Mac mini M1 11.2 Bluetooth Issues Seem Worse...

[dubofodin]

I'm out of ideas. My Senior AppleCare rep let out a big sigh today as well.

11.2 brought the promise of Bluetooth reliability. However, for me it seems to maybe getting worse and causing another problem.

My setup for my home office is somewhat simple: M1 mini, ultrawidescreen monitor, 4k vertical monitor, apple magic keyboard/trackpad and either AirPods Pro or Max for conference calls. Whenever I connect my AirPods now, especially my Max, my keyboard and trackpad panic and seem to stutter. Now, my web conferences are going terrible as every participant in either Meet, Teams, Zoom or Webex says it sounds like I'm having a major stutter.

So I erased my disk and reinstalled 11.2. Same issues.

Another problem seems to be getting worse as well and I asked Apple if this may be a culprit... VPN. I use VPN (Cisco Anyconnect) for SAP for my work. When 11.2 dropped I had a major issue right away. I would be on VPN and everything seemed fine. If my Mac went to sleep, or VPN disconnected after a while, my network would go to absolute crap on my Mini either on Ethernet or WiFi. My restore mentioned above seems to have relieved this for the most part. Reinstalling the OS without the disk wipe did no good for me, so I had to go nuclear on the drive. I would also notice headphone performance issues while on VPN, but perhaps I'm just delirious at this point.

Now to make things weirder, I have an M1 MBP that I tried the peripherals mentioned above on and it works just fine. Even with VPN usage.

I don't feel as insane as another Twitter user reached out to me with the same issue with M1 Mini + AirPods Max combo. I purchased Airbuddy 2 today to see if that could help connect my AirPods more reliably. In a way, they do, but they brought new issues to my headphone experience as well. I just can't win

So now Apple seems stumped with support with me. I may just ask for an Express Replacement for my Mini. The engineers when collecting logs from my Mini were great, but I'm sure they won't be happy when they hear that my issues now seem worse.

Sorry for the long rant. Just curious if anyone is in the same boat as myself besides the Twitter user I mentioned.

 

[JohnnyGo]

Get a Bluetooth dongle. Seems to solve 90% of the issues. For now that’s the best we’re gonna get.

Some firmware/software issue on Big Sur and M1 Macs is not right. Not the first time Apple has problems with A chips and Bluetooth

 

[Ybersetzer]

I'm out of ideas. My Senior AppleCare rep let out a big sigh today as well.

11.2 brought the promise of Bluetooth reliability. However, for me it seems to maybe getting worse and causing another problem.

My setup for my home office is somewhat simple: M1 mini, ultrawidescreen monitor, 4k vertical monitor, apple magic keyboard/trackpad and either AirPods Pro or Max for conference calls. Whenever I connect my AirPods now, especially my Max, my keyboard and trackpad panic and seem to stutter. Now, my web conferences are going terrible as every participant in either Meet, Teams, Zoom or Webex says it sounds like I'm having a major stutter.

So I erased my disk and reinstalled 11.2. Same issues.

Another problem seems to be getting worse as well and I asked Apple if this may be a culprit... VPN. I use VPN (Cisco Anyconnect) for SAP for my work. When 11.2 dropped I had a major issue right away. I would be on VPN and everything seemed fine. If my Mac went to sleep, or VPN disconnected after a while, my network would go to absolute crap on my Mini either on Ethernet or WiFi. My restore mentioned above seems to have relieved this for the most part. Reinstalling the OS without the disk wipe did no good for me, so I had to go nuclear on the drive. I would also notice headphone performance issues while on VPN, but perhaps I'm just delirious at this point.

Now to make things weirder, I have an M1 MBP that I tried the peripherals mentioned above on and it works just fine. Even with VPN usage.

I don't feel as insane as another Twitter user reached out to me with the same issue with M1 Mini + AirPods Max combo. I purchased Airbuddy 2 today to see if that could help connect my AirPods more reliably. In a way, they do, but they brought new issues to my headphone experience as well. I just can't win

So now Apple seems stumped with support with me. I may just ask for an Express Replacement for my Mini. The engineers when collecting logs from my Mini were great, but I'm sure they won't be happy when they hear that my issues now seem worse.

Sorry for the long rant. Just curious if anyone is in the same boat as myself besides the Twitter user I mentioned.

Are you on LAN oder WLAN-connection to the internet? If WLAN, are you running a 5Ghz-network from your router? Interference between 2.4 Ghz-WLAN and bluetooth seems to have been a major culprit for 2018-generation Minis.

