iOS has been designed to focus on performance and reliability. Unfortunately, Bluetooth problems can always show up after an upgrade due to device firmware compatibility issues of external accessories.
Several iPhone users have found that their Bluetooth is not working after updating iOS. This is primarily impacting users that use third-party Bluetooth headsets or speakers with their iPhone.
In this article, we will look at some of the symptoms and provide tips that have proven to work in the past. Furthermore, we will also look at some of the favorite third-party Bluetooth accessories and provide specific troubleshooting guidelines.
Please note that the Bluetooth iCon has been removed in iOS. This is the familiar icon that used to be located at top of your screen in iOS 11 versions. This is not a bug but a feature change as of iOS 12.
Most of the symptoms reported center around the following issues:
After updating the iPhone to, the iPhone is unable to discover the third-party Bluetooth device.
When connecting to the Bluetooth device, it merely spins forever while attempting to connect and doesn’t resolve.
A crackling voice on the speaker or headset of the Bluetooth device after updating iDevice.
We will highlight a few tips and tricks that have proven useful in the past when dealing with Bluetooth problems.
Before proceeding to troubleshoot, you may want to make sure that there are no interference conditions as highlighted in this Apple White paper that could be causing your Bluetooth problems.
If you face any of the Bluetooth issues mentioned above, try each of the following steps until the issue resolves. For stubborn problems that won’t go away, you may need to back up your iPhone or iPad and restore it using iTunes.
Bluetooth not Working after iOS Update, How-To Fix
The best place to start troubleshooting Bluetooth issues is with your iPhone or iPad. Before proceeding further, test if you can connect the Bluetooth accessory with an iPad that’s on an older iOS version to see if it works.
You can also test by connecting a friend’s iPhone to the Bluetooth accessory to see if it works. This will give you some ideas around whether the problem is with the Bluetooth accessory, or if it localized to your device.
Quick Reset– The first and foremost thing to do following a successful installation an iOS update is to do a quick forced-restart of your device. On the older iPhones, you will do this by pressing the Home and on/off button together for 10 seconds or so till you see the apple logo appear. Release the buttons when you see the logo and let your iPhone startup. If you are using iPhone 7 or newer models, please check our iPhone reset guide for the steps.
Toggling Bluetooth mode– If you are having issues with discovering your Bluetooth device on your iPhone, sometimes a simple toggle can do wonders. Tap on Settings > Bluetooth and turn off your Bluetooth. Next, Switch off your device and turn it back on followed by enabling the Bluetooth in the settings. Check and see if your Bluetooth device now shows up under ‘MY DEVICES’ in the Bluetooth settings. Please make sure to toggle the Bluetooth using the Settings app and not via the control center.
Reset Network Settings – Start by tapping on Settings > General > Reset and choose ‘Reset Network Settings.’ Please note that you may have to re-enter your Wi-fi name and credentials once the reset process is done.
Pair and unpair the Bluetooth Device – If you can see your Bluetooth device on the list under ‘MY DEVICES’ in settings, but you are experiencing connectivity issues, you can reset the Bluetooth device. Tap on the ‘i’ on the right-hand side of the row and choose ‘Forget This device.’ Switch off and restart your iPhone and then try connecting again to the Bluetooth device to see if it works for you.
One tip that seems to be working for some users is to unpair the Bluetooth device by following the above step and then reset all Network connections before attempting to pair the Bluetooth device again with the iPhone. Give it a try and see if that does the trick for you.
If you are still having issues and have tried connecting your iPhone to other Bluetooth devices without any results, you may want to consider backing up your device and performing a clean restore of your iDevice.
iPhone Bluetooth Not Working in Car, Tips to consider
If the Bluetooth issue primarily happens with connections to your automobile, you can read Apple’s guidelines around how to deal with this issue.
Apart from the guidelines from Apple in the article link, you can also check and see if your car has settings to add and delete devices to CarPlay. If you have the feature, you may want to remove your iPhone from your Car’s memory and then re-add it back to see if the issue gets resolved.
We removed the Bluetooth profile for the car from the iPhone Bluetooth settings ( Under My devices), as well as removed the phone’s profile from the car’s Bluetooth. Restarted the iPhone and then connected without the Contact sync feature of the car’s Bluetooth. The issue was resolved!
One important tip is when you are re-pairing your iPhone with your Car’s Bluetooth, skip the step when it comes to allowing contacts to be synced.
Quick Workaround for Car Bluetooth Issues with iPhone
When we had Bluetooth issues, where it randomly would stop and then re-connect, manually disabling and enabling Bluetooth settings on the iPhone did the trick, however, while connecting to the car, the BT issues showed up again. What worked is to remove the iPhone from the car’s Bluetooth settings, added it back again and disable the contact sync feature of the car’s Bluetooth. We are hopeful that this issue has been fixed with the latest iOS Update.
Bluetooth Not Working with 3rd Party Accessories
JayBird Headphones Will Not Connect to iPhone After iOS Update
If you are using a third party Bluetooth accessory such as Jaybirds and are having trouble establishing the Bluetooth connection, you may not be alone.
