iOS 11 does not work correctly with MFi hearing aids and Apple MUST fix this ASAP, right?

Hi SpunkyinAZ. The problems that I'm having with my Resound Line 9 MFi hearing aids are similar to yours. With iOS 11 on an iPhone 8, they are very slow to make a connection either on a call or when streaming a talking book. The connection is then extremely erratic, switching from aid to aid and sometimes failing totally and reverting to the phone's speaker. I have worked round the problem by buying a device that Resound call a clip; I think they are generically called streamers. This small device has to be worn and its job is to sit in the communication between the iPhone and the hearing aids. The iPhone is paired with the clip by standard b bluetooth and the clip is paired with the hearing aids using the low energy bluetooth the MFi hearing aids use. This means that the low energy bluetooth connection is between two devices made by Resound and removes Apple support from the picture. The iPhone communicates with the clip as if it were a standard bluetooth headset. The clip cost me around £200. I'm now pretty confident that the problem is with Apple withdrawing support for older versions of the MFi hearing aid standard, so it may be the those of use who have older models (mine are just three years old) may never have Apple fix this. I'm trying to confirm this but I did learn it from an authoritative source. Sadly, it's common practice for the IT industry to stop providing support for older standards. Think of all those different floppy disks that our older computers used. I think we'll discover that hearing aids are no different. They may all look the same, but internally they will be using different standards to communicate with phones as the technology evolves and it's very unlikely that Apple or other manufacturers will support older devices forever. We may just be unfortunate in having purchased or acquired devices that were among the last to use an older standard. The good news is that streamers aren't terribly expensive and they seem to work.

Hi Wanpole,

agreed - this is incredibly frustrating. But, if my information is correct - and it is from a source very close to my hearing aid manufacturer - then Apple, with iOS 11, has stopped supporting earlier versions of the Made for iPhone hearing aid standard. It would have been helpful if both Apple and the hearing aid manufacturers had made a clear announcement, but we don't seem to get that. The evidence is very strong. Owners of newer model hearing aids have no problems with iOS 11; it's just those of us who bought our hearing aids a couple of years ago or more. There's absolutely no evidence that Apple will provide support for older hearing aids in future iOS releases, so I think our options are either to switch to a current hearing aid model - ouch! - or use a streamer like the Resound Clip. These devices cost much less than the hearing aids and I think every manufacturer will have a streamer that works with their hearing aids. Please check out my earlier posts if you want to know more.

Brian

It looks as if Apple won't be fixing issues with MFi hearing aids before 2018 now. As I mentioned earlier, I need excellent iPhone connectivity so that I can use my iPhone with VoiceOver, the speaking interface for the blind. I decided to experiment with Resound's phone clip, which sits between the iPhone and the hearing aids. This device clips on to clothing and is paired with the Resound hearing aids using low energy bluetooth so that the low energy bluetooth connection is between two Resound devices. The important thing is that the clip talks to the iPhone using standard bluetooth and this avoids depending on Apple's buggy low energy bluetooth code. I have the clip on approval, but I think I'm going to keep it since, using it, iPhone connectivity to my Resound Linx hearing aids is now near perfect again. It was wonderful to get it back, but it's going to cost me £200. I would definitely have preferred Apple to fix the bugs much earlier. If others are still experiencing problems, then please let Apple know by emailing accessibility@apple.com . It seems that we won't get Apple to prioritise our issues unless they know it's a big issue for many of us.Seasons Greetings to you all.

Bob, if you're as desperate to get your hearing aids working properly as I was you may be able to purchase a relatively inexpensive device like the one I bought from Resound. It wasn't cheap, but it was a lot cheaper than the hearing aids. Anyway, new hearing aids probably won't help because the bugs are Apple's. I suspect that hearing aid manufacturers are keeping quiet about this because they wouldn't want to be shouting from the rooftops that their products don't work properly - even if it's not their fault. It might be worth checking if a similar device is available for your hearing aids. Actually, it's likely, I think, that a device from any manufacturer would work. Mine talks to the iPhone via standard bluetooth just like any bluetooth phone headset and then relays the signal to the hearing aids via low energy bluetooth, the way the iPhone should if iOS worked properly still. My device cost me £200 her in the UK and I appreciate that's not cheap, but it does work and it will come in handy if Apple reintroduce these bugs assuming they are eventually fixed. Good luck!

