iPhone 4 Bluetooth Problems?
There are now reports of a problem with the iPhone 4 and Bluetooth sound quality, according to Erica Sadun of The Unofficial Apple Weblog.
Sadun posted that TUAW were testing the Jawbone Icon wireless Bluetooth handset and people she was calling complained that her voice did not sound good. They told her it was muffled†and there was decreased dynamic range.†To investigate she went to Jawbone’s forums and found a couple of discussions with complaints of both muffled sound and poor voice quality while using the Icon with an iPhone 4.
“Informal testing here at TUAW central with a couple of Jawbone units on both an iPhone 3GS as well as the iPhone 4 showed that the 3GS displayed none of the problems that the iPhone 4 is demonstrating.” (TUAW post)
Her post links to a discussion thread at the Apple support forums filled with people struggling with the same issue, but not all of them have the Jawbone. Some were Motorola users.
I use an iPhone 4 and a Motorola Bluetooth speaker in my van and have not noticed a problem, nor has anyone told me there was a problem with sound quality. But it seems there are enough people complaining that it sounds like it is not just an isolated incident. Aliph is the manufacturer of the Jawbone Bluetooth device in question. TUAW quotes their spokesperson saying:
We are aware of and concerned with the user frustration surrounding the issues affecting all Bluetooth devices (headsets, car kits, and speakers) connecting to the iPhone 4 and iOS4 updated phones. We know users have come to expect the freedom of hands-free and we are working night and day with our partners, Apple and AT&T, to resolve the issues as quickly as possible. (Aliph spokesperson)
Like the reception issues that have been widely reported, I am sure this will get a lot of attention and experts will start speculating as to what is wrong. So look for more information going forward. Will this be one more straw that will break the Apple backs and lead to an iPhone 4 recall that many are calling for?
Let us know if you are having similar problems.
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I have been using the Jabra car bluetooth, and the people I called said I sounded like I was underwater. then a friend called me at the office using the same set up with the iphone 4 as well and same thing. We chose then to use the speaker on the ipone instead and the sound quality immediately increased to perfect. That is when I decided to search to see if anyone else had this issue. Sure enough!
My Iphone 4 has been replaced 3 times since August under warranty due to loss of signal (Total malfunction, not the touch it and it messes up)
I am a power user at over 1700 min per month for business.
The first phone just went bad shortly out of the wrapper.
The 2nd, 3rd, and now 4th worked fine the first few weeks but then start acting up and when I hold the phone on the same side of my body as the Bluetooth device it works but if the phone is on the opposite side of my body from the Bluetooth device the signal breaks up.
I suspect that a chip or Chrystal in the IPHONE 4 is sensitive to light impacts gets messed up with normal handling over time. My phones always look brand new and I use the apple soft case but the phones have internal bleeding of signal that sends them to an early grave…. They should send me a prototype and proof test it…
I have had multiple issues with my iphone 4 that I received on Monday of this week. Wifi signal search is incredibly short and does not readily find hotspot signals like other iphones and smart phones do.
I have also had issues with both a motorola h17 and a jawbone icon headsets with this phone. The h17 worked flawlessly with the 3gs but when I synced it to the 4 I immediately experienced issues with interference and background noise in the earpiece. I also noticed that if the phone were to be moved more thant 1-2 feet from the bluetooth the connection was lost.
I chalked it up to a bluetooth that was dying and purchased a jawbone icon. Better reception but when the phone is in my case on my belt I get lots of background noise and feedback. I have a genius bar appt tomorrow at 1130 where I would presume my phone will be replaced with a new one when they receive them. I am totally impressed with the retina display and all of the cool features but incredibly disappointed with the reception issues for both wifi and bluetooth.
I have just go my iphone 4 and am experiencing similar problems, the bluetooth will not connect to anything I tried to connect to my imac and other bluetooth phones and it will not connect, I fail to see how a company like apple who are selling top end devices cannot supply a phone that works with bluethooth, when everyone else can, I knew I should have bought a HTC desire. I knew apple had a problem with bluetooth on the previous iphone but i thought they would have sorted it out by now, I think they are trying to make too many products, and cant cope they need to slow down and regroup.
