iPhone7 Bluetooth issue in the car

My brand new Iphone7 seems to have bluetooth problems in my car. Everything works but the sound drops sometimes (often) when I listen to music. I didnt have this issue wiyh my 6s and IOS10. I tried to reset everything but the problem persists. The iPhone is recognized by the radio inmy Toyota, but the sound drops just as it was a radio in a tunnel.

iPhone 7, iOS 10

Posted on Sep 21, 2016 4:03 AM

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707 replies

Nov 16, 2016 11:53 AM in response to brunowajskop

Greetings All,
I can confirm on my ATT iPhone 7 Plus

I had "non-connectivity" related Bluetooth Issue; Audio "Stuttering" "Sound drop outs" and "playback tempo speed-ups" constantly regardless of app or audio source.


By "Turning off LTE" under cellular setting, and only utilizing a 4G connection; after 48 hours of testing, ALL Audio quality issues over Bluetooth has ceased.


To be clear, I never had connectivity issues, only audio playback issues regardless if media content was stored internally on the phone or streamed over cellular or wi-fi signals.


Luckily, I don't miss the LTE all that much.


Good luck to everyone out there with these Bluetooth issues!

Nov 16, 2016 12:47 PM in response to RobbStumpf

FYI, I posted in here awhile back that my issue had been solved because it had been working for a few days. This is NOT the case, and this is still a major problem. It happens just about every day now - my phone fails to pair with my Kia Optima, and I have to delete my phone from my car and re-pair it for it to work. And it will still occasionally disconnect while driving.


Very frustrating that there is still not a fix.

Nov 16, 2016 1:38 PM in response to brunowajskop

iphone 7 Plus (Verizon). Infiniti G37. Talk works but issue is with Audio. Same playback issues as reported here. Turning off LTE did not fix issue. No choice but to connect via Aux. This is not optimal because phone doesn't charge via Aux and also I don't hear iPhone alerts when plugged into aux docket connector. I hear alerts when streaming via bluetooth. Hope this gets fixed soon because I just sold my 6 Plus so using that for music instead is no longer an option.

Nov 17, 2016 7:30 PM in response to brunowajskop

I too am having a similar issue since upgrading from my 6s plus to my 7 plus. I have a 2012 Nissan Maxima and since upgrading to the 7 plus when trying to use my phone through the Bluetooth system in my car the phone calls cut out so bad I cannot carry on a conversation. If I use just the speakerphone on the phone it works fine. Never had any issues with either 6 I had. I was using IOS 10 on my 6 plus that worked perfectly.

It is very annoying not being able to use my Bluetooth to make calls and have a conversation because I commute 2 hours per day in my car.

Nov 18, 2016 7:04 AM in response to brunowajskop

I figured I should add my $0.02 on this issue. I have an AT&T (128GB) iPhone 7 Plus and have been experiencing audio "stuttering" and "sound drop outs" while using Bluetooth audio pretty consistently regardless of the app or audio source, but it seems to be much worse and prevalent when connected to my 2015 Honda Civic Si's head unit.


I tried disabling LTE and only utilizing a 4G connection and the issue seems to be resolved. Thanks to SuperCBOW for this workaround!


However, I think it's totally rotten that Apple has basically not even acknowledged this issue or that a fix is being worked on. If I had known this would be a problem, I would probably not have upgraded to the 7 Plus from my 6S Plus.

Nov 18, 2016 10:03 AM in response to brunowajskop

I have the same issue with my Subaru. Bluetooth cuts in and out all the time and it didn't with my iPhone 6. Using the USB in the car works great for music but I can't have it playing music on that and Bluetooth connected at the same time. It gets mad and won't play even though you can select the dock connector as the playback device.

Basically I can't use hands free and listen to music. It's one or the other.

I'm really frustrated with this.

Nov 20, 2016 1:36 PM in response to brunowajskop

I too am an At&t iPhone 7+ 128GB user and can confirm as of today that disabling LTE resolves MOST bluetooth stuttering, lag, skip, static, etc. issues that I have been experiencing in two different vehicles as well as on my bluetooth portable speaker.


I agree that this is completely unacceptable and a disgrace that this bug even made it through production let at alone months after the official release, however, that being said, for anyone out there still wondering if there's a workaround, disabling LTE does indeed clear up most issues. I still get a little bit of stutter every now and then but no where near as bad as it was with LTE enabled. Putting your phone into airplane mode and then manually turning on wifi and bluetooth will accomplish the same thing.


I would assume that this would work for all GSM cellular devices.


Has anyone heard anything from Apple about what they intend to do to permanently fix this issue?

Nov 21, 2016 6:22 AM in response to brunowajskop

After four hours of talking to Apple support and Lexus support, Lexus was able to help me. My previous iphone was paired in my car so I had to unpair the OLD iphone from my car and then it let me pair my new iphone 7 plus.


All of the instructions I was given was to unpair it on my iphone but it wasn't on my iphone to unpair. I had to unpair it in my car.


Hope this helps someone else. Needless to say, I was very very frustrated for four hours.

Nov 21, 2016 6:40 AM in response to mitchewr

My case with Apple has officially been open for two months with no resolution as of today.


Every time I talk with Apple, even the reps that I've dealt with before, it's the same runaround again. I explain the issue and that I've troubleshot it multiple times using the same steps, and then they review the case notes to find that it's true. It's always "I'll have to check with the engineers" and a promise to call me back, which never is followed through on.


So incredibly frustrated with Apple's support team and both their lack of communication, as well as involvement in this issue. Someone needs to take ownership of it and resolve the problem.

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iPhone7 Bluetooth issue in the car

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