Hi Bob, I think I now understand better what is happening. I made contact with someone who champions Resound, the hearing aid brand which I use and we've had a very interesting conversation. He states that the standard that is used for communication between iPhones and hearing aids (MFi) is evolving and he believes that, with iOS 11, Apple has failed to provide backwards compatibility with older hearing aids. It's possible that Apple may get round to fixing this but it is equally possible that they will never do so. I'm less than happy since my hearing aids will be 3 years old tomorrow and they were the current model when I bought them. Continuing to offer support for older hardware is a major issue for brands like Apple but I have to say I'm disappointed that I've had what I consider to be a short service life. It's very unlikely that the hearing aids manufacturer can do anything about this since it's probably hardware specific, so the only hope is Apple deciding to add back in support for older hearing aids. The lesson learned is that digital kit often stops working not because the hardware fails but because software stops supporting it. So far as I can tell, users of current model MFi hearing aids should be fine, unless they have an individual faulty item. So, you can continue to wait in hope or maybe ask for an additional piece of hardware that connects by standard bluetooth to your phone and then by low energy bluetooth to your hearing aids. This is what I have now and it works OK.

Hi Charlie,

I bought a streamer. That's the generic name for devices designed to connect smartphones to hearing aids. The streamer talks to the phone by standard bluetooth and communicates with the hearing aids using whatever protocol is correct for the hearing aids.

My hearing aids are Resound hearing aids made by GN, so I bought the GN streamer, called a Resound Clip. I acquired this through the audiologist who fitted and supplied the hearing aids. Although, I think that a streamer designed to work with a specific brand of MFi hearing aids will probably work with other brands, I certainly can't guarantee this, so I strongly recommend that you check with an audiologist for the appropriate streamer for you hearing aids. You should also be able to find this information on the website of your hearing aid manufacturer.

Here is the Resound clip: Help & support for your Phone Clip+ | ReSound | ReSound

Hope that helpps,

Brian

You don't pair the hearing aids in the Bluetooth screen in Settings. You go to Settings>General>Accessibility and you will find the hearing aid section there. While you may believe that Apple does not support customers, I disagree. I've not experienced any problems with my hearing aids, with my iPhone 6, 7, or now my iPhone X. Again, work with your audiologist for assistance with pairing your devices with the iPhone. They should help you and not stop until they are correctly paired. Make sure that you have downloaded the Resound Smart app before you attempt to pair the devices.

I'm both registered blind and have hearing loss. I have ReSound Linx 9 hearing aids which I purchased nearly three years ago. In the early days, I was frustrated with performance issues in iPhone connectivity with the hearing aids but these eventually settled down and I have become increasingly dependent on the combination of VoiceOver (the talking iPhone interface for the blind) and my Made For iPhone (MFi) hearing aids. I'd expected maybe a minor problem or two with iOS 11. Blind users had to wait for iOS 11.1 to fix serious bugs in VoiceOver, but I'm incredibly disappointed now that even after iOS 11.2.1 is released, my hearing aids still don't connect either fast or reliably with my new iPhone 8 and that I'm having to turn off Bluetooth and avoid using the MFi feature in order to use my iPhone with VoiceOver at all. I think it would be fair to say that performance with iOS 11/iPhone 8 is the worst it has ever been. Ironically, the hearing aids still work fine with an old iPhone 5 running iOS 10. The iPhone 8 and ReSound Linx are premium products and I think it's reasonable to expect them to work. Apple seem to have scant regard for the MFi hearing aids community and we are obviously way down their priority list for bug fixes. I reported several bugs along with Bluetooth system logs, but I suspect that was a waste of time because Apple were probably already well aware of the issues. In desperation, I've asked my audiologist to order a ReSound Clip, the device which uses standard Bluetooth to talk to the iPhone and then speaks to the hearing aids with the low energy Bluetooth that the MFi standard uses. I'm hoping that this will bypass Apple's awful support for MFi hearing aids since it will be using the same kind of connectivity that Apple Airpods use (at least I think that's the case), and I'm guessing that Airpods are higher on Apple's bug fix priority list. I'll report back if this works. If I go down this route, it will cost me several hundred pounds sterling in order to avoid using the MFi direct connection between my iPhone 8 and my hearing aids. In view of Apple's apparent lack of interest in supporting those with hearing loss, I'm beginning to wonder if we would all be best avoiding MFi hearing aid products altogether. Apple's incredibly skilled software teams seem to be directed by management to pay much more attention to animating piles of poop for launch demonstrations than to ensuring that their products continue to work for users with disabilities. Maybe it would be best if Apple withdrew the MFi hearing aid standard if they're not prepared to devote resources to making it continue to work. I've always been an ardent supporter of Apple products but the company's increasingly sloppy software quality control in so many fields is leading me to reevaluate my brand loyalty. Rant ends ;-)