Please follow the sequence of steps to help pair the device
Power off the external headsets.
Turn off Bluetooth in the iPhone settings.
Turn Bluetooth back on in the iPhone settings.
Hold the power button ON, on the Jaybirds, and CONTINUE holding it on, even after the buds tell you the status; “Power On, xx% charged”…
Within a few seconds, Your iPhone Bluetooth screen should “discover” the earbuds.
You can release the Power Button on your Jaybirds.
The same steps should work for other models such as your JBL Flip. The key is to keep pressing the ON or the Start button until the iPhone discovers your device.
Bose Bluetooth Not connecting after Update, Tips to consider
If you have followed all the common resolution steps highlighted in the article and have not had success with connecting to your BOSE speakers, you may want to consider resetting the Bluetooth on your speaker.
Start by turning off all the nearby Bluetooth devices in the range of your iPhone or iPad. (if that’s possible). Next, Press and hold the ‘Mute’ button for 10 seconds on your BOSE device. This will disconnect your Bose mini speaker.
Restart the speaker and see if it works.
If that didn’t provide you with success, the next step while dealing with a Bluetooth BOSE device is to clear the Bluetooth memory from the speaker.
To do so, you will need to press the Bluetooth button for 10 seconds or so until you hear a tone. This clears up all the Bluetooth devices from the speaker. You can try to re-pair and see if it does the trick.
Amazon Alexa Bluetooth Issues with iOS
There are two types of supported Bluetooth profiles Alexa devices can use:
Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP SNK) – Allows you to stream audio from your mobile device to your Alexa device.
Audio/Video Remote Control Profile (AVRCP) – Allows you to use hands-free voice control when a mobile device is connected to your Alexa device.
When facing connection issues with Alexa devices, your best bet is to clear all Bluetooth devices from memory and then pair it back again.
As per Amazon’s guidance, you can clear the Bluetooth memory by following the steps below.
For Echo devices:
Open the Alexa app, go to the menu, and select Alexa Devices.
Select your device.
Choose Bluetooth Devices.
Select a device from the list, then select Forget Device. Repeat this step for all other Bluetooth devices on the list.
For Echo devices with a screen:
Say, “Go to settings,” or swipe down from the top of the screen and select Settings.
Select Bluetooth.
Select the “info” icon next to the device name, then select Forget Device. Repeat this step for all other Bluetooth devices in the list.
We hope that some of the tips in this article were helpful in fixing the Bluetooth issues that you were having following the iOS Update.
If you were unable to fix the problem, the next thing to do before taking your device to Apple specialists is to perform a backup and clean restore of iOS. Sometimes when there is a persistent issue, a clean restore of the device is the only way to resolve the problems.
Hi,
Just upgraded to an iphone 12 pro – was a gift – very nice but can’t connect to my bluetooth devices and spending more time trying to fix things! I have tried all the recommended steps and it is not working. Just want to connect to my speaker!
Any help – thank you!
i have a new i phone 12 mini, everything was working fine on old phone and all other devises in the house but this new phone isn’t working with a sound bar, it connects but when i press play on the phone it just plays through the phone and not the sound bar, i have tried everything suggested but still not working, i wish i never got it, APPLE please sort this mess out – wish i had gone rouge and brought an android phone
I have a 3rd party Bluetooth car kit and everything works well apart from no caller id. There are no settings within the Bluetooth kit to delete the phone only a reset button which I have done.
I have BT hearing aid and now my message tones beep in the aid and not on the phone. This is very annoying and sometimes scares me especially if it has been quiet for a while and i receive a text. I have jumped every time!. I want my tones to ring on the phone and not in my hearing aid. If I turn off BT on my phone it will not ring in my ear but I need my BT on in order to connect to talk on the phone. Catch 22 and it only happened after this last update to the iPhone!
My IPad updated overnight while charging. Why can Apple just leave devices alone?!!! Now my Bluetooth just spins. Will not recognize Fitbit, hearing aids, says turn on Bluetooth. Bluetooth is on. Turned off I pad turned off Bluetooth. Also on contacts all but six are grayed out. Thank you very much. If I want a device updated I will do it Now how do I get contacts back and Bluetooth to stop spinning. Oh you don’t have an answer, surprise surprise. Thank you for screwing up my device. AGAIN
After latest update to my iPhone 8 I cannot get call history in my car. Very frustrating as made this easy to connect with contacts. Is this happening to anyone else. I have tried to restart and sync but still unable to see call history. Frustrating.
I can’t pair my iPhone XR purchased this week and updated to version 12.4.1, to my Google Nest Hub.
I didn’t have any problems with my old iPhone 7. Google Nest Hub workers very well.
The Bluetooth connection works well with my car but can’t find any other device. It keeps running around unsuccessfully looking for additional devices.
Have an iPhone 6, paired up to the Mercedes Benz Command System, phone and messages were working fine and showing up on the car’s screen.
Updated to the latest version 12.4, surprise text messages don’t work anymore, used an iPhone 7 at the Mercedes Service Office and voila!!, it works fine..
So about 4 or 5 Apple Software Updates ago I lost the stability of my Bluetooth and Wi-Fi on my iPhone 5S.
