iPhone 5 iOS 8 Bluetooth issues with Audi A1

BMW X6. Same problem. Bluetooth Not working ater iOS 8 Update.

Make sure you delete the association on both the phone and the car, then re-pair the devices.

That seems to solve a good percentage of all Bluetooth weirdness, especially if you've upgraded to a new phone.

2015 BMW 535i...iPhone 6...bluetooth continue to drop connection while in call and then pick back up a minute later...this is a iOS issue and needs to be addressed...

I have a 2010 Mazda 3. No voice calls since I upgraded to Ios8 or ANY of its subsequent upgrades. So hacked off with Apple now and their complete refusal to admit there is any issue at all. Now very seriously thinking of pulling my whole family away from Apple...too many issues

This is terrible .... bought a new Camry last week ...all was fine ... then out of nowhere my 6+ iOs 8.1.3 won't connect the audio player, and now this morning the phone itself doesn't even work.

iOS 8.2 was released today, has anyone checked if this issue has been resolved?

Same problem with Honda Pilot 2013.
I have an iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 plus. Both devices will connect to the in-car system but
they both consistently drop out for about 5-10 seconds randomly but consistently during phone calls.

Has there been anymore updates on this issue? I'm thinking about switching from my Android LG G3 to the iPhone 6, however I have a Ford Fiesta '13 plate and I love the fact I can use bluetooth for my music/phone calls/texts with my Android. The thing putting me off getting the iPhone is this problem, don't think I could survive knowing I couldn't get any calls through while I'm driving or music.

So yeah, any updates on this issue or is it still happening?

According to several articles I read regarding changes in iOS 8.2, a Bluetooth calling issue was fixed, as documented in this article:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonkelly/2015/03/12/apple-ios-8-2-should-you-upgr ade/

However, if you go to this article others are saying the issue is not fixed in iOS 8.2:

Bluetooth car connectivity after installation of iOS 8 and 8.2

Note that the original poster in the thread incorrectly called iOS 8.0.2 iOS 8.2, but near the end of the article people reported problems with the actual iOS 8.2 (note the dates, iOS 8.2 was released on 3/9/2015.

I'm surprised that of the many people that posted on this thread to report problems that none of them posted an update after iOS 8.2, it makes me think that the issue was resolved, because, in my opinion possibly, typically people are eager to comment on frustration but not so much when things are working correctly.

I just got off the phone with Apple Support a few minutes ago. Apparently Apple "knows" about the bluetooth problems in iOS 8.2, but is keeping it on the down-low. Even the agent acknowledged encountering the same issues as I am with her iPhone and her vehicle, but there's nothing she could do either except report it to Apple and wait for iOS 8.3 (hoping the issues are REALLY fixed this time). The more people who report their issues to Apple through Apple Support http://www.apple.com/support/ or Apple Feedback http://www.apple.com/feedback/ then the more chance Apple will take this issue seriously and work to find an actual solution to the problem (instead of just suggesting users "reset their devices").

Below is what I sent Apple...

3/29/2015

DEVICES:

4 x iPhone 6 Plus

1 x iPhone 6

4 x iPad Air 2

1 x iPad Mini 2

3 x iPad 4

VERSION:

iOS 8.1.3 >> iOS 8.2 (all devices)

VEHICLES:

2 x 2009 Mercedes-Benz E350

1 x 2012 Mercedes-Benz GL450

(will test 2008 Lexus LS600hL & 2015 LX570 later this week)

After weeks of reading about iOS 8.2 issues and how iOS 8.2 is supposed to contain a certain vague BT fix, I thought it was finally safe to risk another iOS update to fix my long-standing car Bluetooth issue with iOS 8.1.3. I WAS WRONG!

Upon updating to iOS 8.2, we noticed that our existing Bluetooth issue (started since iOS 8.0.x) was still present. Ever since iOS 8.0.x, we have had the very annoying Bluetooth issue of call audio cutting in & out when connected. After further research and testing, we determined that the cause may be that the iPhone (iOS 8.0.x and above) actually randomly disconnects and reconnect with the car's BT every 10-120 seconds, thus interrupting the audio through bluetooth… however this behavior is difficult to detect without active Bluetooth call/audio going through the speakers.

