPhone and find if the problem is present without restoring a previous backup.

They also said that nobody have addressed the issue with Apple in Europe and I was the first one. I’ll do that in the next week and then open a ticket. This is very annoying.

Absolutely happening on my 16e. Seems to be worse when my 16e is close to my Mac laptop

I’m having exactly the same problem on my 16e.

I never had any issues with audio over Bluetooth stuttering when listening on my 12 mini, which I replaced with the 16e.

The only ‘workaround’ is to disable my bluetooth watch when listening to music over bluetooth, which is the only other Bluetooth device I have connected most of the time. But that’s totally unacceptable, this is objectively a backward step that Apple needs to fix. Audio also stutters when connected to my car’s Bluetooth.

This post doesn’t really help, other than confirm that other users are not alone with this problem.