Hi Bob (and others)

f you're still having problems with your MFi hearing aids not connecting reliably to iOS devices, I may have some good news. There are definitely problems with older MFi hearing aids in all iOS 11 releases so far and I've reported this issue to Apple accessibility. I just got an email from the accessibility team which states that the issues I reported will be fixed in iOS 11.4.1. It has been a very long wait, but let's hope that this release will at last allow us to use our MFi hearing aids as we did with iOS 10.

Brian

I have the Resound Linx hearing aid and it works perfectly with my iPhone X and iOS 11.2. I've had this since I got my iPhone 7, and have gone through all of the iOS updates. Are you using the Resound Smart app on your iPhone? I would suggest that you remove the device from the phone and start the paring process via Accessibility all over again. Your audiologist should be able to assist you in doing that, or you can contact Resound support.

Apple replaced my iPhone X two weeks ago and my Odacon 1 aids are working much better. I found if I shut down the app before I turn the aids on in the morning I have less issues during the day. My phone needs to stay very close to me when I’m using the aids on a call and sometimes the aids don’t handle the entire call. Music has been flawless and controlling the aids from the phone has always worked. The battery indicator for the aids on the phone doesn’t always read the two aids sperality.

I can live with that. For me most of my problems seem to have been hard ware iPhone X issues.

Purchased ReSound Cala 8 hearing aids from Costco in September, 2017. Paired and worked beautifully with my iPhone 5SE. In early May upgraded to iPhone SE model with more memory. Hearing aids paired fine. After IOS 11.4 update have had similar problems outlined on this thread. Thought it was the hearing aids. Went to Costco and after multiple troubleshooting attempts we called the ReSound/Apple hotline. Learned that the 11.4 update supposedly messed up Bluetooth connectivity with the iPhone 5 series and SE series phones. Went to Verizon to return SE phone and upgrade to iPhone 8. Was told I was too late and that my $500 phone was now worth $80 if I wanted to upgrade. Multiple complaints to Store sales rep and manager to no avail. Now dealing directly with Verizon and they are helping me trouble shoot the problems. No resolution at this point. May consider going to T-Mobile to have contract bought out and switch to IPhone 8. My problems were inability to hear incoming phone calls ring, delays of up to 15-20 seconds before Bluetooth kicks in on calls. Calls, podcasts, music stream to one aid or another and eventually to both, or might switch back to just one - similar to what's on this thread. Evidently this impacts up to three different manufacturers of HAs and Apple is aware of issue. Was told by hotline techs that Apple "is working on it", but no timetable for resolution. Very sad

It's iOS 11.4.1 which Apple believe has fixed the hearing aids issues present in earlier versions of iOS 11. iOS 11.4.1 is only available as a beta at present but will no doubt be released soon. I haven't installed the beta, so can't comment on whether it fixes the problems I reported last autumn. I'm a volunteer trainer for blind iPhone and iPad users, so I'm keen to keep my phone and tablet running the same software as my trainees. For this reason, and perhaps to retain what's left of my sanity, I don't engage with the beta programme.

I purchased new Resound hearing aids days after I upgraded to IOS11 and iPhone 8....they have never worked correctly and it makes phone integration less than useless as performance is totally unpredicable. I thought 11.1 would help, nope, then 11.1.1, nope, then 11.1.2 still a problem. I agree this is a major problem and one would think that Apple could solve this problem for those of us with hearing issues......