Powerbeats Pro and iPhone 4

[yukari]

Has anyone successfully used Powerbeats Pro with iPhone 4?

I use iPhone 4 just for music and podcasts. I can connect to iPhone 4 with Music app. But I can hear sound for just one song. Whenever it "jumps" to the next song, it plays but no sound is heard through Powerbeats Pro.

I have no problem with my XR, it is only with iPhone 4. I'm assuming it has to do with iPhone 4's Bluetooth being v. 2.1???

 

[7thson]

I can’t speak to the iPhone 4, but I have experienced what seems like a lost connection with Powerbeats Pro when connected to my Apple watch. A track will just stop playing apparently, but according to the watch display it’s still playing. Finally figured out the volume inexplicably turned down to 0 through no interaction from me. Maybe check the volume on your iPhone 4 when it says the song is playing but there is no audio.

 

[yukari]

thanks for your suggestion. I will try that

 

[yukari]

Nope. Did not work. The volume remains the same. The sound just disappears after one song and I have to disconnect and reconnect to get sound back on powerbeats pro.

My guess is powerbeats pro requires at least iOS 12 to work properly. Since iPhone 4 can only upgrade to iOS 7, it does not work well with powerbeats pro.

 

[7thson]

It’s likely a compatibility issue since the two devices are so far apart in age, but Bluetooth is supposed to be backwards compatible. Maybe this setup is asking too much. I’d be interested to see if you could replicate the bug using another audio app, maybe podcasts or a streaming music app, but you might have a hard time finding an app that supports iOS 7. Aside from the native Podcasts app, that is.

 

[yukari]

Well. I tried a streaming app (iHeart radio) and that works fine.
But when I tried to change it to podcast, the sound goes away. Every time I tried to play the next podcast, it loses the sound.

It must be not compatible with old iOS. I know all bluetooth is suppose to be backward compatible, but for some reason Powerbeats Pro does not play well with older iOS. Streaming is fine as long as there is no "gap" in playing.

 

[7thson]

Yep. Sounds like iOS is the culprit. Obvious question, but you’ve force restarted the iPhone 4, yeah? There is a way to clear the memory iOS 7 without rebooting but I don’t remember the process.

 

[yukari]

Yes, i did a hard reset.

 

[7thson]

Figured. Maybe you can upgrade to an iPod touch or an Apple Watch, if your finances allow. Series 4 and 5 come standard with 16gb of storage in gps and lte models. Series 3 are 8 & 16gb respectively for gps and lte. It’s working pretty good for me, but the upload times for local music/podcasts/etc are very slow. Best done overnight while charging.

 

[yukari]

So update to this weird saga...

I paired my Powerbeats Pro with my original iPad (iOS 5.1.1) and it works fine.

It seems to have problem with only iPhone 4 with iOS 7.1.x