Hold it so it doesn't attentuate bluetooth signal. Or, get a proper bluetooth designed case.
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Many iPhone SE Users Experiencing Bluetooth Phone Call Audio Issues [Fixed]
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Hold it so it doesn't attentuate bluetooth signal. Or, get a proper bluetooth designed case.
First off, the thickness of the device has jack all impact on whether it has Bluetooth Low Power. The thickness can be directly correlated to battery size, yes, and battery life is a consideration of BLP. But beyond that, the chipset actually used has been the same size and had the same (IC-alone) power consumption for several years now. The iPhone 5s also has Bluetooth 4.0 (which includes LP); the Bluetooth 4.1 "updates" are purely software/firmware improvements over the same BT hardware.
But, secondly, this issue has nothing to do with Bluetooth Low Power. There are VERY FEW actual Bluetooth Low Power devices in the field, and I'd bet nearly NONE of these car systems and headsets/headphones these folks complaining about distorted audio are using Bluetooth Low Power. They're all probably Bluetooth 2 or Bluetooth 3, and not even Bluetooth 4 protocol devices. But NONE of that should matter, as the chipsets Apple is using--and HAS been using--are supposed to be backwards compatible. So, where does that leave us?
Pretty simply, MOST iPhone users are NEW to the Bluetooth game. They're just now getting Bluetooth equipped cars and/or discovering newer/better wireless headset/headphones. However SOME of us have been using, or rather trying to use Bluetooth devices with iPhones for years now. Go ask some of THESE people how Bluetooth on iPhone has been. I have been using Bluetooth on iPhone since the iPhone had Bluetooth. I'm hearing impaired. I have a DRAWER filled with Jawbones, Jabras, Plantronics, Motos, etc. I have used Bluetooth headsets and headphones on every model iPhone Apple has shipped, and nearly iOS version, as well as Bluetooth on the Mac. What I can tell you is this: Apple doesn't give a **** about Bluetooth quality. Or at least they haven't. And the quality problems are both a result of physical design (antenna) and busted operating system/firmware updates. I RUE every time Apple drops an iOS update because I KNOW (now, effects of history and all) that there is a very high probably my Bluetooth experience is going to start to suck and I'll get stuck with it until Apple decides at their leisure to fix it. That's why my iPhone 5s is STILL on 8.4. It "works" (mostly) with my current headsets (Plantronics M100). I NEVER (and I mean NEVER) speak on my iPhone without a headset, and I talk A LOT on the phone. I'm very experienced with this. I have spent HOURS over the years interfacing with Apple over Bluetooth issues, so do not take it lightly when I say Apple doesn't give a ****. You want proof? Look no further than the early reported issues with the Apple Watch and connectivity with the iPhone, which was using Bluetooth. Apple learned real quick how broken their Bluetooth system was. AppleCare would swear up and down it was everything including sun spots (seriously) wrong with my Bluetooth experience, except their phones. But after I started "collecting" a nice collection of various devices, including iPhones and Androids, on various different iOS releases, I was able to affirmatively test. I could PINPOINT when a headset on a particular iPhone of a particular iOS version would be a failure, vs same device on different iOS would be fine. I could test same headset on an Android device with no issues. That's when Apple just stopped talking to me. Go look at the forums on the Jawbone site (if they haven't scrubbed them already), and read between the lines. Aliph was trying to work with Apple, but by iPhone 4/5 and iOS 6/7, Bluetooth problems had become so pervasive on the iPhone that Jawbone support basically threw their hands up. They had nothing TO say, because they couldn't trash Apple openly without jeopardizing their relationship WITH Apple (can't bite a hand that feeds!). Time and again, Jawbone and Apple would point fingers at one another, but I could take a "distorted" headset and 4 times out of 5 pair it to another iPhone or Android phone and it would work fine. Then I'd put the device in a drawer, wait for an iOS update or two, and try again...BINGO, worked fine then. Meanwhile, Aliph support was to the point of telling users to sacrifice chickens and stand on their heads to get better sound quality. It was wishful-thinking support because they knew they couldn't do anything to make Apple improve Bluetooth, only buy time.
As I mentioned, now that Apple intro'd the Apple Watch, Bluetooth has gotten somewhat better. It had to. The next "shoe to drop" will be Beats wireless headphones. Apple won't be able to skate on poor Bluetooth quality once they're selling both ends of the experience. But right now, they lie through their teeth, and many people flat out don't think Bluetooth works because their only experience with it is with a poorly-implemented Apple device. That's shameful. Bluetooth works fine when the devices are designed and implemented properly. Apple isn't doing the work.
