Q: iphone 7 car bluetooth disconnecting

I wish Apple would address this issue. Even people that are reviewing the iPhone 7 publicly seem to fail to mention the issue - but when I contact them some admit to Bluetooth being an issue. I returned my 7.

My iPhone 7 has connected just fine to my 2012 Hyundai Sonata. What  troubleshooting have you tried. The iPhone 7 has the latest Bluetooth profile on it, and many manufacturers have not updated their devices to work with them. It is the manufacturers responsibility to ensure their devices work with the latest Bluetooth standards, or to inform their customers it will not.

Generally removing the phone from the car's system and resetting it, then removing the car from the phone's system, and restarting it, and then putting the devices back into discovery/pairing mode will correct issues. Otherwise, contact your vehicle dealership and see if there is an update for your system, or what they have to say about using the latest iPhone in their vehicle.

You're welcome. I've read some BMW vehicles have had issues, but again, that is an individual vehicle manufacturer.

I returned it and went back to the 6s+. Works 99% of the time on 10.0.2 and the volume is normal. Not super quiet like on the 7. I will give the 7 another try with 10.1. I find the sound out of the 6s to be a tad better too. Might just be my "ears" and not really better.

It appears to be a software issue but a friend of mine thinks it is a hardware issue. He is on his 2nd 7; I guess he returns it for a new one at the end of the 14 day period. This is one thing I too have learned with Apple. Returning the phone for a new or different one is so much easier than dealing with AppleCare. If the phone doesn't work as it should, then return it and try another one. And don't let the 14 days expire with a phone you are not happy with using. The 6s is on sale right now too so you can get one that is close to the 7 for a nice discount. After using the 7 and 6s, I would say the biggest difference for me was the 7 has a much better low light camera. The other differences are so small that they are not that big a deal; and I don't drop my phones in toilets!

That is another thing that is so disappointing. The 7 is so close to the 6s yet it doesn't work right. If Apple is going to a 3 year product cycle then the 3rd year should be much smoother. It almost seems that its employees don't drive cars or use the product much before it comes out.

Are you on AT&T? This seems to be more of a carrier specific problem - I have tried to pair and connect 3 different 7s to my 2015 BMW. Two would connect and stay connected for 10 minutes before freezing. One wouldn't connect at all. Glad I have understanding friends.  All AT&T phones.

At the same time I have had zero issues connecting 3 6s that were running 10.0.2.

Another thing I have noticed is that using Apple Music on the 7 really seems to drain the battery. On the 7 if I turned off the audio portion in my car then I could still use Siri to send texts (and I could still see the texts that I received). So Bluetooth is able to work with the car. It is just when I play music and it freezes that every thing shuts off at the car level. But if I look at the phone it looks like it still thinks it is connect to the car and playing music. There is talk that it is an LTE issue. If this is the case I am not sure how effective any work around will be. This is why I wish Apple would acknowledge the issue and let us know we will be made whole one way or another.

Yes, as a matter of fact I am on AT&T, however the carrier has nothing to do with Bluetooth. Have you updated the iPhone 7 to iOS 10.0.3? As I indicated earlier, I have an older Hyundai, 2012, and have only had to pair the phone one time, and it seems to work just fine. I've made and received several calls and have not experienced a problem. Most of the issues I've seen with Bluetooth are traced back to the vehicle, when there is an update to Bluetooth profiles. I do not know, however, if there is an additional update to the Bluetooth radio as well, which could be different between the iPhone 7 and the 6S, in conjunction with the iOS update. But my wife's 5S, my 7, and my daughter's 6 all connect with iOS 10.0.2, except my 7 has iOS 10.0.3, all AT&T devices.

So true.

Thanks for the info. I have tried 10.0.2 and .3 (with a friend's phone). Had more issues with .2, but still having the issues with my ConnectDrive. The odd thing is that with .3 it actually froze and then restarted the ConnectDrive while the car was in use. Never experienced that before. Very strange. My biggest issue is not that there is an issue, but that Apple doesn't acknowledge it. If it is a hardware issue, then someone will be stuck with the phone and not have audio Bluetooth while driving.

I don't know that you will get Apple to acknowledge there is an issue, because it may not be an Apple issue. If it was truly a Bluetooth issue, no one's Bluetooth would work. It seems after every update there are Bluetooth issues reported with some vehicle manufacturers, and they eventually get fixed by the manufacturer. Good luck.