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It’s been 4 years, signal bars over BlueTooth still do not update.

iammike1

iammike1

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 25, 2007
806
53
O'fallon IL
Back in the day, pre-Intel modems, your phone could be connected to your car and the signal level would be displayed on the cars infotainment (if the car supported the option) and would update.

When Intel modems became a thing in iPhones, people noticed it stopped working. It was blamed on a missing capability related to the Intel modem if I recall correctly.

Now here we are, back to Qualcomm modems…but it is still broken, at least for me.

This problem has spanned across 4 cars from 3 different manufacturers, multiple versions of iOS and multiple iPhones, as well as multiple reset and restores as well as clean wipes from the Mac and setup as new.

The only times I’ve seen the signal bars update over BT in the car is A: you turn the screen on, unlocking not required. Just tap the screen and the signal display will update in the car. B: if someone is using the personal or instant hotspot on my iPhone, even if the screen is off, signal will update as long as someone is connected to the hotspot.

It’s a small thing but it annoys me that this is still a thing 4 years later. Is this still a common problem for people?
 
Martyimac said:
Not for me on iP12's. I always have 1 bar when I leave the house, I have seen my cars screen update while looking at it when my phone is still in my pocket.
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I dunno, can’t figure it out. I’m one of “those guys” who’s had every iPhone gen so I’m on the iPhone 12. Been going on since, 2017 I want to say. In those 4 years I’ve been on Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile. I’ve used the phone in 3 different Mazdas, a Chevrolet, and a Dodge. I’ve even done complete wipes through the Mac (so it actually downloads and installs a fresh copy of iOS) and setup as new. Nothing I do seems to fix it.
 
iammike1 said:
I dunno, can’t figure it out. I’m one of “those guys” who’s had every iPhone gen so I’m on the iPhone 12. Been going on since, 2017 I want to say. In those 4 years I’ve been on Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile. I’ve used the phone in 3 different Mazdas, a Chevrolet, and a Dodge. I’ve even done complete wipes through the Mac (so it actually downloads and installs a fresh copy of iOS) and setup as new. Nothing I do seems to fix it.
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Luck of the draw? Magic? Who knows.
 
Well, thanks for the input all. I'm more determined, and perplexed, than ever to figure out the "why" of my problem. I'd blame the car except this has been an issue for me over 3 different car brands.
 
I can also confirm that on our Nissan Rogue via bluetooth the signal strength changes as we drive. (An iPhone 11 and an iPhone SE 2nd gen. for what its worth).
 
2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee (Uconnect infotainment system) and iPhone SE (2020). Works fine with my combination. IIRC, it worked with my iPhone 6S, too?
 
Well, today I tried both a full reset of all settings and didn't set anything back up before testing and still, no update of signal bars. Also switched back to a regular SIM card instead of running off of eSIM.

I'm really at a loss. This problem has existed over multiple phones, multiple carriers, multiple clean resets and setups, multiple cars from multiple manufacturers. It makes absolutely no sense to me at all at this point.
 
Confirming my 12 Pro works and updates signal strength on my car’s screen, connected by Bluetooth while I’m driving 2021 Subaru.
 
I swear to God Android and iOS have the worst Bluetooth connections I've ever seen. Most of the times it will force headset profille depending on the make and model of the car while freakin webOS Palm Pre 3 and Balckberry 10 will connect with proper music player profile all the freakin time.
 
iPhone 11 Pro Max and MBUX via Bluetooth here, works as intended (Signal updates without any phone usage).
 
Kept my eyes peeled on the HUD of my car today and the signal bars jumped around left and right cause of no signal hell and signal strength varying in general. I tried it 15mins with music playback and 15mins with no active playback, worked with both scenarios.

iOS 15b6 / iPhone 11 Pro Max
 
Well, this is obviously a rare problem that is somehow caused by an app I have installed or something else completely weird.

The more I've thought about it, it's def something with the phone because if someone is connected to my hotspot on the phone, it updates the signal in the car just fine. It's only when screen is off and no one is on hotspot that the signal never updates.

Ugghhh, honestly, I dunno and I'm out of ideas.
 
Welp, had time today so I did a complete iOS reinstall from scratch using the Mac instead of just a Reset on the iPhone. Still doesn't work. lol I give up.
 
The only thing I can think of is do you keep your phone in Low Power Mode? If so, maybe LPM is preventing the signal bars from updating over BT while the screen is asleep? If not, then I'm at a loss also, as the bars update in both my car and my wife's.
 
NoGood@Usernames said:
The only thing I can think of is do you keep your phone in Low Power Mode? If so, maybe LPM is preventing the signal bars from updating over BT while the screen is asleep? If not, then I'm at a loss also, as the bars update in both my car and my wife's.
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Nope, no LPM or anything like that. It's such a strange problem seeing as it will update as soon as the screen turns on or if someone is using my hotspot it will keep updating the signal bars the whole time even if the screen is off. Those are the only 2 scenarios I'm aware of that will cause the signal bars to update.
 
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