You’ll see in our iPhone 15 review that we were very impressed with Apple’s flagship phone, but its launch hasn’t gone without a hitch or two – and it looks as though a significant number of people are experiencing Bluetooth issues with the device.
As reported by MacRumors, based on comments on the site’s forums, these Bluetooth problems have been ongoing since the iPhone 15 first went on sale in September 2023. The bulk of the complaints seem to be related to connecting to older Bluetooth devices, including car stereos and headphones.
Users at MacRumors are talking about audio that will “cut out and reconnect” and “frequent disconnects” over Bluetooth. While some of those affected were told that iOS 17 updates would fix the issues, reports have continued to come in even as Apple rolls out new versions of the iPhone software.
What’s more, judging from the user reports it looks like all of the four iPhone 15 models – the iPhone 15, the iPhone 15 Plus, the iPhone 15 Pro, and the iPhone 15 Pro Max – are having the same kind of trouble here.
Finding a fix
It’s difficult to gauge the scale of the iPhone 15 Bluetooth issue: it’s clearly not affecting every iPhone 15, or every Bluetooth device, but a thread on the official Apple support forum has now logged 1,718 people saying “me too”.
According to feedback given to MacRumors, the only way to fix these Bluetooth issues is to request a replacement device from Apple – iPhones come with a one-year warranty as standard. Restarting or resetting the phone, or applying “other typical fixes” doesn’t seem to help in getting Bluetooth working properly.
That certain people are seeing the problem disappear when they get a replacement iPhone 15 suggests that only certain units are faulty. We haven’t heard anything from Apple on the matter at the moment, but it doesn’t take much detective work to figure out that the Bluetooth module or a related setting could be to blame.
It’s also worth saying that Bluetooth issues often come up with multiple devices, so not all of these complaints – of which there are a substantial number, if you run a quick web search – might be the fault of the iPhone 15.
