I am not sure if this is a bug, and I do not want to report it until I see some feedback here.
Since iOS 17, and I'm up to 17.3 now, my hearing aids have randomly come either disconnected or unpaired. I'll use them a few days, and then suddenly, they are not connected.
When I look under accessibility/hearing devices, it still shows my aids and says they are not connected, but the full screen with its settings does not appear, nor does the "forget this device" button appear.
If I restart the phone, then I do sometimes, but not always, get the full screen and I can do "forget this device" and attempt to pair again.
But often, the phone refuses to pair, and frequently even when it does, it refuses to connect.
This behavior seems completely random; I can use the aids with the phone for days and not have a problem. Or I can have the problem for an entire week. It is not affected by whether my batteries in either the phone or aids are fully charged. It's not affected by whether or not the phone is connected to power.
Anyone else have this issue? I haven't had this problem with previous versions of iOS.
By Deborah Armstrong, 17 October, 2023
Forum
Apple Hardware and Compatible Accessories
Comments
iOS version?
Might you mean iOS17.0.3?
Firmware
About the time iOS 17 was released my aids' app pushed new firmware to the aids. The release notes did not say a lot but did say mFI support was improved. I know over the years major iOS releases have caused my aids to get firmware updates from time to time. All of this is a long way of asking have ou checked if there is new firmware available for the aids? Some aids can be updated via the app doing it yourself, while others require an audiologist to do it.
Precision matters
I think she meant iOS 17.1 beta 3
By the way, 17.1 RC just dropped, for those who are on the Developer track.
A bit wonky of late
Howdy Deborah,
I have had some somewhat random difficulties with my own hearing aids of late. It happens on a nearly daily basis, but I am not quite certain how to consistently reproduce the problem to prove my point. Here is how it usually shows up...
I wear Oticon Opn S 1 miniRITE hearing aids, circa Spring 2019. They are MfI hearing aids. I also frequently put on AirPods Pro or Beats Flex headphones while my hearing aids are still in place. When I put on other headphones, the hearing aids continue to work for hearing the outside world, but music is sent through the headphones. I do that primarily because I like the ability to move ahead in a playlist and adjust volume without having to grab my iPhone. Now, until recently, as soon as I disconnect the AirPods Pro or the Beats Flex, the streaming would always automatically go back to my hearing aids. That no longer happens each and every time. now, at least once a day, I have to do one or more of the following, one or more times: Reboot the hearing aids, turn off and then turn on VoiceOver, and on rarer occasion, I completely reboot the phone. Now, when this happens, I can still get sound through the phone speakers, but I really prefer not to do that. I really want the streaming of VoiceOver, books and music to seamlessly switch back to my hearing aids, as they have done for years.
I should note that my hearing aids work very well, but they are four years old and I may replace them in the next year or so, in part, to get some of the new features that they offer. Still, it is a minor pain to have to work so hard to get them to reconnect after using the AirPods Pro or the Beats Flex.
Thanks for sharing your observation,
Morgan
Playback Device
Hi Morgan,
After disconnecting the headsets have you checked the Device Playback in Control Center? Perhaps iOS 17 is defaulting to speakers instead of mFI for a time? If changing the playback device in Control Center to mFI fixes the VoiceOver streaming for you without having to do all the reboot steps you can create shortcuts in the Shortcuts app to change playback device destination. I have two buttons on my home screen that call shortcuts defined in the Shortcuts app to switch between mFI and iPhone speakers for just this type of scenario.
Great suggestions
I love creating shortcuts so I'll certainly do that first.
And I messaged my audiologist about firmware. The Ks8 does have a very inaccessible app, so I just used the hearing configuration under settings/accessibility/hearing.
@Morgan, thanks. I do use sleep phones when I'm in bed but I always turn off my aids. Wonder if switching to sleep phones confuses the phone.
And yes, it's iOS 17.0.3.