From my experience, if I had to guess what is causing these problems, I'd point the finger to Apple's antennas and, more specifically, how they're power tuning them. Often, when experiencing audio distortion if I turned off and then back on the Bluetooth radio, the distortion would magically disappear; that led me to believe that the software that monitors power output and interference had gone wonky and driving the radio's output power too high causing clipping (and then distortion through packet loss). With so much radio emission coming from such a small device, Apple needs to REALLY be conscientious about the tuning and interference. And I think it is likely a fool's errand: you tune for Bluetooth, it affects Wi-Fi or cellular, so Bluetooth just loses out. However, I don't let Apple off the hook; because they usually EVENTUALLY get it right, which means they COULD HAVE gotten it right from the very beginning if they'd spent the time and effort to do so. Therefore, we shouldn't be so quick to let them off the hook on these things. We -should- have higher expectations. I'm not saying some of these car systems and headsets might not be crap; but I am saying Apple disproportionately deserves the blame for most of these problems. Further, Apple, as the operating system maker AND the hardware maker, is the ONLY PERSON in the chain who could do a better job of writing code that could give the user a better idea what is going on! And the Bluetooth stacks ALLOW that, Apple just doesn't do it. Why is there no tool available from Apple to test a Bluetooth connection? Certainly a user could be instructed by Ford to download a Bluetooth Troubleshooting app, and test, right? Apple has to provide that. They don't. In their hubris, their stuff is perfect and never in need of troubleshooting. "It just works." Releasing diagnostic tools IN AND OF ITSELF is an admission of failure. Apple doesn't fail. AppleCare doesn't even have the tools to diagnose a non-functional Bluetooth or Wi-Fi RADIO! (And I've seen hardware failures of ALL the radio parts and antennas.) Basically, you could have a defective product, but from Apple's perspective you didn't buy that iPhone for ALL of it to work, just some nebulous "It turns on and runs apps". There is no "official" testing plan for pass testing Bluetooth on an iPhone. Seriously. I don't think anyone should need any more evidence than that that Apple doesn't give a ****.
^ yet they have fixed the issue in latest firmware. So your statement that they don't give a **** is fallacious.
They don't test appropriately BEFORE shipping the product and operating system. They don't admit to flaws AFTER shipping the product and operating system, and how many months now has iOS 9.3.0 been available? (And these issues pre-date 9.3.0.) They only finally FIX the issues, or rather, ADDRESS (which doesn't necessary mean "fix") after a critical mass of public outcry, AKA SHAME. I've seen the Bluetooth distorted audio issue hitting automobile sites, and I've talked to two auto dealers locally who hit me up (professionally, as tech consulting is my gig) asking about the problem. Apple didn't proactively "fix" it, they lied and have strung along thousands of folks who bought their product on the assumption it already worked and was expertly designed. That the issue was addressed via a software update, again, proves it could have been done right from the get go, IF Apple had cared enough to get it right from the get go. Obviously they didn't. And then they cared so little that they've lied and dishonestly suggested to users that it was not their Apple product at fault but instead their automobile system or headset at fault (which then caused problems for car dealerships and manufacturers). Even in the release notes, Apple says the issue only affects the iPhone SE, which just HAPPENS to be the latest device they've shipped, as if to say other devices aren't affected (when they have been), and lends credence to your narrative that this was just something that popped up since the last firmware version. Simply untrue.
My statement was "fallacious"? You hold an ironic definition of that word.
How many bluetooth devices are out there? I am 100% certain they test their devices as much as one can expect before releasing them. No way can they test it out on every bluetooth device out there before releasing a product. This is why they have updates and bug fixes and beta testing but you can't fix problems before you know they exist.
Be sure to update here if the audio distortion re-emerges. In the past, I have had a similar issue, where quality would be fine after reboot but then degrade after uptime. Some magic combination of rebooting the iPhone and headset would then be required. Lather, rinse, repeat.
Does anyone else still have Bluetooth issues after 9.3.2 update? The distorted audio issue was resolved but I now have an issue where the iPhone SE at times can't connect to my car HandsFree (Parrot MKi9200). Every time I've had a call it disconnects and won't easily re-connect. Other mobiles (ie. any Android mobile) work absolutely fine with no issues at all so this must be iPhone related. When I have a moment I will test with my old iPhone 4S to see if that has the same issue (in case this is related to the BTLE 4.2 hardware/software in the iPhone SE)
Just to add some data, I have an iphone SE that has/had the bluetooth audio issue even after updating to 9.3.3 Verizon had me do a reset network network settings, which didn't seem to work. Verizon then had me do two things, first was change cellular settings>cellular data options>Enable LTE for data ONLY. Second was to do a restore iphone while synced up to iTunes. The restore downloads and installs the latest OS (9.3.3 as of today) even though my troublesome iphone said it was already on 9.3.3. At this point, the garbled audio thru bluetooth audio issue seems to be fixed.
Well, I made the above post to quickly. The garbled sound came back, but with a different sound. It sounded like I was inhaling helium and inside a tin box. Legible but certainly not right. Finally called Apple and they had me do the complete reset of the phone. The difference is I did not restore from a backup after the reset was complete. Now, after 3 days, the fix has stuck. While the phone sounds great phone to phone, it still isn't perfect on bluetooth but it is close to what I would call normal and perfectly legible. This leads me to believe the whole issue is software related but past that, I have no guess as to what is actually causing the issues with bluetooth audio.
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[doublepost=1472226528][/doublepost]Well, what I said above is still correct, kinda. Audio over bluetooth is still not particularly good. Working with a senior tech rep has produced no further changes and the changes that "stuck" have come partly unstuck.
Basically the bluetooth audio on the SE is not very good at all. Buyers beware.
I'm on 9.3.5 here. Brrr....rrr....ttz... from the bluetooth audio. Only the random really bad quaity is fixed but the general quality is still bad compared to my old iPhone 5S.
An no, apple for the 100th time, it's not the car. Other phones work fine. And yes, I did a restore.