Ipad IOS 8 Bluetooth speakers no longer work

Question

Level 1

13 points

Ipad IOS 8 Bluetooth speakers no longer work

Upgraded Ipad 3 to IOS 8 and Boston Acoustics Bluetooth speakers no longer work. The speakers pair with the Ipad, but connection drops when opening any app that attempts to use the bluetooth connection. Seems like the updated IOS blutooth driver is the problem. I tested with Iphone 4, Iphone 5, ipad 2 running IOS 7

and all work fine. Tested with Iphone 6 plus, Ipad 3, Ipad 2 using IOS 8 and none of the IOS 8 devices work... Also did the IOS 8 patch and did not fix this issue.

The Boston Acoustics Speakers supports Bluetooth v2.1 + EDR, A2DP v1.2

Seems like Apple can't get the wireless side right, IOS 6 had issues with Wifi and Bluetooth muting, that was corrected in IOS 7, now another wireless problem that makes these $350 speakers a boat anchor..... and not usable.

Perhaps they need to hire some RF / Wireless engineers and do a better job of regression testing... I am a wireless engineer and know that we never make hardware or software upgrades without extensive inter op testing and friendly user trials...

John

iPad (3rd gen) Wi-Fi, iOS 8

Posted on Oct 1, 2014 10:53 AM

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Answer 1

Oct 3, 2014 8:56 AM in response to Jswant

I have this same exact issue with my Boston Acoustics SoundWare XS Digital Cinema 2.1 system. Any other device can connect just fine including all of my previous iPhones and Android devices, but my new iPhone 6 will not keep the connection. Strange because the iPhone 6 will connect and work perfectly fine with my Plantronics Voyager Legend and my JBL Flip bluetooth. What happened guys, Mr. Jobs passed and you all forgot how to do proper QA? This type of foolishness is expected from Microsoft, not Apple.

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Answer 2

Jswant Author

Level 1

13 points

Oct 6, 2014 9:39 AM in response to Pharmer2k

It's an IOS 8 problem, as my new Iphone 6+ will not work with these BT Speakers (there are other units too like Phillips I have seen in other posts) My Iphone 5 using IOS 7 works fine streaming to these BT speakers, so it very clear the issue is IOS 8

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Answer 3

Rudegar

Level 10

170,838 points

Oct 10, 2014 8:15 AM in response to Jswant

it's not a general a2dp issue though my nokia a2dp stereo headset works fine

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Answer 4

Bige216

Level 1

1 points

Oct 13, 2014 12:41 PM in response to Jswant

I Just posted the exact same scenario, I have 3 units that I can't use now! Any answers or advise yet? Thanks!

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Answer 5

sberman

Level 10

264,075 points

Oct 13, 2014 12:43 PM in response to Jswant

There is a general Bluetooth issue with the current iOS 8 version that should be fixed in the next iOS release.

http://www.macrumors.com/2014/10/01/ios-8-bluetooth-connectivity-issues/

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Answer 6

Melvin

Level 5

4,299 points

Oct 22, 2014 12:26 PM in response to Jswant

Any fix for this?

I have the same Boston Acoustics XS Theater Sound. My iPhone 5c ever since upgrading to iOS 8 will not connect to the speakers any more. It connects briefly for a second then the Music about pauses it self. When you press play music comes out of the iPhone. You have to quit the music app to try and reconnect which starts the process all over again.

This is more than a month now.

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Answer 7

sberman

Level 10

264,075 points

Oct 22, 2014 1:21 PM in response to Melvin

Melvin wrote:

This is more than a month now.

This implies you have not installed iOS 8.1.

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Answer 8

Melvin

Level 5

4,299 points

Oct 22, 2014 1:29 PM in response to sberman

iOS 8.1 did not fix the problem. Sorry it wasn't clear. It is now going on more than a month there is an ongoing problem with Bluetooth with out a fix from Apple.

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Answer 9

jsb72

Level 1

0 points

Oct 23, 2014 1:24 PM in response to Melvin

I have the very same issue - very frustrating. iOS 8.1 hasn't fixed the problem.

I contact Boston Acoustics and was told that there was "no way" it was going to work with latest version of iOS and as there is no facility to update the SoundWare system, any fix would have to come from Apple. Shame. I hope they do soon.

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Answer 10

Melvin

Level 5

4,299 points

Nov 21, 2014 12:30 PM in response to Jswant

iOS 8.1.1 is here but it still does not fix the bluetooth problem.

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Answer 11

dweir68

Level 1

0 points

Nov 30, 2014 6:23 PM in response to Melvin

This is brutal. How did they manage to undo such fundamental functionality. Come on, Apple, get on this!

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Answer 12

dweir68

Level 1

0 points

Nov 30, 2014 6:28 PM in response to dweir68

Okay, I take back my last comment. I managed to get this working with a Bose Soundlink Mini.

Order of operations:

1. Disconnect Bluetooth Speaker

2. Start playing a song in iTunes

3. Connect Bluetooth Speaker

The song automatically picked up the speaker and started playing the song through it.

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Answer 13

irish64

Level 1

0 points

Dec 8, 2014 12:40 PM in response to dweir68

MY iphone 5 with IOS 8.1.1 does the same thing with Soundware xs, any fix yet?

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Answer 14

Melvin

Level 5

4,299 points

Dec 8, 2014 8:07 PM in response to irish64

irish64 I don't think there is a fix yet. Not for the Soundware XS. It was sweet when it worked. So sad Apple.

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Answer 15

Melvin

Level 5

4,299 points

Dec 10, 2014 10:50 AM in response to Melvin

The iOS 8.1.2 update Bluetooth is still broken. How can something so simple like Bluetooth not maintain backwards compatibility? Nothing changed on the Boston Acoustics Soundware XS speakers so the problem has been caused by Apple breaking Bluetooth functionality.

I am using an iPhone 5c. Maybe just maybe I could understand if I upgraded to a new device something might not work any more like Bluetooth. But a simple software update cripples a device like this is ridiculous. And yes the phone is crippled using Bluetooth. The phone connects to the speakers for a split second sound comes out then the Music app pauses. Pressing play again it does not connect but starts playing from the phones speaker.

In simple terms.

It stinks.

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