Unfortunately, we also noticed that IOS 8.2 ADDED NEW BLUETOOTH PROBLEMS to the mix! With iOS 8.1.3, we could stream audio (I.e. Pandora, iTunes Radio, Rhapsody) at higher quality perfectly. Right after the iOS 8.2 update, everyone suddenly noticed that the audio from Pandora or other streaming music apps would briefly pause or skip & stutter every few seconds. We lowered the audio quality to "Good" instead of "Better" or "Best" but that did not make a difference ("Good" is around 64 kbps). At the same time, we did a speed test and found the 4g connection at that time was 6.8Mbps down… more than enough to stream a 64kbps signal without constant stuttering/buffering. Tests with devices still on iOS 8.1.3 show this is an isolated iOS 8.2 problem (the device streamed Bluetooth audio perfectly… was updated to iOS 8.2… Bluetooth audio was tested again and now exhibited the stuttering problem).

I hope Apple is going to fix this issue in iOS 8.3 or sooner... more and more people seem to have this (or variations) issue, and many others also are affected, probably haven't noticed (yet).

UPDATE 3/30/2015: After today’s preliminary testing with the vehicles above, this is what I found:

OUTGOING CALLS: In iOS 8.1.3, after much research and testing I have determined that the iPhone’s Bluetooth drops connection with the vehicle periodically, then immediately reconnects again, resulting in several seconds of audio silence on both ends of the call (same behavior as if you’re going through a cellular “dead zone”… but you’re not). With iOS 8.2, Bluetooth still exhibits the same issue, but now with an increased frequency. (NOTE: Unpairing & repairing Bluetooth connections as well as Resetting All Network Settings did NOT solve this problem… as other Internet posters, forums, and articles can tell you.)

INCOMING CALLS: In iOS 8.1.3, incoming calls suffered the same issues as outgoing calls (see above), but didn’t exibit any other Bluetooth problems with my vehicles. With iOS 8.2, Bluetooth issues for incoming calls are now significantly WORSE! Approximately 75% of all incoming calls will ring twice, then drop (i.e. “Call Failed”). 90% of the time, the incoming call ring won’t transfer to Bluetooth audio (instead only ringing on your handset). (NOTE: Unpairing & repairing Bluetooth connections as well as Resetting All Network Settings did NOT solve this problem… as other Internet posters, forums, and articles can tell you.)

STREAMING AUDIO/MUSIC: In iOS 8.1.3, Bluetooth audio/music streamed fine from my iPhone to my vehicle, even with 3+ Bluetooth devices connected simultaneously. My vehicle’s Bluetooth does not support Bluetooth audio, so I have installed a Kinvo BTC450 Hands-Free Car Kit (aptX) to play streaming audio through my vehicle’s speakers. The only issue I had was that the iPhone does NOT allow manual selection of assigning specific Bluetooth devices specific functions unlike Android 4.0.4 and above (for example, with Android I could assign incoming/outgoing call functions & audio to my car Bluetooth, and streaming media audio to my Kinvo BTC450… with iPhone iOS 8.2 and prior you cannot do that so the phone Bluetooth fights to assign incoming/outgoing call functions & audio to one of the two devices… usually the one that boots up the fastest). With iOS 8.2, not only is this problem still here, but now if you have 3 or more Bluetooth devices connected (not only paired) simultaneously, then it is as if the iPhone has to buffer streaming audio every few seconds, which will pause or stutter the audio feed to the Kinvo BTC450 (or whatever Bluetooth device you use). This happens with ALL streaming audio feeds, whether it’s Pandora, iTunes Radio, Rhapsody (although it occurs less frequently with some apps than others). After unpairing and re-pairing my iPhone to the device, suddenly ALL AUDIO DID NOT WORK! After doing this several times, I resumed driving in silence… then after about 15 minutes all of a sudden the streaming audio (Pandora which I didn’t pause) started streaming through my car speakers again (although the stuttering/pausing audio issue was still present). Resetting All Network Settings did not have an effect on this problem either. (NOTE: Unpairing & repairing Bluetooth connections as well as Resetting All Network Settings did NOT solve this problem. This problem is only solved by connecting only 1-2 devices simultaneously and preventing any more devices from connecting as other Internet posters, forums, and articles can tell you.)

