Bad Bluetooth sound quality iOS 12

[Mixpower]

Plan

Premium

Device

iPhone Xs Max

Operating System

iOS 12

My Question or Issue

Received my Xs Max today and when I use Spotify to playback in my BMW i3 via bluetooth the quality is really bad, I guess it is a IOS12 issue.

It sounds like the music is very clear and then muffled and then clear again, and the quality sounds like a 128kbps track very noisy and not clear and bright like normal!

I have tried offline tracks and streaming but it doesn't change anything, also changing the settings to low and back to high does not fix the problem.

Hope you can resolve this issue in a soon to release update!

EDIT: With the Music app I have the same problem, also tested it with a iPhone SE and 6S with iOS 12 and that works fine. So the issue is with the Xs Max itself!

[Mixpower]

Hey everyone,

We recommend that you get in touch with Apple regarding this. For any other questions or issues, feel free to create a new topic and we'll make sure to help you out. 

All the best!

[Jemi]

Hey @Mixpower,

Have you tried re-pairing the bluetooth connection? Also, does this happen if you try with an AUX cable, or just regular headphones? 

We suggest that you do a clean reinstall and see if that helps. 

Keep us updated 🙂

[DanteOne]

That problem sounds like mine, I got an iPhone X with iOS 12 and a new Mercedes A-Class.

The sound over BT jumps between muffled and clear, but its not only Spotify but also any other music-apps like Apple Music or SoundCloud. So if its the same with the music app for you, I guess its some problem with our phones. The sound is perfect if I stream Spotify over the USB-cable to my car and the sound over the cars radio is also fine.

I still have to test another phone to sort out if its a problem with the iPhone or the BT connection but at least in my case im pretty sure its not Spotify.

[Motard]

I also have the same issue. iPhone 8, iOS 12. Streaming through Bluetooth to a BMW with iDrive. The audio quality cycles between nice and clear, and muffled. Doesn't matter if the songs are downloaded or not. It doesn't seem nearly as prevelent in the Apple (downloaded) music. 

[DanteOne]

Check cable connection and other apps like Podcasts or Youtube.

[Mixpower]

I now have my 3rd iPhone Xs Max (due to cosmetic issues) and it still has the same problem with Bluetooth, so it is clearly a software issue combined with the Bluetooth 5.0 . I hope Apple fixes this soon in a coming update, looking at all the reception issues I read about this may also be related with the antenna's.

[Jemi]

Hey folks,

If reinstalling/re-pairing the bluetooth devices doesn't work, try with other services and see if the same thing happens. If it does, it's most likely something that has to be taken up with Apple. 

Keep us posted about this and we'll help as much as we can 🙂

[DanteOne]

Reinstalling/re-pairing the bluetooth devices doesn't work. I have the same problem with soundcloud and apple music so I guess its not a spotify-problem.

[Shuin]

Same thing happens to me with my iPhone 8 iOS 12

but it might be due to bandwidth changes due to your 4G ? i have noticed that for crystal clear audio i have to have at 4 bars of reception or spotify will "downgrade" music quality to avoid pausing to do some buffering.

[Mixpower]

Nope, only happens with Spotify but also the Music app itself playing local music from the iPhone. It really is a problem with iOS12 combined with Bluetooth 5.0!

[DanteOne]

Its not like the quality gets worse, its more like the highs are getting cutted by a filter. Quality in low/mid stays the same.

I only have the problem while streaming music to my Mercedes A-Class with every music app on my iphone.

I dont have the problem when using my Bose QC35 II or my Sony SRS-XB31

[Michey24]

I have the same problem with my iPhone X and iOS 12 and the bluetooth of my Mercedes C-Class : '( It's really unbearable

[rossmilner]

Exactly the same problem a lot of people are having. It's an iOS 12 bug nothing to do with Spotify.

https://www.reddit.com/r/iOSBeta/comments/8wxo86/bug_is_anybody_else_experiencing_audio_quality/

I have Audi A4 SE Tecknik 2015 and the bass pops all the time and sound quality is awful through the Music app on iPhone XS Max. Also tested on iPhone 7 and it's the same. I actually took my car back to Audi as I thought the sound system was faulty at first but they found no problems with the Audi sound system when doing a wide range frequency test.

I have reported the bug to Apple via Bug Reporter. They got back to me and asked for iPhone sysdiagonse logs so I have done that for them. If enough people do the same and complain they might release a fix.

[runexnilsen]

After thorough testing it seems it is a general issue with the iOS 12 update, recurring across all iPhones on different apps.. sounds like the bitrate is lowered to prevent loss of connection. 

[Jainlight]

runexnilsen is correct. I had the problem almost immediately upon downloading iOS 12, playing music files -- not streaming -- in my car on my iPhone 7. As others have noted, it isn't that the music was distorted all the time, but sometimes at different volumes and combinations of treble and bass. I didn't have the problem at al playing the same files off my MacBook. I downgraded my iPhone back to iOS 11.4 (which I gather can no longer be done) and the problem disappeared as instantly as it had appeared. It's certainly some combination of iOS 12 and Bluetooth that causes the problem. If anyone should find the problem improves with a subsequent update of 12, I'd love to hear about it, as I imagine others would as well. Thanks.

[Jainlight]

Following up on the above: I had a chat with an Apple Tech Adviser last night who claimed that the new iOS 12.0.1 may resolve Bluetooth issues beyond just the stated "connectivity" problem. If anyone in this conversation finds that their music playback is improved by the new update, can you please post it? Thanks.

[Danjonesuk]

I had an IPhone 8 Plus work fine for a year with various Bluetooth devices:

2 x Bose Headsets

B&W headphones

C Class W205 Burmeister Sound System

Upon upgrading to IOS 12 I noticed this issue straight away in my car, trebel sounds fading in and out every 20 seconds or so, really irritating...

Checked the internet and noticed this appears to be an IOS issue.

It does this on ITunes music also...

I Reported to apple several times, after a full hard reset via iTunes and upgrading to IOS 12.0.1 today, unpairing and re-pairing Bluetooth connections with my car, this issue still remains.. 😞

The strange thing is, I only notice this in my car, so it must be related to a Bluetooth profile it uses or something.

Please all escalate this to apple.

Apple intialy told me my Bluetooth device was wearing out and to get a new device or contact manufacturer 🙂 I then said people are rolling back to IOS 11 and all is fixed, they were then offering to call me tomorrow and run some diagnostics on my phone.

I will keep you all updated on how this works out.

Dan

[Jainlight]

Thanks for your post, Dan.  As I indicated in my previous two posts, I'm having a problem very similar to yours, which presented itself immediately in my car (but nowhere else) with the download of 12 and then immediately went away when I reverted to 11.4.  Very sorry to hear that apparently the new upgrade of 12.0.1 isn't resolving things.

[runexnilsen]

We have created a ticket at the support community, so i would appreciate if you could take 1 minute to stop by and leave a comment to bump this up so that apple gets it fixed..

https://discussions.apple.com/message/34004895

Thanks, Rune 

[Jainlight]

Rune,

Thanks for creating this ticket. Unfortunately I've tried to get onto this page to no avail; I keep getting messages about too many "redirects," no matter how many different ways I try. I do notice, however, other community threads similar to ours raising the same issue.