iPhone SE Facing Bluetooth Call Audio Issues

iPhone SE Facing Bluetooth Audio Connectivity

Some units of the iPhone SE, which is the latest 4-inch iPhone of Apple, may have problems with Bluetooth audio connectivity. The iPhone SE tends to share a design with the iPhone 5s, the 4-inch aluminium iPhone which debuted in 2013. Though the iPhone 6 had accepted rounded edges together with curved display, the iPhone 5s and SE tend to have a boxier design with thicker body.

It also has chamfered edges, flat display, round volume buttons, glass antenna inserts, a power button located at the top of the device as well as a flush camera and a pill-shaped rear flash. As per some early adopters of the handset, there seems to be some problem with Bluetooth phone calls when the device tends to get paired with a vehicle or a headset.

The problem as documented by users on the Apple Support forum is not limited to the Bluetooth phone call audio but also spreads to GPS voice navigation too. But music streaming utilising the Bluetooth connectivity tends to be untouched. An iPhone SE user had posted on the Apple Support forum - `I have a new iPhone SE and have so far paired it to a 2014 BMW 328i and a 2011 Kia Optima and a 2015 Kia Santa Fe. In all cases, I have terrible quality Bluetooth call reception… the audio while on a phone is extremely scratchy and distorted’.

Bug Tends to Persist

While Apple is yet to come up with a solution or provide its official word on the matter and based on crowdsourced information, the Bluetooth bug is considered to affect most of the iPhone SE models which tend to run iOS 9.3 or 9.3.1 versions irrespective of carrier or model and is for the users in Australia, Canada, Germany, Sweden, UK and US, presently.

Besides the iOS 9.3.2beta release does not seem to resolve the problem. The problem does not seem to be isolated to any particular carmaker since customers have reported similar issues with vehicles sold by various manufacturers. The iPhone SE Bluetooth audio bug is said to affect a variety of in-car infotainment systems from different carmakers, including Audi, BMW, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Dodge, GMC, Ford, Hyundai, Infiniti, Jeep, Kia, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Subaru, Toyota and Volkswagen. Users have informed that they had tried restoring the iPhone SE, resetting network setting, un-pairing and re-pairing Bluetooth, toggling cellular data and changing SIM cards. However, the bug still tends to persist.

Hardware or Software Error - Problem Unknown

Presently, it is unknown whether the problem is due to the hardware or software error. Basic troubleshooting by the users has produced no successful resolution of the problem faced. Some of the users on the forum asserted that the support staff informed them that Apple engineers were aware of the bug and are already working to resolve it.

Some of the users who had got in touch with Apple support by phone state that they had been escalated to higher level iOS advisors who asked for log files. Few of them had received confirmation which Apple engineers were aware of the Bluetooth problem internally and though, attempts in fixing it was being done, the timeline appears to be unclear.