MY RECOMMENDATION: If you use multiple bluetooth devices simultaneously with your iPhone/iPad (especially 3 or more)… then AVOID iOS 8.2 AT ALL COSTS! If you already upgraded (as I have), then from what I understand it’s too late to downgrade to iOS 8.1.3 since Apple doesn’t “sign” that firmware anymore… so your choices are either to live with iOS 8.2 or jailbreak... or switch to another phone manufacturer. If you don’t use Bluetooth or connect to multiple devices simultaneously (i.e. smartwatch, car Bluetooth, 3^rd party car kit, radar detector, portable speaker, headphones, portable keyboard, etc) then iOS 8.2 may work OK for you. Hopefully iOS 8.3 will solve these Bluetooth issues… but based on Apple’s track record I wouldn’t hold my breath.

@chokaay Thanks for the information. Looks like the issues aren't resolved. A few corrections:

1. iOS doesn't support apt-x, an apt-x Hands-Free kit won't help audio quality.

2. What is the good, better, best selection of audio you mentioned? Is this a setting of your Hands-Free device or the iPhone? In Bluetooth with iOS the audio (A2DP) is either encoded as AAC or SBC. For AAC the audio quality is fixed and can't be changed. For SBC the sink must support the maximum bitpool (proportional to the bitrate) that the source supports, for iOS devices this bitpool is 53. So, in short, with AAC you will get a bit rate of around 264 kbps and with SBC it will be somewhere between 200 and 300 kbps. Hands-free audio will use a much lower quality audio stream. For most of the tests you mentioned though, Pandora, iTunes Radio, Rhapsody, etc., A2DP audio will be used, not HFP, and the good, better, best selection is irrelevant.

3. When reporting Bluetooth test results I would take any possible cellular/connectivity issues out of the picture. i.e. report results with music stored on your phone, not with music streamed to your phone. There are so many other variables that come in to play when you factor in streaming music. Maybe the LTE bit rate was good the second you speed tested it, but the next second it was bad. You have no way to know where the latency occurred.

4. You said that the iPhone doesn't allow assigning specific functions for specific Bluetooth devices, I don't know about all functions, but I know for A2DP audio you can choose which device you want to send the audio to. Swipe up from the bottom of the screen to show Control Center, press the small output arrow, and choose the device you want to stream to.

1) Yeah, I know. I got and hardwired the car kit in my Mercedes-Benz when I had a Droid that supported apt-x. Then the decision was made to switch this office over to Apple from Android a few months ago as a limited pilot program (a decision I'm sure is being regretted due to the Bluetooth fiasco).

2) Good, Better, Best are quality settings in some streaming apps like Pandora. (I assume) they control the quality of the stream by altering the compression or bit-rate.

3) Unfortunately I don't have any music stored on my phone. I only switched to Apple a few months ago, and haven't the time or patience to maintain a music library since I was in school (several years ago). I'm pretty sure all my songs are dated by at least a decade. :/

4) What small output arrow are you talking about? Do I need to connect to the device for it to show up? If I assign the audio to a device, will it stay assigned to that device forever unless I change it? That would be great if this was possible... now if only call audio can be routed the same way...

@chokaay

4) Please see the screenshot below. When you are connected to a Bluetooth device, at least for an audio sink, for example a Bluetooth or your car's stereo, the AirPlay text will be gone and you will only see the rectangle and arrow in it's place. If you press this button, a list will pop up and you can choose which device to output to. You can choose the phone's speakers, or any of the currently connected audio sink Bluetooth devices.

I worked with a guy who had an iPhone a few years ago and that's when I jumped on the Apple train. They've steadily got worse and worse about releasing half-baked software since then though. My plan for the years to come is to only perform major updates just before the next major release comes out. So I'll always be one year behind but I'll get the major update with all of the bug fixes over the past year included. The problem with Apple in this situation is that it's been 6 months and they still haven't fixed these issues, they may not be fixed before the next major update.

If you are supporting several iOS devices definitely do some research before updating. If there are any major problems they'll be reported via forums and tech sites within a few days.

Glad to know that there are still issues and its not just one or two people still.

Really disappointed with the fact that its not been sorted by Apple since I was really interested in getting the new Apple phone, but if I still can't connect it with my car then there's no point in me upgrading due to the fact I won't be getting the most out of the car or my phone. Couldn't live with the fact I wouldn't be able to call/get calls while driving.

Bluetooth works just fine with the vast majority of devices and vehicles out there.

For those it doesn't it remains to be seen if the issue is on the vehicle side or Apple's.

FWIW, I have had no issues in Toyota vehicles nor in the rental Nissan Altima I drove last week.