Bluetooth issues on iPhone 17 Pro Max running iOS 26

Haven't tested long term, but these settings have worked well for me so far:

🚧 Maximum Stability Mode (CarPlay + AirPods Pro)

✅ Disable all wake‑trigger behaviors

These are the biggest offenders.

• Raise to Wake
• Settings → Display & Brightness → Raise to Wake → Off
• Tap to Wake
• Settings → Accessibility → Touch → Tap to Wake → Off
• Attention Aware Features
• Settings → Face ID & Passcode → Attention Aware Features → Off
• Haptic on Wake
• Settings → Sounds & Haptics → Haptics → Turn off “System Haptics”

These prevent micro‑wake events that cause Wi‑Fi/Bluetooth renegotiation.

✅ Lock down Wi‑Fi behavior

We want the phone to stay on one network and avoid band switching.

• Auto‑Join Hotspot Off
• Wi‑Fi Assist Off
• Private Wi‑Fi Address Off (for your car)
• Limit IP Address Tracking Off (for your car)

This prevents the phone from trying to “optimize” connections mid‑drive.

✅ Lock down Bluetooth behavior

These reduce Bluetooth LE chatter and renegotiation.

• Turn off “Nearby Interactions”
• (Used for U1/U2 chip proximity features)
• Turn off “Find My network”
• (Stops background BLE pings)
• Disable “SharePlay in CarPlay”
• (Prevents Bluetooth handoffs)

✅ Reduce background radio churn

These settings stop the phone from waking radios for background tasks.

• Background App Refresh → Off for all but essentials
• Siri Suggestions → Off
• Significant Locations → Off
• Location Services → System Services → disable non‑critical items

This reduces the number of times the phone wakes itself while connected to CarPlay.

✅ Optional but highly effective

These are the “nuclear options” — not required, but they help.

• Disable Always‑On Display
• Disable Live Activities
• Disable Lock Screen widgets
• Turn off Apple Watch temporarily

The Apple Watch in particular is a known trigger — it constantly negotiates BLE channels.

Give the following a try:

1 -Force restart iPhone - Apple Support

2 - How to reset your AirPods and AirPods Pro - Apple Support 

Updating to 26.1 fixed my blue tooth issues.

I have the same problem. Bluetooth isn't working on my new iPhone 17 pro. BT is enabled and I tried the forced restart and the reinitialize BT and wifi methods.

I upgraded from an iphone 14 pro. Before I transferred everything from the 14 I upgraded the OS on both phones to 26.0.1. I got my new 17 working with wifi and esim but it will not pair with any bluetooth devices. I then setup my old 14 for my wife and got it working. I took the 14 and tried to BT pair it and it now it won't pair. The 14 paired fine before I updated the OS. Next I was able to successfully airdrop between the 2 phones. Evidently airdrop uses BT to discover nearby phones so that indicates that the BT electronics on both phones is working. That means the problem is most likely IOS 26.0.1.

I spoke with Apple on the phone and they asked me to Reset My Network settings, since then the bluetooth issues seem to have been resolved.

Yeah, I’ve realized that whenever Apple rolls out a new iOS version, the first few months are usually super glitchy. It’s honestly not worth installing it right away. I usually wait for 2–3 months after the release — Apple has a bit of a reputation for pushing out buggy early builds before things finally stabilize.

For those following this thread, 26.1 update fixed the car Bluetooth issue for me!

Did the restart work for anyone? It’s a nuisance to do this if it doesn’t result in a fix

I’m having the same issues with 26.1. Frequent and random disconnects from CarPlay. Sometimes my AirPods won’t connect until I flip Bluetooth on and off. Sometimes CarPlay won’t connect at all. In both my vehicles with different stereos I have issues. Wired vs AirPlay makes no difference. Restarting doesn’t make a difference. Issues are sporadic.

Same problem here, currently opening a case with Apple because of it. Bluetooth disconnects from all devices every day, have to restart the phone in order to get it to reconnect but for it to connect to my car I'm having to try pair it every single day. Apple ran diagnostics and said there was nothing wrong with my iPhone 17 Pro Max.

I don’t know what else to try. If I do a factory reset, the phone works well for a couple of days, but if I restore it from a backup, the issue occurs immediately. I’ve tried many Bluetooth devices from different brands: some work better, others are impossible to use. I’ve noticed that the place where I am at the moment can make this issue better or worse. Sometimes it seems like interference, and sometimes it feels like some corrupted configuration that keeps getting worse until it becomes impossible to use. But it makes no sense! It started with my iPhone 12 Pro, which I replaced with the 17 Pro expecting it to be solved, and the issue is exactly the same. It has to be something with iOS! Now I’ve bought a new phone and two new headphones, and the issue still persists!

I have been told that the new wireless chip in the iPhone 17 has compatibility issues with older Bluetooth devices

Same problem her but not just bluetooth: I just switched to an Iphone Air from a Iphone 15 pro max. I notice a very low telcommunition signal and I easily loose the connection, further I have problems connecting to my bluetooth headphones (Jabra Elite 7) and finally also using Wifi in my house the signal strength has decreased significantly, where I am e.g. struggling using the phone as chrocast provider.

I have the exact same provider and equipment as with my previous Iphone 15 and also my family having Iphone 16 has no problems.

26.1 has made it a bit better for me, but I still have disconnects in my car pretty consistently. Hotspot can flake out some too from other devices as I hear it from my boys, but if they connect to another iphone hotspot it's fine.

Needless to say this has been and continues to be a problem for me. I didn't have an option on OS the 17 Pro Max for anything other than 26, but I am staring to wish I kept my 15 now.

Add hearing aids to the mix, and you’ve got my situation….phone, speaker phone, AirPod, hearing aid, and so on…it switches every 5 seconds. If I’m in my car add that one to the mix. It’s an absolute nightmare! When I get a call my only option is to turn Bluetooth off (in settings…from the pulldown doesn’t work), and then put my phone to my hear which is a pain with hearing aids. I’ve run the update to 26.1 and it DOES NOT WORK. I’ve done several resets, but nothing has helped. Any suggestions welcomed.