Apple Support has confirmed to me that iOS 8.2 has several Bluetooth bugs that need to be fixed. There is nothing we (as consumers) can do except to report our displeasure to Apple and to wait for iOS 8.3 (which may or may not even solve the Bluetooth problems we're having).
Anyway, below is a description of the problems I'm having (though somewhat different than yours). This is what I sent to Apple... hopefully they'll read it and fix what needs to be fixed instead of trying to cram more ads of their Apple Watch into iOS 8.3.
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, 3rd 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.
