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skierrob2 Author

Level 1

38 points

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

934 replies

May 16, 2016 10:24 AM in response to akordion

Yep. It's the #1 item, yet, walk into any store and ask - they are all clueless. Great product, lousy leadership. The product sells itself. Everything up to this SE has been top quality. This thing has been and I think will be a disaster. Apple isn't even shipping them, they are so terrible. I stopped in a Verizon store in the mall just to see and the salesman said "We can't get them and haven't been able to for a long time. We stopped promoting them to customers." Sad.

May 16, 2016 10:32 AM in response to MotleyDiver

And everything after it will be too, phones and Apple hasnt been the same since Jobs died and the stock price is showing it. Days for Apple is declining, early prototypes show the 7 will be like the 6 - 6s with different antenna lines and different OS, that aint going to cut it. It takes someone like Jobs with OCD to stay on top of stuff like this and to get the products we want

May 16, 2016 10:33 AM in response to skierrob2

still downloading the 9.3.2. Its been 10 mins...

Is it working for anyone else?

andro89

Level 1

4 points

May 16, 2016 10:35 AM in response to dcpmark

I upgraded. It's fixed.

It took them one month approx, not bad as they had to test final version, but they fixed this in beta within 14 days? Not bad...

Regarding being so silent about it, I believe there is company policy and admiting such software bug would have big impact on stock price.

Not so happy with their approach, but kinda understand it.

May 16, 2016 10:40 AM in response to andro89

Wow, you must've been sitting in your car, checking for the upgrade, downloaded and installed via carrier then made a phone call all within 30 minutes since this just released at 1000 PST.

May 16, 2016 10:41 AM in response to andro89

How long did the download take?

akordion

Level 1

15 points

May 16, 2016 10:44 AM in response to skierrob2

For example download was about 1.4 GB for me and it took 4 minutes(on company's network) and another 10 for installation. Will have to come home and try it out, since I don't have any BT headsets at work.

May 16, 2016 10:53 AM in response to akordion

mine took about 5 mins

May 16, 2016 10:53 AM in response to akordion

1,4 GB for my SE instead of 57 MB for my iPad 2. I believed that the size was due to the Beta program on my side, but it seems not. It confirms the behaviour with not final release... Great.

whm1226

Level 1

9 points

May 16, 2016 10:54 AM in response to andro89

I did the upgrade on my way out the door to a service call. My car had trouble pairing at first so I "Forgot" the connection and re-paired with the bluetooth in the car. It failed at first but then it paired successfully.

I received a call almost right away and the quality was back to normal. Just as good as my iPhone 5S. So far I am happy with it. I hope that this cures it but I will be keeping a watchful eye.

akordion

Level 1

15 points

May 16, 2016 10:58 AM in response to matt31500

So users not in Beta should of had 57 MB update size?

May 16, 2016 11:04 AM in response to akordion

No it seems to be 1,4 GB for all SE owners. 57 Mb is for my old iPad. Probably the same for my wife's 4S. Will test later.

May 16, 2016 11:04 AM in response to skierrob2

Worked. Took half hour for the update and download to complete but FINALLY after going through 2 se returns, many hours in store and on phone...it works. Nice touch is I received a note from senior tech @ apple telling me update for the fix was available.

Fair enough.

Happy to have it resolved and I love this phone.

Bon Chance...

akordion

Level 1

15 points

May 16, 2016 11:08 AM in response to matt31500

Interesting why so big... Any one knows if there is anything different in this "just released version" and Beta 4 that some of us had?

dcpmark

Level 1

28 points

May 16, 2016 11:18 AM in response to akordion

akordion wrote:

Interesting why so big... Any one knows if there is anything different in this "just released version" and Beta 4 that some of us had?

It's a different build number so there definitely were some more changes between Beta 4 and the final public release, but no clue what they were.

iPhone SE Bluetooth issues