What was happening was with Bluetooth I would get it to load but it would drop after about 2 mins, sometimes when I turned it on using the white button instead of the button showing green I just saw a spinning circle, BT would not load.
The very same thing occurred with Wi-Fi, it might connect then drop and the wi-fi would then not load at all.
Anyway over that period of time which was considerable, I tried all the reported fixes, re-setting networks, doing it manually, there was nothing I did not try without success, I relied on Mobile Data.
This convinced me that BT and Wi-Fi were on the same board or logic circuit and it got cracked or something when the phone was dropped.
However I recently (2 months ago v.1) got a pressie of Apples AirPods and it was annoying that I could not use them with my iPhone.
Last month I started looking at getting an upgrade, an iPhone XR maybe and then Apple Software Update 12.4 was released.
I had not been watching for an update but Automatic Updating was enabled so I updated the phone.
Lo and behold Bluetooth and Wi-Fi is back working perfectly after the bones of 2 years being faulty.
While I am happy to have a working phone I am perplexed as to how this happened.
Any idea how something like this could occur.
When it happened first it was straight after a software update.
Over time and more updates I got less convinced but I am now pretty sure it was an update that broke it and an update that fixed it.
Anyone else experienced this, I am pretty sure Apple will not admit it even if they do know
If you pair and connect those Bluetooth devices to any other devices (like your Galaxy), try turning those devices off, so they cannot try to automatically connect to your BT device.
After turning all those devices off, forget any BT devices on your iPad (if any are listed), reset your network settings, and then restart your iPad Pro. After that restart, try connecting a single device via BT.
If you still have these issues, set up an appointment at an Apple Store for face-to-face inspection and ask them to run diagnostics. Or contact Apple Support online.
Since your iPad Pro is new, it should be covered under Apple’s warranty.
Sorry to hear about your problem with BT not working on one app.
Can you please provide us the name of the app that’s having this problem with BT?
Also, what model iPad are you using and what iOS version–find this info in Settings > General > About.
The first thing I suggest is to close all your open apps and then power off your iPad, wait 1-2 mintues, and power back on.
1. On an iPhone or an iPad with no home button from the Home screen, swipe up from the bottom of the screen and pause slightly in the middle of the screen
2. On an iDevice with a home button, double-click the Home button and swipe right or left to find the app that you want to close
3. Swipe right or left to locate the app you want to close
4. Swipe up on the app’s preview to close it
5. Repeat for all open apps
6. Power off
7. Wait 1-2 minutes
8. Power back on
Then open the app with the issue and see if it works normally.
If not, let us know the app and your device/iOS details for further assistance.
Hi ! I have issues with blue tooth as I want to disable it to minimize the battery consumption and it re-activates by itself… iPhone 8 + iOS 12.3.2
Basically I want bluetooth to stay disabled and it is for a limited( cannot determine if is fixed)
amount of time only.
I have to to disable it every day and I never enable it.
It is so annoyng… :((
Are you disabling Bluetooth via Control Center or Settings App?
To turn Bluetooth off, rather than disconnect it, make sure you go to Settings > Bluetooth > and toggle it off.
If you are already doing that and Bluetooth continues to turn itself on, make sure you forget all your devices before toggling Bluetooth off. Tap the “i” next to each BT device and choose to forget this device.
It’s also a good idea to reset your network settings. Go to Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings–this does delete any stored WiFi passcodes, so make sure you have those available to enter again.
Since the most recent update on my iPhone in June 2109 my iPhone 8 plus when connected to my Toyota Rav 4 no one can hear me clearly thru the car speaker/blue tooth.
Everyone says I sound like I am in a tunnel of water or wind tunnel.
Please help me fix this issue as I have been told this is widespread?
First, delete all of your previous iPhone pairings from your car AND also forget the pairing to your car’s BT system on your iPhone. Then re-pair your iPhone to your Rav 4.
Follow these Toyota instructions on how to pair your iPhone 8 with your model and year Toyota RAV 4.
After you re-pair your iPhone to your car, go to your iPhone’s Bluetooth menu in Settings > Bluetooth and tap the “i” button that has a circle around it. Toggle on the button for Show Notifications.
Another setting to check is how your call is routed, go to Settings > General > Accessibility > Call Audio Routing and choose Automatic or if that’s already chosen, try Bluetooth Headset.
Another possibility is that your volume is getting limited, go to Settings > Music > and under Playback choose Volume Limit–slide the scale all the way to the Right for maximum volume–that turns any limit off.
If you don’t have the Music app, download and install it from the app store.
Finally, if nothing helps you might want to reset all your settings–it’s a bit drastic but it often solves problems when you can’t figure out why things aren’t working the way they are supposed to.
Reset all settings
* This is usually the last resort since it resets all your personalized features back to factory defaults
* Go to Settings > General > Reset > Reset All
* This resets to default everything in Settings, including notifications, alerts, brightness, and clock settings like wake up alarms
* Resetting all settings also reverts all your personalized and customized features like wallpapers and accessibility settings back to factory defaults.