I too have had Bluetooth connection problems as well as poor sound quality on the listener's end. I thought it was my Jawbone but, it is in fact the iPhone 4 that has the problem. I have paired it to my 3G and it works fine…
i was planning n overlookin reception issues since i use my bluetooth all the time anyways…but if even the bluetooth doesnt work…am diff NOT buying an iphone when they come out in canada! thats a true deal breaker
You know I have conducted my own test with this so-called iPhone 4 antenna issue and according to my test it shows that this is in fact a “non-issue”. For all you users that need some reassurance that Apple will never fail you check the article which shows how much of an issue (or lack there of) this actually is at http://getyourgadgetsgoing.com/2010/07/14/apple…
I have a Jawbone Prime and have had it for a year. I previously had it paired with two phones, my work phone(Motorola Razor) and my iPhone 3G. I never had a problem until I got the iPhone 4. Now I keep losing connection between the iPhone 4 and my Jawbone Prime.
I am having a problem with my IPhone 4 Blue tooth head set. Clients say it sounds muffled. I thought it was the new blue tooth head set. So I exchanged it for a Blue Ant, Same issue. I found if I reboot the iphone 4 it works for a very short period of time. but goes right back to being muffled. I now put the Iphone on speaker and place it in my shirt pocket so I can work with both hands. I tried placing the Iphone on speaker on my desk but I even get complaints on the muffled sound. I have had 3 Iphone. The 3 G, 3GS, and now the 4. I never had these issues with the 3G or 3GS. I should have known better than to purchase the Iphone 4 so quick. oh, I should ad a positive note Face Time works great. I have used it once.
I use (was using) the blue tooth all day long. I hope Apple gets this resolved soon. What a pain,
I will not even get into the dropped (failed) calls. Come on Apple you can do better.
Yes, yes, yes – I hadn't heard of anyone else complaining, so I wasn't sure what was going on. I used to have no problems with clarity on my Sony car stereo bluetooth or on my Plantronics Explorer, but since the iPhone4 I've tried a new Jawbone, and still half the time people tell me I sound like I'm under water, and the sound on my end isn't always crystal clear either. (NEVER had a problem witih the 3GS)
I got my iphone 4 Thursday and immediately had problems with listeners complaining about the sound. I had been using a Plantronics for a while with a Blackberry with no problems. Also, every time I hung up on a call the bluetooth disconnected. Sometimes it will not connect at all and I have to turn it on and off a few times. I went to AT&T and bought a Sound ID 510 on the recommendation of the employee. AT&T gave me a discount equal to the cost of the Plantronics device. Same problem with the bluetooth, just worse. This is BS.
I HAVE NOT AS YET BEEN ABLE TO PAIR MY JAWBONE WITH THE NEW iPhone 4. Whatcha gonna do? Just wait till apple figure's it all out I guess. We are at the whim of Mr Job's at this point. Common now Steve, we're waiting….
I am having the same issues as described in the article. I live in NY and it is ILLEGAL to talk on your cell phone while driving without a bluetooth or handsfree device so Apple NEEDS to get this problems fixed ASAP. I was so excited to get the Iphone 4 and it has problems with the simplest of technology….yet again. What a disappointment!
I also am dropping calls more than usual…
I have a iPhone 4 and use Plantronics Voyager 975, Plantronics 510, Plantronics 520, Plantronics 855 and Jawbone II and have had with my first iPhone 4 a problem with the phone disconnecting from Bluetooth when placed in the pocket or more than 5 feet from the phone. Also all Bluetooth devices had the “you sound like you are underwater” problem. I brought the phone back to the Apple Store and got a new iPhone 4 which no longer displayed the disconnecting problem but still has the same “underwater problems.” I have contacted Apple Support and they have escalated the problem. There is NO DOUBT that this is AN APPLE SOFTWARE PROBLEM — IT WOULD BE NICE IF THEY ADMIT IT AND FIX IT.
I too am experiencing problems with my iPhone 4 and my Jawbone Icon. In addition to these issues I'm also seeing short Bluetooth ranges and dropped connections. After speaking with Apple they claim that there us no known problem.
I have a Motorola H710 bluetooth headset and the sound is muffled with the iPhone 4. I have no problems with the iPhone 3G and the Motorola H710.
I too am experiencing bluetooth porblems . such as connecting on it's own to my range rover sport, and nuffled sound with both plantrionics and blue ant.. all sound good on my end but muffled on the listners end.
I'm having the same issues with my motorola Bluetooth that I had paired with my blackberry prior to me purchasing the iPhone 4. I'm getting feed back from people that I'm talking to saying that I sound muffled/robotish/underwater at times. My family and friends that have the iPhone 4 are experiencing the same symptoms with their phones so it has to be a iPhone 4 issue with all brands bluetooths.
