Hearing aids sometimes won't connect to iPhone

There is a problem with the Apple's Hearing Aid support in the Accessiblity section of IOS. Users are having difficulty connecting their hearing aids in a situation where such a connection would be expected to work.

My Phone is an iPhone 5 running IOS 10.3.3 - Hearing Aid application version should be the latest. Hearing Aid firmware updated about Jan 20. Not sure what the version number is.

Symptom: In the Oticon App and in the Apple Hearing Device screen, one or both of the hearing aids shows as Disconnected, or Connecting with a spinner. The spinner never stops and the connection is never made.

Workaround: Reboot your iPhone with hearing aids in range. Hold Power and home buttons simultaneously until you see the apple. Key in your pin. At this point, both hearing aids should be connected.

Workaround Limitations: This workaround is problematic if you're receiving a call. Reboot and you'll miss it. Answer the call and you don't know if your hearing aids will be connected or not unless you triple click first to verify they are both connected.

I am trying to figure out the circumstances when the problem appears. Such factors as repeated disconnection and reconnections due to being away from the phone repeatedly, other wi-fi & bluetooth devices, time since phone reboot etc may trigger this behavior.

Note that other than this issue, the hearing aids, the connect device and the iPhone are working great for me.

-Pat Callahan

Framingham, Ma