IOS 8 BLUETOOTH PROBLEMS

Fixed today with IOS 8.2, delete phone from car and re-pair

I cannot pair my Iphone 6 and my Jam2 speaker. I downloaded the updated software today and Bluetooth still won't work. Any suggestions.

HI

I have got BMW E90 with iDrive ..

My iPhone 6 was working fine with it specially the bluetooth was syncing the way it suppose to do.

But 2 days ago it stopped all is doing syncing half of the book and call log does not show either..

I tried my old iPhone 4 that works super the way it should do.

I have tried to repair it re set the phone still no luck.

Any Ideas guys what could have gone wrong with it..

Many Thanks.

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.

UPDATE 4/2/15: Tonight I tried to stream Bluetooth audio from Pandora and Rhapsody through my UE Boom. I had my Pebble Steel, Panasonic 6.0 DECT Link-to-Cell Cordless Phone System, and UE Boom connected via Bluetooth at the time. Bluetooth audio skipped 1-2 times per second. This issue is getting very frustrating... to the point where I want to throw my iPhone in the trash.

I can also confirm that the issue is with 8.2 and 8.3. But I've noticed that it's something to do with the Bluetooth settings page and/or low power bluetooth devices. My music stutters every few seconds while my Pebble Steel is connected, but if I turn off my Pebble, or turn off Pebble bluetooth, the music streams fine (stutters WAY less, like maybe once a minute or less). Also, if you open the bluetooth settings page, the music seems to stream fine...so *** apple?!

Not super helpful if you wanna listen to music and use Waze, since you have to leave the bluetooth window open, and then keep your phone from going to sleep......

(iPhone 6, 8.3, Pebble Steel 2.9.1, bluetooth BC05B module for audio streaming)

I can confirm this "workaround".

Streaming with 3+ Bluetooth devices connected causes the audio to skip/stutter every 0.25-4 seconds (still not fixed from iOS 8.2).

Streaming with 3+ Bluetooth devices connected WITH the iPhone Bluetooth Settings page on the screen causes audio to skip/stutter every 1-3 minutes (still not acceptable, but much better). I assume this is because the phone gives priority to Bluetooth activities since it is the active screen. Unfortunately this makes it less convenient to access your streaming controls (i.e. thumbs up/down in Pandora, skip, etc).

Apple really needs to do something about this...

iPhone 6 Plus, iOS 8.3

This is to address phantom calls.

The reason you cannot cancel the call is because of voice apps such as Viber and whatsapp. When you take a call or even sometimes chat with these apps while connected to your car, it leaves the voice channel open. Viber is way worse than what's app. However ford is worse than Chevy. In my ford I always have to force close viber. Only sometimes in my chevy. Also this happens a lot less with iPhone tham with android. So basically the solution is kill your voice app in memory when it hijacks your Bluetooth connection. Either that or calol your voicemail and hangup. It needs to know that a real call starated and stopped becUse the phone still has priority over the apps. Been using this workaround for a couple of years.