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schveiguy2 Author

Level 1

9 points

iOS 9.1 Bluetooth buzzing audio iPhone 6s

I have discovered a bug in iOS 9.1, tested on 2 iPhone 6's, and one 6s.

1. Connect your iPhone 6 or 6s to a bluetooth that has the ability to power off ungracefully. This means you can power the bluetooth device off and the phone does not recognize that the bluetooth device is off immediately (the bluetooth icon on your phone remains lit for about 10 seconds before turning gray)

2. While connected, power off the bluetooth device

3. Do anything that causes the phone to play audio. What I generally do is lock and unlock the phone several times (this causes the locking "click" to come out of the bluetooth speaker generally)

4. After the bluetooth turns off, the audio is corrupted. Playing almost any audio will result in a constant buzzing or silence (depending on what the first sound of the audio is). Phone call ring tones are a constant buzz. Some audio sounds are OK, but generally any video or music will cause this to fail.

Only solution to fix I have found is to reboot the phone.

I took my brand new 6s to the genius bar, they suggested to re-set up the phone as a new device. After clearing all data from the phone, with the above technique I was able to get the device to exhibit the same behavior, so it is not my software. On my previous iPhone 6, I had the same issue (but didn't know about the trigger), and I just tried my brother's iPhone 6, and could get the same thing to happen. I've repeated the behavior for multiple bluetooth audio devices.

Has anyone seen this issue? Can you repeat the steps above and get it to happen?

How to report this to Apple so they can fix it? This should be a very repeatable problem. Should I make another genius bar appointment to demonstrate the issue? Obviously, it's not my phone, so I can't get a new one that fixes the problem.

Message was edited by: schveiguy2

iPhone 6s, iOS 9.1, null

Posted on Dec 1, 2015 7:18 AM

19 replies

Mar 11, 2016 3:43 PM in response to schveiguy2

Hello. I have been having this same problem for a while. I'll get in my car (also Kia Soul 2015). My phone will automatically connect through Bluetooth, and I will start listening to music from my phone through Bluetooth. At some point, and I am not sure what triggers it, the music will stop playing and the car will revert back to the radio by default. Any further sounds that come from my phone from that point on sound like a buzzing sound. Whenever I try to select Bluetooth Music from my car it is no longer available. I have to shut down the phone and restart the phone for all these issues to go away. Very Frustrating!!!

schveiguy2 Author

Level 1

9 points

Mar 23, 2016 10:28 AM in response to TAD_TK

Tested in 9.3, and I have not been able to reproduce it. Looks like it's fixed!

schveiguy2 Author

Level 1

9 points

Mar 23, 2016 10:33 AM in response to Michael Mebane

Try iOS 9.3 (released 2 days ago). I have not had the problem since.

sproum1

Level 1

4 points

Mar 26, 2016 7:26 PM in response to schveiguy2

My wife's phone had a similar problem. We were streaming music via a iphone 6Plus, OS 9.1, to AR Bluetooth speakers. We unplugged the DC power from the speakers to move them. When we powered the speakers on again, no more streaming audio. At best, we could hear the key strokes coming through the speakers as we enter our four digit password on the phone.

When we tried to just play music on the iphone, it just buzzed or there was no audio. So the phone seem really jacked up.

We finally go the phone to work again by powering it completely down. I believe we also turned off the the Bluetooth before shutting down, but I don't remember all the steps.

It seems the most likely cause of the issue, as you point out, is an ungraceful shut down of the Bluetooth link. Turning off the phone screen or shutting of Bluetooth didn't fix the issue, just powering the phone completely down seem to help the issue. Closest thing to a hard reset I guess.

Once we got the phone working again, we could relink to the Bluetooth and get back to normal.

Hope this helps.

iOS 9.1 Bluetooth buzzing audio iPhone 6s