You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

💡 Did you know?

⏺ If you can't accept iCloud Terms and Conditions... Learn more >

⏺ If you don't see your iCloud notes in the Notes app... Learn more >

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

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 17, 2016 9:37 AM in response to skierrob2

Went from 3 to 4, wich worked fine for me.

yesterday I updated to the public release.

Now I can't be reached in 4G (LTE) all day long.

Swapped manually to 3G, no problem.

Could be a provider problem, but I can see

no problems on their site.

Anyone?

fatdms

Level 1

4 points

May 17, 2016 9:44 AM in response to Allisonm67

Sorry if this has been addressed previously, but the thread is obviously quite long. I was having no bluetooth issues at all prior to updating iOS this morning, and now it is basically unusable. Audio is completely unintelligible. Have tried toggling BT on and off. Has anyone else had this problem or does anyone have any troubleshooting advice? Obviously I wish I had never updated!

dcpmark

Level 1

28 points

May 17, 2016 9:46 AM in response to fatdms

fatdms wrote:

Sorry if this has been addressed previously, but the thread is obviously quite long. I was having no bluetooth issues at all prior to updating iOS this morning, and now it is basically unusable. Audio is completely unintelligible. Have tried toggling BT on and off. Has anyone else had this problem or does anyone have any troubleshooting advice? Obviously I wish I had never updated!

Try restarting your SE by holding down the Power button and the Home button at the same time until the Apple appears, then let go.

Tunnezza

Level 1

5 points

May 17, 2016 9:51 AM in response to MotleyDiver

MotleyDiver wrote:

81mrg81, I recommend you take the SE back immediately and get a 6 or your 6S plus. This phone, SE, is junk. I am convinced there are folks on here posting in effort to just keep it alive. I personally think it is a hardware problem that the software patch masks, but still just a low quality phone. Apple isn't even shipping them and most stores do not have them and its WEEKS to get one. That tells a lot. Apple knows it's low quality and is just limping it along until the fall. The fewer you make available, the less damage control you have to do. Just Sayin.

Keep it if you like, but you've been warned. Take it back if you can!!!!!!

I previously owned a 6S and a 5S, and in my opinion my SE is great: I had just one issue, now solved. Great photos, great battery life, nothing to complain.

May 17, 2016 9:54 AM in response to Tunnezza

Look at this....almost 24 hrs. later and people STILL having trouble with this. Even the update they pushed is "Buggy." Glad I returned mine and got the iphone 6 - The LAST decent iphone ever built.

Take 'em back folks....life is too short for all this effort to make it work.

May 17, 2016 10:18 AM in response to skierrob2

I updated to the new public release from the beta. After repairing with my truck a couple times I was still getting the choppy, cut up audio. I cleared out the connections, reset phone with both buttons and everything is good now.

May 17, 2016 10:45 AM in response to ryanfromdavenport

I installed 9.3.2 last night BT working crystal clear as it did with the beta, SE's a great phone I'm pleased with its all round performance and its lack of size

dcpmark

Level 1

28 points

May 17, 2016 10:53 AM in response to boswelltbear

boswelltbear wrote:

I installed 9.3.2 last night BT working crystal clear as it did with the beta, SE's a great phone I'm pleased with its all round performance and its lack of size

Me too....I'm so glad I was able to get rid of my iP6. Love the size and shape of the 5/SE....the squared edges make it easier to hold on calls, pick up from a table, etc, and the smaller size really helps pocketability. Now that the BT problem is solved, I could not be happier.

Senna67

Level 1

8 points

May 17, 2016 2:10 PM in response to dcpmark

dcpmark wrote:

boswelltbear wrote:

I installed 9.3.2 last night BT working crystal clear as it did with the beta, SE's a great phone I'm pleased with its all round performance and its lack of size

Me too....I'm so glad I was able to get rid of my iP6. Love the size and shape of the 5/SE....the squared edges make it easier to hold on calls, pick up from a table, etc, and the smaller size really helps pocketability. Now that the BT problem is solved, I could not be happier.

very happy with the SE

fatdms

Level 1

4 points

May 17, 2016 8:41 PM in response to dcpmark

Restarting the phone per dcpmark's suggestion solved my problem after the update. Thanks!

dcpmark

Level 1

28 points

May 17, 2016 10:58 PM in response to fatdms

fatdms wrote:

Restarting the phone per dcpmark's suggestion solved my problem after the update. Thanks!

My pleasure. I'm just glad you were able to get it working well before someone posted that the SE has a BT hardware problem and that you should return your phone....😉

May 18, 2016 12:50 AM in response to boswelltbear

The update solved my BT problem too. Calls are crystal clear now.

mem16421

Level 1

9 points

May 18, 2016 2:52 AM in response to skierrob2

Afrer applying the update, and dozens of calls, I can say that my car BT issue has been resolved.

81mrg81

Level 1

11 points

May 18, 2016 6:28 AM in response to 81mrg81

Re-pairing and rebooting didn't do the trick but I think I might have solved it (or I was just lucky because this morning it worked fine the whole way) by clearing all the phones in honda's head unit and disabling android auto which I don't use.

So after removing

- old iphone BT profile

- old nexus BT profile

- old iphone carplay profile

- old nexus android auto profile

- disabling android auto

I've turned on my iphone se bt and it worked without a single glitch.

Perhaps my car's head unit had to much info to handle.

thanks for all the suggestion.

May 18, 2016 7:24 AM in response to 81mrg81

I hopped on one foot while wearing a tin-foil hat in a rain storm and my SE started to work!! Yes, it's fixed 😁😝

iPhone SE Bluetooth issues