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iPhone SE Bluetooth issues

I have a new iPhone SE and have so far paired it to a 2014 BMW 328i and a 2011 Kia Optima and a 2015 Kia Santa Fe. In all cases, I have terrible quality bluetooth call reception... the audio while on a phone call is extremely scratchy and distorted.


If I pair an iPhone 6S to each of these vehicles (same iOS version - 9.3.1), I do NOT experience these issues and calls are clear.


When I use the iPhone SE to make phone calls outside of Bluetooth, I have no issues and calls are clear.


This bluetooth issue on my iPhone SE does NOT impact Bluetooth music streaming. Only sounds scratchy / distorted with phone calls.


Apple, so far, is blaming the vehicle manufacturers despite there being multiple vehicle models and brands involved.


BMW and Kia state this must be an Apple problem.


Apple Genius bar is absolutely no help -- they state they can't report "software issues" to Apple and are only able to replace bad iPhones.


I'm at a complete loss as to how to get this to Apple's attention so they can fix the issue.


For now, I don't know what to do. All I know is that Bluetooth audio is very important to me in California since it is illegal to use your phone except in a hands free manner.


Anyone know how we can get this information to someone at Apple that can actually do something about it?


Robert

Posted on Apr 4, 2016 5:27 PM

Reply
934 replies

Apr 12, 2016 2:27 AM in response to skierrob2

I reported this issue 5 days ago at Swedish Apple Support and then issue was quite unknown. Today Swedish Apple Support just assured me that this problem has the highest attention at Apple Corp. No wonder since so many Americans are returning their devices. Here in Sweden we have 3 years to do the same, if the problem is "built in from factory".


So now the waiting game begins. Will it be a software or hardware issue, who knows...

Apr 12, 2016 2:44 AM in response to skierrob2

Hi


I hope to help some of you.


I have a new iPhone SE 64 Gb, and was experiencing the Bluetooth audio issue but now it's fixed.


For the record:


-I updated the phone to 9.3.1 and restored my backup from my 5s

-I experienced the audio distorsion so badly that I could not understand a single word on my calls.

-I contacted Apple through chat with little hope to get a fix, but thinking that it is important that many people report the issue

-I exposed the problem and detailed that I'm not alone providing a link to this forum

-He asked me to reset the network settings, which again I did with no hope. This under Settings > General > Restore and then Restore network settings

-He asked me again to go to my car and try, as he was waiting on the chat

-I went to the car and did three calls to three different people, 2 of them on iPhones, one on Android

-All the calls were ok. One was perfect, the other two were ok, maybe not crystal clear and a bit "saturated" in volume but fairly ok.

-I tried increasing and decreasing the volume during the calls with the + and - buttons, which shows a pop up on the screen with "Bluetooth" word (indicating you are changing the Bluetooth volume) and realized that the volume was not changing on the speakers. It was the same on minimum and maximum.


So apparently restoring the network settings was a fix for me.


I will keep an eye on this and if it fails again I will post an update.


My car is a Seat Altea Freetrack 2009

My carrier is Movistar

I live in Spain

Apr 12, 2016 3:00 AM in response to elzale

elzale wrote:


-All the calls were ok. One was perfect, the other two were ok, maybe not crystal clear and a bit "saturated" in volume but fairly ok.

-I tried increasing and decreasing the volume during the calls with the + and - buttons, which shows a pop up on the screen with "Bluetooth" word (indicating you are changing the Bluetooth volume) and realized that the volume was not changing on the speakers. It was the same on minimum and maximum.


So apparently restoring the network settings was a fix for me.




Sorry pal, but I cannot understand: is it normal behaviour you are not able to change the volume while bluetooth is connected?

By the way I restored my 6S backup and then restored newtork settings, without any luck.

Apr 12, 2016 3:07 AM in response to Tunnezza

Hi


I have never tried it before, indeed, but as I read that people suggest that the problem is the volume too high, I decided to press the '-' button on the phone and then I saw a pop up on the screen with name "Bluetooth" and you see the dots bar which increases or decreases when pressing + and -


I guess that means that the feature for increasing or decreasing Bluetooth volume exists, and it's not working. This can be the cause of the problem, on headsets or handsfree devices that receive a signal too loud.


I am sorry that resetting your network settings did not help.

Have you already contacted Apple support?

Everyone in this thread should open a case with Apple, so we make this problem become a big issue which urges them to launch a quick fix.

Apr 12, 2016 3:13 AM in response to Lalamper

Hi Lalamper


Changing the volume on the phone would be a solution if it was possible


What I say is that trying to change the volume on the phone is not affecting the real volume on the speakers, and this can be the cause of the problem.


The pop up on the phone shows "Bluetooth" and a bar made of dots that increases or decreases, but volume on the handsfree device is not changed.

Apr 12, 2016 3:14 AM in response to elzale

elzale wrote:



Have you already contacted Apple support?



I did it yesterday, and they told me not to trust internet forums, even this one as it's just people's opinion, and not official Apple's statements. Then they tried to convince me to re-pair the bluetooth, and even to update my car's bluetooth firmware... thumbs down this time. I told them my bluetooth works perfectly with any other iPhone model but this one, but they gave me no hint, and did not confirm the issue exists.

Apr 12, 2016 3:27 AM in response to Tunnezza

Hi Tunezza


The guy that I talked to at Apple support chat was very kind, and took the time to read this forum thread while I went away back to my car to test again.

So I think that this may depend on who you talk to, and even I guess that people from different countries may receive different answers, as I read in this thread that some Apple support people are just blaming the cars firmware while others are taking it seriously and escalating to engineers.


The guy that I chatted with suggested me that if I experienced problems again, it would be better to scale it up and suggested that in that case instead of chat I should call on the phone, and to the first person that attended the call I should ask to be sent to an upper scale. I don't know the name in English... but in Spanish the name is "Asesor principal" (it might be translated as "main assesor", "main assistant"... but not sure what Apple calls them in English)

Apr 12, 2016 4:23 AM in response to elzale

Thank you elzale,

I suppose you were talking of a "Senior Consultant".

In any case, I don't think calling Apple Support could solve our problems, as we need a software update, hoping it is not an improbable hardware issue. My attempt was to increase by one the number of complaints, in order to get a critical mass and speed up their job to address the bug.

Apr 12, 2016 5:38 AM in response to skierrob2

Yep, here's another one with the same issue. UK iPhone SE 64Gb paired with a Volvo V40 R-Design with Sensus Connect. Bluetooth music works fine, but any bluetooth telephone calls are useless.

Yet on the same head unit, her previous iPhone 5C was flawless, as is my iPhone 6 Plus or my daughter's iPhone 6s is perfect for both Bluetooth Music and Bluetooth calls.

Definitely seems to be an iPhone SE issue - will also report to Apple support.

iPhone SE Bluetooth issues

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