Yup same problem with Bluetooth, I used to have original iPhone and had no problems with complaints, with the new iPhone 4 everyone tells me it sounds like I'm underwater. Not to mention my old iPhone also used to charge in my Infiniti where as all 3G and newer are not compatible, sux.
I have had my iphone 4 replaced because of bluetooth issues. My Jawbone 2's(2) and icons(4) would drop constantly and have bad sound quality for the people I was talking to. Now that I have the 4.0.1 upgrade and a new Iphone I do not have bluetooth drops. I still have audio quality issues. If you reset network settings on the iphone it clears up the sound quality for a day or two. After the reset I have to re-type in my WIFI network passwords. I am getting tried of this being the fix. At least it works for a while. I hope this helps other users
After pairing my Jawbone to my iPhone 4 I too experienced audio probems (muffled, breaking up). My wife's Blue Ant worked fine so I thought it was my Jawbone. I purchased a new Jawbone Icon and am experiencing the same problems!
I am having the same issues with my voyager pro blue tooth which is the best blue tooth headset I have ever used. It is very frustrating!
Same problem here, went through 3 headsets at AT&T's request and it's certainly not the headsets!
I use a Plantronics stereo bluetooth headset and with the iPhone 4 I've been told it sounds like I'm talking through a pillow. It's not a problem with all calls but it seems to be specific to certain people I call. With the 3GS, I would occasionally have a sound quality problem, but not often. The bluetooth connection between the iPhone 4 and the headset works pretty well, but takes a bit longer than it did with the 3GS sometimes.
I'm having a similar problem, but it's not only bluetooth – there's a problem with wired headsets too. For some reason, the iPhone 4 funnels ambient background noise into the headset earpiece speaker during a call. Can't figure out why Apple would think that's a good idea?!? (It's not hardware, because there's no such problem when talking over skype on the iPhone 4).
Replaced the old Jabra – not a solution – bought a new Jabra – not a solution – bought a better Jabra – not a solution – bought a top of the line Plantronics – the blonde in me finally figured out that it is the phone! So disappointed – never had such problems with my 1st gen iPhone – it has served me so well
I can't get my JB Prime to connect to my new iPhone 4 at all.
Have had bluetooth issues since I got my Iphone 4…I blamed my aging Jawbone 2 and bought a Jawbone Prime…all the same issues – intermittant connectivity, lousy range/sound, chooses to switch to Iphone audio on it's own – remain…
My iPhone4 has consistent bluetooth problems exactly as described by others. With handsfree cell phone use a must now, it is a real problem for me. I am a contractor and on the phone all the time and this is insane. My five year old Nokia phone has crystal clear reception on my bluetooth and a state of the art iphone works far worse that it.
WTF! Why can't they get it right?
I just bought the new iphone 4 and use several hi end brands of blue tooth devices with the unit and YES this thing is faulted. I am getting reports from all my clients that my voice is cutting out or muffled…. another APPLE PIE
my iphone 4 bluetooth drops in and out on the integrated bluetooth in my acura. Mostly while using the bluetooth audio feature
I’m having the same problems. I even sent my Jawbone back because I thought it may be the Jawbone and they sent me a new one and I’m still having the same problems. Is there a solution. I paid a lot of money for my Jawbone but now I can’t use it.
thanks,
Chris
I had a Plantronics 220 that work great with my Blackberry 8310. Had trouble connecting the Plantronics bluetooth and no one could her me talk when it was connected. I upgraded to a Jabra ($80) and while I can hear the other party with no problems, then can’t hear me once I connect to bluetooth!!!
I am having troubles with jawbone icon headset. People I call cannot hear me consistently and if I turn the headset off they can immediately hear me just fine. Seems to happen more around other electronic devices. Very frustrating.
Dateline October 14, 2010. I also have an iPhone 4 that was purchased from AT&T about October 1st of 2010. I am running iOS 4.1. I was having no call connectivity issues but I was having all the same issues with the bluetooth that are mentioned here. Headsets (I also tried several) would pair and connect only to begin continually disconnecting and re-connecting and I could usually hear my callers but they said I was breaking up or they just couldn’t understand me.
Someone in one of the articles I read mentioned rebooting the phone.
In case you don’t know, rebooting isn’t the same as turning the phone off and on. To reboot you hold down the power button and the home button at the same time. When the power down slider appears, power down. Power back up like normal. I, with nothing to lose, tried this. My bluetooth now seems to be working perfectly. Even better than it did with my 3G phone. I am experiencing no more disconnects and my callers have quit complaining. Admittedly, I have just done this a few hours ago but it seems all is well.
Hope this helps.