* Performing this action does not impact any of your personal device data, including photos, texts, documents, and other files
* You need to reconfigure these settings once your iPhone or iDevice restarts
Contacts are shown as unknown with a number when trying to contact me while driving my Toyota Corolla please advise a solution to this problem have paired another iphone which everything works correctly name of contact displays correctly
It seems that several folks report similar issues with iOS 12 and their Garmin Watches. This appears particularly true for folks running the beta version of iOS.
Try toggling Bluetooth off, waiting 20 seconds, and toggling back on. See if it picks up your watch.
If not, see if there is an update to your Garmin Watch App. Or delete/offload and reinstall the app–some readers found this helped maintain a better BT connection.
Also, depending on which model iPhone you have and your iOS version, you may or may not see the Bluetooth icon on your Home Screen.
For iOS 12, the Bluetooth icon was removed on the home screen. Find Bluetooth instead in Control Center and Settings.
It seams I am also suffering with this Bluetooth issue.
i have a JBL Bluetooth speaker and also a Bluetooth car entertainment systems.
every thing worked with IOS 11 on my i phone 7 + as soon as i installed the Ios 12 update its began to crackle while playing music or just disconnect.
i bought the new I phone xs Max hoping that it might have been an issue with my phone but the problems remains.
i tried my wife’s i phone 7 running ios 11 and every thing worked fine until she updated and now she has issues connecting to her cars Bluetooth entertainment system.
i have tried un-pairing re-pairing the phone to the devices and even restoring the phone nothing works.
the only thing that works every time is turning the phone Bluetooth off and on again one i do that the car entertainment system connects to the phone and works fine until you exit the car once you get back in for another journey the crackling is back and you need to turn the Bluetooth off and on again on the phone.
the phone works fine with my apple watch as far as i can tell but the issue with audio equipment is incredibly annoying.
Regards
Zander
So,
iPhone SE with iOS 12.0.1 and iPhone 8 with iOS 12.0.1.
After the moment of upgrading to iOS 12 from 11, then the Bluetooth does not connect anymore with the BMW car that we have (F31 2013 model).
More than 3 times set up as new, cleared from the car also.
Reset of all connection settings, forget device etc.
The car is invisible to the phone and cannot anymore perform any call or accept a car via the car controls as I was able one month ago for over 2 years.
Apple either blocked it in order to force the usage of Car Play without caring that there might be cars that cannot get CarPlay or with the new security features in Bluetooth, this is a collateral damage.
hey same model auto BMW 2013 and really is so please if you find a solution please share
really start to hate apple so much money for the phone and at the end the cheapest phones are better 🙁
I have Koolertro Bluetooth car radio and after I up graded my Iphone 6 to IOS 12 it started to h have cracking noise in the speakers. It did not happen when I used the radio or USB mode. I tried disconnecting and reconnecting Bluetooth device on my phone. This did not work.
I have an old iphone 5 with IOS 10 and connected it and there was no problem. I then paired my Iphone 6 with IOS 12 and there was no problem. But when I shut off the radio and paired the Iphone 6 the cracking came back. Yet when I paired up the Iphone 5 cracking gone and then pairing the iphone 6 and cracking gone.
Looks like my old Iphone 5 has come in handy. So this is a work for you, and hope Apple or Koolertron come up with a software patch soon.
Dave, Some iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max owners are indeed having the Bluetooth issue. If you have already upgraded to the iOS 12.0.1, and are still having issues, We suggest the following: 1) Try updating to iOS 12.1 using Beta program and see if it works. if it works it will mean that you dont have any hardware issue. Some iPhone XS users have had success with this. If you have already tried restoring the device to factory settings with no luck, its time to take it to the Apple Store and get a replacement. One shouldn’t have to deal with Bluetooth issues on a brand new iPhone.
I’ve reset my 7.0 iphone but still not working. it seems that it turns on and off constantly like a circle, can’t any more see the devices, no more connection in my car and the battery last really less
Really piss off, thats make me loos my time looking for solutions, thats is your job, not mine
Also my iphone seems slow, block , likes needs time to think. you push bottons several times until finally it decided tu act
Awesome week for Apple, Bluetooth on my iPad does not work after iOS12 update, my wife’s MacBook Pro cannot accept OSX12 (too old) and my MacBook Pro the qwerty keys don’t operate anymore, like I said awesome week for apple, I love the back up your iPad and factory restore it using iTunes, ha, come on then how do I enter passwords when the keyboard of my Mac don’t work as it should. Apple it was nice, but the journey has come to an end, I discovered Linux the other day, see ya!
Yep – I have been an Apple customer since 1988 with the IIx – it used to be a great company. My old 90’s Powerbook lasted I think over 10 years. The equipment was far superior to PCs.
Now it is throw away and spend a fortune for something new as we cannot guarantee backward compatibility.
My iPhone6S no longer sees any devices after the forced upgrade. Unbelievable.
Unfortunately none of these techniques in this article work for me.
Removing the Bluetooth icon was a bad idea. No idea if it’s on or not, or if it’s connected or not. How do you know if you somehow connected to a device you don’t want to be? Or that all of a sudden sound comes from somewhere else because you didn’t know if was even on? Please bring this icon back apple.
