IPhone 4s bluetooth not working

iMister wrote:

Yes we hear you when you say iphone never has supported bluetooth file transfer. It is totally unacceptable that the iphone still does not support bluetooth file transfer.

Then sell your iPhone and buy something else, cause it ain't gonna happen.

I just got my iphone 4S. Same problems as everyone else, not able to connect to any bluetooth device. Come on Apple, help us out here.

If you actually read my text it stated:

"For me my use of the phone involves bluetooth file transfer, so the iphone is not much use for me. Luckily I had a colleague that has iphone so I found out before purchasing a phone, about the inadequacy in regard to bluetooth file transfer."

So to make it perfectly clear I have not purchased an iphone so there is not one to be taken back.

It is you that has missed the point of what I am saying. Insted you are trying to blindly defend the iphone for one of its major short comings.

I am merely making the point that any high end level device of this type should be capable of bluetooth file transfer. This would be most peoples expectation if they have used this feature on other devices and were looking for an update.

I am an automation engineer and when looking into using an iphone for my work it has major shortcomings in its inflexibility to be configured to carry out the functions that I require. Yes I could jailbreak to get some of the features that I want, but would not be comfortable with the implications that it could have if any warranty issues arose.

People when making the decision to purchase an iphone really need to be sure that it is capable of carryiong out the functions they require.

The inflexibility of the iphone has really surprised me. I guess that many others have been finding out the hard way that the iphone is not the be all and end all that it is reported to be.

It is a well engineered product that in the real world has some major short comings, which could easily be rectified by way of operating system enhancements.

iMister wrote:

So to make it perfectly clear I have not purchased an iphone so there is not one to be taken back.

Then it is unclear to me why you're here. It seems unlikely that you have technical support questions as you don't own an iPhone. I'm also not sure what you'll be able to contribute in the way of technical support solutions as you don't have much experience with an iPhone.

I puirchased an iphone 4s as a replacement for my DROID. I never had any problems with the bluetooth in the DROID in either of my vehicles. I have been able to connect the iphone 4S to my car but the connection dropped off during the middle of calls. Then the problem started happening with my headset. I finally convinced Apple to give me a new phone (after spenidg hours on the phone with tech support and being forced to go through the process of restoring my phone) and got a new phone. My second call had the same problem from my vehicle. The connection drops mid call and then come back on. It usually happens when its an incoming call. I am so feed up, I now rarely make calls from the car.

THIS PRODUCT DOES NOT WORK FOR THE MAIN PURPOSE INTENDED - TO PROVIDE ME A MEANS TO MAKE CALL WHILE COMMUNTING TO WORK.

THIS IS DEFINATELY AN APPLE PROBLEM AND THEY NEED TO FIX IT.

BTW, the Apple Technition who insisted that I restore my phone denied that Apple had any prior reports of any such problems and said that I should not believe the stuff I read on Apple communities. IF APPLE isn't giving us any credence, why have this forum.

You don't bother to mention what kind of car you have. Several manufacturers have released updates recently. The one from ford in particular addresses this exact problem.

The odds are good the problem is NOT the phone.

I have a 2011 Honday Odyssey. Honda claims that the bluetooth works fine and that the problem is with the phone.

Sorry I did not read that bit about having to actually own an iphone to post comments on this board. Maybe you can point me to where it says this.

You do not actually have to be the owner to experience problems with the iphone. In my case attempting to transfer files by bluetooth from my device to iphone did not work. I do not have problems with any other devices when doing bluetooth file transfer.

So where else would be a better place to look for answers then ??

I cannot express how angry I am regarding the inability of my brand new, **** expensive iPhone 4S to perform an utterly basic function like bluetooth file transfer to ANOTHER Apple product. I have a Macbook pro and spent countless hours trying to pair these two products, thinking I was doing something wrong. I could understand if it was to other non-Apple products, but this is just asinine. Its like having a Ferrari but there's no reverse gear.

What is the explanation for this? Even the experts at the Apple store did not know this. I dont want tethering. I just want to be able to transfer photos and the odd document from my phone to the Macbook. If the iPhone 5 comes out with working Bluetooth, I am going to be so ****** off.

Maybe you should have done a little research first. This has NEVER been a function of the iPhone and that fact is well documented.

Where in the documentation, did it say something that led you to believe you could do this? Maybe if you'd actually read the manual, you wouldn't have wasted 'countless hours' trying to do something that Apple never claimed you could do.

If this fact is well documented, why does this thread have more than 15 000 hits? Clearly I am not the only person who has experienced this issue. Do a search online and find out just how many other people did not research the iPhone before they bought it.

The bluetooth functionality is documented in the manual, that is correct. It does not say anywhere that it will not transfer files to another Mac. If a product has Bluetooth, surely it must be able to do what other bluetooth products have.

When you buy a car, do you research whether it has a reverse gear? No, you buy it anyway because reverse gear is standard in every vehicle. Do me a favour, go to a car dealership and ask whether a car has reverse gear. And then see the looks you get from the sales person. That look is what i had on my face when I realised the limitations of the bluetooth functionality on the iPhone.

Coyzan wrote:

If this fact is well documented, why does this thread have more than 15 000 hits? Clearly I am not the only person who has experienced this issue. Do a search online and find out just how many other people did not research the iPhone before they bought it

Why does this thread have so many hits? In large part, because the same people keep coming back over and over, some to continue to complain about something the device doesn't have and never did have and some of us, for the amusement value.

Not all devices that have BlueTooth have the same profiles. I have Bluetooth speakers that don't do file transfers. I suspect most car systems that use BT don't, either. And, before you go saying that no one would expeect speakers to have file transfer so that's irrelevant, understand my point is that BT is used for a variety of things, it's not just for tranferring files. So, your car analogy is what is flawed. Cars need reverse in order to funcction as cars. Devices with BT do not need the file transfer profile in order to function as BT devices.

And yes, it is incumbent upon the consumer to figure out what device is right for them.

I have to disagree. This is an Apple forum, and I doubt that consumers are coming here for the amusement value (well, maybe you are). If i read the thread, many people are posting comments which, to them, are extremely pertinent, and defending the iPhone by saying the consumers are to blame for not researching the iPhone is, quite frankly, insulting and borders on arrogance.

I have been an Apple user for decades, from the the earliest Blackbird laptop through to my Macbook Pro. I have always prided myself on the fact that I chose Apple because it just worked. Everything just worked. Flawlessly. I did not have to read manuals to understand that the Apple product would work. Its more with stunned amazement that I realise that the BT function thats present on just about every other mobile phone was not available on the iPhone.

What I would like to ask, and maybe I can get an answer which does not rely on the "it never did have it, so why are you asking" rhetoric, is why this function is not available on the iPhone? What is the reasoning behind it?

Coyzan wrote:

What I would like to ask, and maybe I can get an answer which does not rely on the "it never did have it, so why are you asking" rhetoric, is why this function is not available on the iPhone? What is the reasoning behind it?

Only Apple would know the answer to that and they haven't said, I would guess though, that the answer is related to security and illicit file sharing.

Thanks for the reply Meg St._Clair. If your suspicions are correct, then what you are predicting is that the future Macbook laptop range is heading for a similar fate regarding BT. Or will be phased out completely in favour of a tablet probably called MacPad Pro running iOS7!

If the reason is illicit file sharing, then really there are two zillion ways (Dropbox being just one) of that issue being circumvented. Your idea of it being a security issue is in all probability correct.