I am having the same problems. I just “upgraded” from my iPhone 3G to iPhone 4. My jawbone worked great with the 3G and now it keeps dropping connection, even when I am standing RIGHT NEXT to my phone. I also keep getting complaints from people I’m talking to that my voice is garbled and they can’t understand me. This never happened with my 3G. SO, I don’t know who the blame lies on- who’s software is the problem but that would be great if they could work together to fix it.
I got my iPhone 4 the first day they came out. From that day forward I have had this exact same problem with two different headsets from two different makers. I had ordered a jawbone headset concurrently with the iPhone, but with this headset people constantly complained that the sound was extremely muffled or “tinny” – like a robot voice – and they couldn’t understand what I was saying. I thought something was wrong with the headset, so I bought a high end Plantronics headset as a replacement and I have the exact same issue with it. I have found that if I hold the iPhone right up to the headset – no more than 6 inches away – then people can hear me fine, but otherwise they can’t understand what I am saying. Obviously, having to drive down the road holding your phone up to your headset defeats the whole point of having a headset in the first place.
I have tried rebooting the phone many times, and have downloaded the latest software updates which were supposed to address the problem, but none of this helped me. I’m so busy all the time that I haven’t called Apple about this yet, but I did call AT&T yesterday and get the number to call at Apple (AT&T won’t deal with the problem because it is a hardware issue).
Same problem here. Jawbone Icon with iPhone 4. I have white noise background and call recipient says my voice is gargled sounding. QUESTION? Has anyone tried not upgrading the jawbone device to the A2DP capabilities? I upgraded mine. Has anyone not upgraded and are having the same issues? Just curious. Hey Steve Jobs!!!! Upgrade please. I’m an Apple fan but this is annoying.
cant get to pair with my car yet before upgrading my 3gs to os 4.1 i had not one problem..it is a software problem folks, not hardware
I have 2 Plantronics voyager Pros which worked awesome until I upgraded from an Iphone 3G to an iPhone 4.
I thought the problem was the plantronics and could not figure out what happened until now. I need my bluetooth so there may be an iPhone 4 for sale soon!
I’m having terrible problems with iPhone 4 Bluetooth. Sound is gargles in both car built in blue tooth, and motorola h710. I’m ready to leave iPhone and at and t and move to a stood from Verizon.
I too am having the same problem and my customers are complaining that they will not talk to me if I continue to use the bluetooth. So now I will have to buy a new phone since both Apple and Att pretend that they know nothing about the problem.
Here we go Iphone4 has poor bluetooth connectivity !!! I first bought a BlueAnt that you couldnt get 2 feet from ur phone, so then went to Jabre which was worse, thought I had a bad BlueAnt so exchanged for a new one and it is worse than the first !!! COME ON APPLE FIX THIS JUNK !!!
I love my ICON and I love my iphone. But ever since I got my iphone 4, there have been numerous problems. Apple has replaced my phone 3 times. I have had the latest phone for about 2 months and it is starting to do the same thing–dropping my bluetooth connection. It is an intermittent issue, so it is hard to diagnose. But it almost ALWAYS drops my connection when I slide the phone into my pocket. It is VERY annoying and frustrating. I am almost at the point of going back to my old iphone 3. This 4 has been a continuous problem.
I am a loyal Apple customer and have to say, they have treated me great. They keep replacing my phone without question and sincerely want to make me happy. But I think there is something wrong with the iphone 4 itself that needs a resolution.
If anyone has solved this issue (permanently), I would love to hear how! Thanks.
As yet, there is no any solution for it. I am facing the same. Somebody in blog said that by resetting all (setting, General,Reset) option of Iphone 4 may cure this problem but I haven’t try it.
Thanks
I am sick to death of Apple pretending this problem doesn’t exist!!! I have had the same issues since I went from the 3GS to the 4. I have complained every week and Jawbone is the only one being honest about the issue!!!
Apple acts ask if no one has ever called to complain about this problem. Apple won’t even replace my phone and it’s only 4 months old!
My brother recommended I may like this web site. He used to be entirely right. This post actually made my day. You can not consider just how much time I had spent for this information! Thanks!
It amazes me (yes, I have been through 3 headsets now, none of them will reliably connect and stay connected to my iPhone 4) that now that most states have passed a hands free law for drivers that Apple is (or seems to be)not responding to this problem! I fear that they are going to just fix it in their next version of the iPhone and suck another $500 or so from us. I say, if it doesn’t work the way they say it should don’t buy it! My employer supplied this one, but Apple, if I had paid for this product, I would have returned it already!
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