I agree with Matt, the removal of the Bluetooth icon is nonsensical and for the same exact reasons as his. But with that being said, I read most but not all of the comment shown above, and I don’t want to be duplicating issues, but I believe the issue I’ve been experiencing is slightly different than all the others.
It was just last week that I did the iOS 12.4 update on my iPhone XR, and just by coincidence, it was just a few days ago that I noticed the sound on my iTunes music and voice on my iPhone map navigator had suddenly both stopped working.
No sound at all coming through for either one.
Since I listen to satellite music almost all the time in my car (mine’s a 2016 Rogue Nissan), I wasn’t even aware of the issue until I was driving through unfamiliar territories one day and turned on my iPhone map navigation app but my “Aussie Boy” voice was no longer giving me directions.
Under normal circumstances, the iPhone map app’s directional voice only comes through when my car’s media output is set to Bluetooth. Not only is the directional voice not coming through, the sound from my iTunes music isn’t either even though my car’s display shows which song is currently playing.
Yesterday while I was in my car, the radio was on and the media set to Bluetooth, but there was no music coming through at all. I went in to my iPhone settings to see what’s what with Bluetooth and the settings showed my iPhone and car WERE ACTUALLY CONNECTED.
I could tell they were by my ability to see exactly which iTunes song was currently playing on my car display and the minute/second counter for the song was counting down like it normally does, but still no sound at all.
So in my situation, my iTunes app is working, my Bluetooth on my phone and car are both working, they do connect with one another but no sound comes through at all. BTW, I should add that my car’s SiriusXM works just fine. So what gives??? Thank you.
Sorry to hear about all these issues with Bluetooth and your car’s Infotainment system. Have you already tried forgetting the connection and re-pairing?
Since you mention this issue occurred immediately after updating to iOS 12.4, also check with Nissan and your infotainment system to see if they pushed out any firmware updates after iOS 12.4 released.
Hi,
Just upgraded to an iphone 12 pro – was a gift – very nice but can’t connect to my bluetooth devices and spending more time trying to fix things! I have tried all the recommended steps and it is not working. Just want to connect to my speaker!
Any help – thank you!
i have a new i phone 12 mini, everything was working fine on old phone and all other devises in the house but this new phone isn’t working with a sound bar, it connects but when i press play on the phone it just plays through the phone and not the sound bar, i have tried everything suggested but still not working, i wish i never got it, APPLE please sort this mess out – wish i had gone rouge and brought an android phone
Thank you, very helpful and was able to get my Bluetooth working!
iPhone 12 won’t pair with speaker.
Wife’s old iPhone will . You need to fix this.
Thank you, this solved my issue :).
I have a 3rd party Bluetooth car kit and everything works well apart from no caller id. There are no settings within the Bluetooth kit to delete the phone only a reset button which I have done.
I have BT hearing aid and now my message tones beep in the aid and not on the phone. This is very annoying and sometimes scares me especially if it has been quiet for a while and i receive a text. I have jumped every time!. I want my tones to ring on the phone and not in my hearing aid. If I turn off BT on my phone it will not ring in my ear but I need my BT on in order to connect to talk on the phone. Catch 22 and it only happened after this last update to the iPhone!
My IPad updated overnight while charging. Why can Apple just leave devices alone?!!! Now my Bluetooth just spins. Will not recognize Fitbit, hearing aids, says turn on Bluetooth. Bluetooth is on. Turned off I pad turned off Bluetooth. Also on contacts all but six are grayed out. Thank you very much. If I want a device updated I will do it Now how do I get contacts back and Bluetooth to stop spinning. Oh you don’t have an answer, surprise surprise. Thank you for screwing up my device. AGAIN
After latest update to my iPhone 8 I cannot get call history in my car. Very frustrating as made this easy to connect with contacts. Is this happening to anyone else. I have tried to restart and sync but still unable to see call history. Frustrating.
Kathy
Same here on my Audi. Call history no longer appears, and an icon appears on the car LCD showing constant attempt to synchronise call history etc.
I can’t pair my iPhone XR purchased this week and updated to version 12.4.1, to my Google Nest Hub.
I didn’t have any problems with my old iPhone 7. Google Nest Hub workers very well.
The Bluetooth connection works well with my car but can’t find any other device. It keeps running around unsuccessfully looking for additional devices.
Have an iPhone 6, paired up to the Mercedes Benz Command System, phone and messages were working fine and showing up on the car’s screen.
Updated to the latest version 12.4, surprise text messages don’t work anymore, used an iPhone 7 at the Mercedes Service Office and voila!!, it works fine..
Can somebody tell me how my iPhone6 can be fixed?
Thanks for any assistance
So about 4 or 5 Apple Software Updates ago I lost the stability of my Bluetooth and Wi-Fi on my iPhone 5S.
What was happening was with Bluetooth I would get it to load but it would drop after about 2 mins, sometimes when I turned it on using the white button instead of the button showing green I just saw a spinning circle, BT would not load.
The very same thing occurred with Wi-Fi, it might connect then drop and the wi-fi would then not load at all.
