iPhone7 Bluetooth issue in the car

😟

I was rooting for ya. Apple rep told me they wouldn't exchange my device for a non-GSM phone today (after a week of communication lapse). I have some more tests tomorrow, but I'm expecting them to not go well. We'll see. It's unfortunate that the issue is so sporadic; give everyone a false sense of repair just before it pops up again.

I agree, it seems very intermittent. A couple weeks ago it was happening in a severe form multiple times a day for me, this last week it's been less frequent. But my replacement phone is definitely doing it, so there's not much point in having Apple give you a new (same model) phone. I do wish they'd let one of us try the universal/CDMA model and see if that fixes it.

LOL! It's only $869 for the "sim free" 7 Plus 128GB from Apple store (plus $129 for AppleCare+)! 😁

I'm glad PMurphy was able to do this but it may not be as easily accomplished for those of us locked into the Upgrade Program.

Well I guess I am glad I found the right thread for my issue but I am also frustrated that there's no fix. I have the Model A1784 as well. Can't really tell if going to the Apple Store and getting a replacement will help but I will keep reading. Pretty annoying...

Okay, I called Apple and cancelled Apple Care Plus. They told me by doing so I am no longer on the hook for that part of the payment meaning I would have May payment amounts adjusted. It really doesn't matter as I am paying the loan off today.

This is Apple's last chance with me. As a guy who switched to the platform of Apple in 2006 because I was not happy with Microsoft, Apple has become the company most like Microsoft.

iPhone 7 MN922PM iOS 10.2

Latest SoundCloud version

BMW F30 non NBT system

SoundCloud plays only one song and not able to reconnect to play next in a row, need to change to next song manually... very frustrating and disappointing for such two premium brands... no issues with same setup on HTC one + and android

AT&T Business support finally responded to me and wrote:

"Thank you very much for your thorough research and information regarding this Bluetooth connectivity issue! AT&T is aware of this issue and I have experience with this problem myself, and understand how frustrating this can be.

With this being a new phone and a relatively new car, the technologies do not appear to be compatible just yet. Normally, in situations such as these, the manufacturer works diligently to issue an update which will correct the problem."

So for AT&T users, it seems the best way to go is to try and convince Apple to replace the intel modem phone with the unlocked A1661 model? Will this be possible?

So since this started happening with my AirPods, I made a Genius Bar appointment for next week. The rep I spoke with at Apple tonight on the phone didn't even have a clue about the Intel/Qualcomm modem difference. I'm going to bring this all up next week with the Genius Bar folks and hope for the best.

Right now it does appear most people with the Bluetooth stutter problems have the non-CDMA models 1778 & 1784, and two users have recently reported resolving the issues by replacing their phone with the universal/CDMA models 1660 & 1661. In at least one of those cases it was with the same carrier (AT&T). But they had to pay for that out of their own pockets. It seems like Apple should be offering that solution to us just to see if it works, at this point it's got to be less expensive than sending us replacement phones with the same problem. I'm not sure how to proceed now since Apple does not currently offer a solution -- if I keep bugging them, the most the customer service agents appear able to do now is send me another same model phone.

And to be clear, my replacement phone stutters on a daily basis now. Some of these resetting and replacing tricks might make the problem go away temporarily, or for a few days even, but it comes back. Restoring to factory settings was actually the least effective for me, within 3 hours the phone was in the worstbstuttering state it has ever been in, and that was using a Bluetooth speaker, not a car, with the newest firmware. When they bring up firmware now I feel like they are just insulting my intelligence, and I have to keep reminding myself it's not their fault, that's what Apple is telling them.

Has anyone successfully tried asking for a refund of the phone? I see the A1661 model is available at Best Buy for AT&T. I'm wondering if I could just return the phone, get off the hook for the payments and then buy it right from Best Buy myself.

Nope. I have been told many variants of it being "not something [that they] have the ability to do" and when asking to exchange for a different model, "all device exchanges are done like for like device" (sic).

Additionally, my Airpods also appear to have a skipping problem, though not nearly as frequently. Disappointing that Apple still doesn't care.

Also, Camp Hill, PA? If so, I'm right up the road lol

Jeez, that is crazy. I guess I'll try my luck to see what they say next week. Not expecting any progress though. I don't get why they wouldn't accept a return though. That's strange, seeing as though a basic feature of the phone does not work consistently.

Like you said, I bet this is going to be a much more widespread reported problem once people start noticing it with their AirPods. Hopefully people speak up about it!

And ahh nice, I'm originally from Camp Hill! I live in Raleigh, NC now, but grew up and lived in Camp Hill for 18 years. Small world!

Interesting timing that you posted this just now, I just got a call from an Apple Senior Advisor after reporting issues with my AirPods skipping earlier this week. I had made an appointment with the Genius Bar, but this guy reached out on his own to contact me and told me that a ton of people have reported issues with the AirPods skipping. So now I've installed the diagnostics profiles and everything on my phone to see what's going on.

So either way, it looks like this issue is going to be front and center now for awhile which is great news.

I also found today that my iPhone 7 can connect/pair but don't want to stream anything to my Marantz SR5009 receiver with airplay, MacBook plays like a charm with it, streams both audio and video. iPhone throwing "not able to play on this device" error messages