Anyway over that period of time which was considerable, I tried all the reported fixes, re-setting networks, doing it manually, there was nothing I did not try without success, I relied on Mobile Data.
This convinced me that BT and Wi-Fi were on the same board or logic circuit and it got cracked or something when the phone was dropped.
However I recently (2 months ago v.1) got a pressie of Apples AirPods and it was annoying that I could not use them with my iPhone.
Last month I started looking at getting an upgrade, an iPhone XR maybe and then Apple Software Update 12.4 was released.
I had not been watching for an update but Automatic Updating was enabled so I updated the phone.
Lo and behold Bluetooth and Wi-Fi is back working perfectly after the bones of 2 years being faulty.
While I am happy to have a working phone I am perplexed as to how this happened.
Any idea how something like this could occur.
When it happened first it was straight after a software update.
Over time and more updates I got less convinced but I am now pretty sure it was an update that broke it and an update that fixed it.
Anyone else experienced this, I am pretty sure Apple will not admit it even if they do know
I have a brand new iPad Pro 2017 which I immediately updated to iOS 12.4 using iTunes when I got it.
I cannot connect to any Bluetooth devices even though they are recognized the pairing is always unsuccessful.
Tried new Samsung Galaxy A40 and compatible keyboard.
I have tried turning everything on and off, forgetting devices etc but still no joy.
Any ideas??
HI Kate,
If you pair and connect those Bluetooth devices to any other devices (like your Galaxy), try turning those devices off, so they cannot try to automatically connect to your BT device.
After turning all those devices off, forget any BT devices on your iPad (if any are listed), reset your network settings, and then restart your iPad Pro. After that restart, try connecting a single device via BT.
If you still have these issues, set up an appointment at an Apple Store for face-to-face inspection and ask them to run diagnostics. Or contact Apple Support online.
Since your iPad Pro is new, it should be covered under Apple’s warranty.
Hope the steps work for you! Keep us updated.
Liz
Hi, I have tied all the above.
My issue seems localized to one app.
The Bluetooth is working fine through ‘Music’ and the device connects great.
However, when I play the audio through the app (which used the Apple audio interface – as explained by the developers) the audio is almost mute.
Any help would be appreciated before I try and restore the iPad to iOS 10. Thanks
HI Christina,
Sorry to hear about your problem with BT not working on one app.
Can you please provide us the name of the app that’s having this problem with BT?
Also, what model iPad are you using and what iOS version–find this info in Settings > General > About.
The first thing I suggest is to close all your open apps and then power off your iPad, wait 1-2 mintues, and power back on.
1. On an iPhone or an iPad with no home button from the Home screen, swipe up from the bottom of the screen and pause slightly in the middle of the screen
2. On an iDevice with a home button, double-click the Home button and swipe right or left to find the app that you want to close
3. Swipe right or left to locate the app you want to close
4. Swipe up on the app’s preview to close it
5. Repeat for all open apps
6. Power off
7. Wait 1-2 minutes
8. Power back on
Then open the app with the issue and see if it works normally.
If not, let us know the app and your device/iOS details for further assistance.
Thanks,
Liz
Hi ! I have issues with blue tooth as I want to disable it to minimize the battery consumption and it re-activates by itself… iPhone 8 + iOS 12.3.2
Basically I want bluetooth to stay disabled and it is for a limited( cannot determine if is fixed)
amount of time only.
I have to to disable it every day and I never enable it.
It is so annoyng… :((
Hi Remarc,
Are you disabling Bluetooth via Control Center or Settings App?
To turn Bluetooth off, rather than disconnect it, make sure you go to Settings > Bluetooth > and toggle it off.
If you are already doing that and Bluetooth continues to turn itself on, make sure you forget all your devices before toggling Bluetooth off. Tap the “i” next to each BT device and choose to forget this device.
It’s also a good idea to reset your network settings. Go to Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings–this does delete any stored WiFi passcodes, so make sure you have those available to enter again.
Let us know if this does the trick (or not).
Liz
Since the most recent update on my iPhone in June 2109 my iPhone 8 plus when connected to my Toyota Rav 4 no one can hear me clearly thru the car speaker/blue tooth.
Everyone says I sound like I am in a tunnel of water or wind tunnel.
Please help me fix this issue as I have been told this is widespread?
Hi Tamara,
Sometimes re-pairing fixes this problem!
First, delete all of your previous iPhone pairings from your car AND also forget the pairing to your car’s BT system on your iPhone. Then re-pair your iPhone to your Rav 4.
Follow these Toyota instructions on how to pair your iPhone 8 with your model and year Toyota RAV 4.
After you re-pair your iPhone to your car, go to your iPhone’s Bluetooth menu in Settings > Bluetooth and tap the “i” button that has a circle around it. Toggle on the button for Show Notifications.
Another setting to check is how your call is routed, go to Settings > General > Accessibility > Call Audio Routing and choose Automatic or if that’s already chosen, try Bluetooth Headset.
Another possibility is that your volume is getting limited, go to Settings > Music > and under Playback choose Volume Limit–slide the scale all the way to the Right for maximum volume–that turns any limit off.
If you don’t have the Music app, download and install it from the app store.
Finally, if nothing helps you might want to reset all your settings–it’s a bit drastic but it often solves problems when you can’t figure out why things aren’t working the way they are supposed to.
Reset all settings
* This is usually the last resort since it resets all your personalized features back to factory defaults
* Go to Settings > General > Reset > Reset All
* This resets to default everything in Settings, including notifications, alerts, brightness, and clock settings like wake up alarms
* Resetting all settings also reverts all your personalized and customized features like wallpapers and accessibility settings back to factory defaults.
* Performing this action does not impact any of your personal device data, including photos, texts, documents, and other files
* You need to reconfigure these settings once your iPhone or iDevice restarts
Hope something here helps!
Liz
actually, when i think now the update yes has a great ideas, and apple is not guilty that bluetooth doesnt work.
Guilty are the software engineers which are taking unnormally big salaries to programm this ….
After updating ios instead everything to be perfect and to happened automatic, its worse?
And we need tips what to do?
Please bluetooth dont work anymore and everybody want bluetooth icon who takes these decisions???
Sorry, but me and my friends are stopping and starting to sell all aple devices that we have.
Hi Georgi,
Sorry that your Bluetooth is having problems after updating to iOS 12.x.x
We suggest you toggle off Bluetooth from your Settings App, then restart your device.
After the restart, toggle Bluetooth on again from the Settings App and see if things start connecting again.
It’s important to do this via the Settings app and not from Control Center.
Liz
Bluetooth receipt printer will not stay connected to iPad.
Shutting down and re-pairing only lasts for about 20 minutes of use and then goes offline.
Frustrating to no end!
Can you roll back the IOS update?
Contacts are shown as unknown with a number when trying to contact me while driving my Toyota Corolla please advise a solution to this problem have paired another iphone which everything works correctly name of contact displays correctly
iMessage Contact Names Missing, Shows Number? Fixes We had seen this for some users in iMessage. Check if any of the contact sync tips in this article work for you. Good Luck Paul.
Since software update, Bluetooth ‘icon’ on the top of the screen has disappeared when Bluetooth on.
It seems to connect to my car but not Garmin watch.
Wouldn’t see it as a third party issue, can Apple please resolve, thanks
Hi Trevor,
It seems that several folks report similar issues with iOS 12 and their Garmin Watches. This appears particularly true for folks running the beta version of iOS.
Try toggling Bluetooth off, waiting 20 seconds, and toggling back on. See if it picks up your watch.
If not, see if there is an update to your Garmin Watch App. Or delete/offload and reinstall the app–some readers found this helped maintain a better BT connection.
Also, depending on which model iPhone you have and your iOS version, you may or may not see the Bluetooth icon on your Home Screen.
For iOS 12, the Bluetooth icon was removed on the home screen. Find Bluetooth instead in Control Center and Settings.
New iPhone XR. Paired with BMW Connected to car. Remote image works, etc, but car will not lock remotely. Indicates unlocked when I know it’s locked.
Resetting the network settings worked. I could not pair any device after ios 12 update on my mini, but that fixed it.
Since update I have had problems with ‘forgetting’ a blue tooth device.
I have followed the advice to no avail.
Whenever I press ‘forgetdevice’ it comes up with a pairing message a few minutes later. It does this constantly.
It is impossible to connect any device after the iOS 12 Update. earphones, other Smart phone or my especial free drums device.
Just garbage this brand
I am facing lag in streaming videos with Bluetooth headphones,it’s really irritating and terrifying,suggest me how to resolve it
None of these tricks are working for my QY8 headphones (IOS 12, iPhone7).
But worse, B/t pane itself is buggy.
It’s showing another one of my devices as “unconnected,” even though that device IS sending/receiving data from the phone.
Weird. I’m old enough to remember when Apple made reliable products. Now they just cost more.
It seams I am also suffering with this Bluetooth issue.
i have a JBL Bluetooth speaker and also a Bluetooth car entertainment systems.
every thing worked with IOS 11 on my i phone 7 + as soon as i installed the Ios 12 update its began to crackle while playing music or just disconnect.
i bought the new I phone xs Max hoping that it might have been an issue with my phone but the problems remains.
i tried my wife’s i phone 7 running ios 11 and every thing worked fine until she updated and now she has issues connecting to her cars Bluetooth entertainment system.
i have tried un-pairing re-pairing the phone to the devices and even restoring the phone nothing works.
the only thing that works every time is turning the phone Bluetooth off and on again one i do that the car entertainment system connects to the phone and works fine until you exit the car once you get back in for another journey the crackling is back and you need to turn the Bluetooth off and on again on the phone.
the phone works fine with my apple watch as far as i can tell but the issue with audio equipment is incredibly annoying.
Regards
Zander
So,
iPhone SE with iOS 12.0.1 and iPhone 8 with iOS 12.0.1.
After the moment of upgrading to iOS 12 from 11, then the Bluetooth does not connect anymore with the BMW car that we have (F31 2013 model).
More than 3 times set up as new, cleared from the car also.
Reset of all connection settings, forget device etc.
The car is invisible to the phone and cannot anymore perform any call or accept a car via the car controls as I was able one month ago for over 2 years.
Apple either blocked it in order to force the usage of Car Play without caring that there might be cars that cannot get CarPlay or with the new security features in Bluetooth, this is a collateral damage.
hey same model auto BMW 2013 and really is so please if you find a solution please share
really start to hate apple so much money for the phone and at the end the cheapest phones are better 🙁
I have Koolertro Bluetooth car radio and after I up graded my Iphone 6 to IOS 12 it started to h have cracking noise in the speakers. It did not happen when I used the radio or USB mode. I tried disconnecting and reconnecting Bluetooth device on my phone. This did not work.
I have an old iphone 5 with IOS 10 and connected it and there was no problem. I then paired my Iphone 6 with IOS 12 and there was no problem. But when I shut off the radio and paired the Iphone 6 the cracking came back. Yet when I paired up the Iphone 5 cracking gone and then pairing the iphone 6 and cracking gone.
Looks like my old Iphone 5 has come in handy. So this is a work for you, and hope Apple or Koolertron come up with a software patch soon.
None of this works for iPhone XS
Dave, Some iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max owners are indeed having the Bluetooth issue. If you have already upgraded to the iOS 12.0.1, and are still having issues, We suggest the following: 1) Try updating to iOS 12.1 using Beta program and see if it works. if it works it will mean that you dont have any hardware issue. Some iPhone XS users have had success with this. If you have already tried restoring the device to factory settings with no luck, its time to take it to the Apple Store and get a replacement. One shouldn’t have to deal with Bluetooth issues on a brand new iPhone.
I’ve reset my 7.0 iphone but still not working. it seems that it turns on and off constantly like a circle, can’t any more see the devices, no more connection in my car and the battery last really less
Really piss off, thats make me loos my time looking for solutions, thats is your job, not mine
Also my iphone seems slow, block , likes needs time to think. you push bottons several times until finally it decided tu act
Please fix it quicky or you will loose clients
The latest update 12.4 fixed my BT and Wi-Fi issues.
Awesome week for Apple, Bluetooth on my iPad does not work after iOS12 update, my wife’s MacBook Pro cannot accept OSX12 (too old) and my MacBook Pro the qwerty keys don’t operate anymore, like I said awesome week for apple, I love the back up your iPad and factory restore it using iTunes, ha, come on then how do I enter passwords when the keyboard of my Mac don’t work as it should. Apple it was nice, but the journey has come to an end, I discovered Linux the other day, see ya!
Yep – I have been an Apple customer since 1988 with the IIx – it used to be a great company. My old 90’s Powerbook lasted I think over 10 years. The equipment was far superior to PCs.
Now it is throw away and spend a fortune for something new as we cannot guarantee backward compatibility.
My iPhone6S no longer sees any devices after the forced upgrade. Unbelievable.
Unfortunately none of these techniques in this article work for me.
Removing the Bluetooth icon was a bad idea. No idea if it’s on or not, or if it’s connected or not. How do you know if you somehow connected to a device you don’t want to be? Or that all of a sudden sound comes from somewhere else because you didn’t know if was even on? Please bring this icon back apple.
I agree with Matt, the removal of the Bluetooth icon is nonsensical and for the same exact reasons as his. But with that being said, I read most but not all of the comment shown above, and I don’t want to be duplicating issues, but I believe the issue I’ve been experiencing is slightly different than all the others.
It was just last week that I did the iOS 12.4 update on my iPhone XR, and just by coincidence, it was just a few days ago that I noticed the sound on my iTunes music and voice on my iPhone map navigator had suddenly both stopped working.
No sound at all coming through for either one.
Since I listen to satellite music almost all the time in my car (mine’s a 2016 Rogue Nissan), I wasn’t even aware of the issue until I was driving through unfamiliar territories one day and turned on my iPhone map navigation app but my “Aussie Boy” voice was no longer giving me directions.
Under normal circumstances, the iPhone map app’s directional voice only comes through when my car’s media output is set to Bluetooth. Not only is the directional voice not coming through, the sound from my iTunes music isn’t either even though my car’s display shows which song is currently playing.
Yesterday while I was in my car, the radio was on and the media set to Bluetooth, but there was no music coming through at all. I went in to my iPhone settings to see what’s what with Bluetooth and the settings showed my iPhone and car WERE ACTUALLY CONNECTED.
I could tell they were by my ability to see exactly which iTunes song was currently playing on my car display and the minute/second counter for the song was counting down like it normally does, but still no sound at all.
So in my situation, my iTunes app is working, my Bluetooth on my phone and car are both working, they do connect with one another but no sound comes through at all. BTW, I should add that my car’s SiriusXM works just fine. So what gives??? Thank you.
HI Brian,
Sorry to hear about all these issues with Bluetooth and your car’s Infotainment system. Have you already tried forgetting the connection and re-pairing?
Since you mention this issue occurred immediately after updating to iOS 12.4, also check with Nissan and your infotainment system to see if they pushed out any firmware updates after iOS 12.4 released.