 

[Gnattu]

A stupid workaround, did you try to put your Mac Mini upside-down and try the bluetooth? Mac Mini's Bluetooth antenna is located at the bottom of the machine, and if your desktop surface is not friendly to radio, it might cause some problem.

 

[Ethosik]

I have had zero Bluetooth issues on my M1 Mac Mini and my 2019 iMac (yes it affects Intel systems too which points to Big Sur problem) once I disabled WiFi.

 

[dubofodin]

Are you on LAN oder WLAN-connection to the internet? If WLAN, are you running a 5Ghz-network from your router? Interference between 2.4 Ghz-WLAN and bluetooth seems to have been a major culprit for 2018-generation Minis.

I am both. I tested both LAN and WLAN. I use an Eero and assume it picks 5Ghz for my mini. I've done workdays with just LAN enabled, and days with WLAN enabled

 

[dubofodin]

I have had zero Bluetooth issues on my M1 Mac Mini and my 2019 iMac (yes it affects Intel systems too which points to Big Sur problem) once I disabled WiFi.

Interesting. I had WiFi shut off last week for testing, I'll try again with 11.2

 

[dubofodin]

A stupid workaround, did you try to put your Mac Mini upside-down and try the bluetooth? Mac Mini's Bluetooth antenna is located at the bottom of the machine, and if your desktop surface is not friendly to radio, it might cause some problem.

Not stupid if it works! I have not. I was thinking of mounting the Mini under my desk, but with all these issues I held off. I'll flip it when I get home and see

 

[dubofodin]

Any one you recommend? I've not had to buy a dongle since my old AF Mac Pro

Get a Bluetooth dongle. Seems to solve 90% of the issues. For now that’s the best we’re gonna get.

Some firmware/software issue on Big Sur and M1 Macs is not right. Not the first time Apple has problems with A chips and Bluetooth

 

[JohnnyGo]

Any one you recommend? I've not had to buy a dongle since my old AF Mac Pro

I’m using the dongle from my Logitech K780. But I guess any $30 dongle will do it

 

[turbineseaplane]

They need to redesign the MM chassis I think

 

[nixx]

MacBook Pro here... 11.2 also did not solve my Bluetooth mouse disconnect Issue. Very frustrating.

 

[nmakk44]

I had BT issues with M1 Mac mini under 11.1 if WIFI was on. After switching off WIFI all worked flawlessly.
I hoped that 11.2 will solve this.

It did not.

It became worse.

Now I cannot use my Magic Mouse even without WIFI. I had to use another mouse with a dongle to be able to work at all...

Very frustrating, indeed.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Very frustrating, indeed.

That's being too kind, honestly.

This bluetooth situation is totally unacceptable.

 

[JohnnyGo]

That's being too kind, honestly.

This bluetooth situation is totally unacceptable.

It would be unacceptable if some BT accessories had issues

It’s a complete ****up when even Apple’s own magic keyboard and mouse have issues connecting with AS Macs.

Who tested these computers prior to release ??? People with cable keyboards and WTF cable mice ????

 

[nmakk44]

It would be unacceptable if some BT accessories had issues

It’s a complete ****up when even Apple’s own magic keyboard and mouse have issues connecting with AS Macs.

Who tested these computers prior to release ??? People with cable keyboards and WTF cable mice ????

I went completely wired for net and keyboard and found the 3rd mouse that works quite ok (with a dongle). Both WIFI and Bluetooth are switched off, awaiting that Apple fixes it for good.

Just to see the good in the bad: At least a good opportunity to dust off one of my mechanical keyboards

 

[shellzj]

I have an M1 Mac mini with 11.2 and am still having some blips in audio playback on my Bose Soundlink Mini. I had already transitioned by Logitech devices back to a dongle (and left them there). The Bose has not died yet, but the occasional cutting in and out is a little annoying.

 

[nmakk44]

Just to confirm -- at least for me 11.2.1 did not solve the BT issue on Mac mini M1.

 

[BobHinden]

I have a Mini (16G/1TB) with the Apple Magic Mouse and Keyboard, now running 11.2.1. I have WIFI enabled (for location services), but my connection to the Internet is via Ethernet. I also have two other Macs (2007 iMac, 2018 MacPro) in the same room with Bluetooth devices attached.

Keyboard has never been an issue, Mouse is better with 11.2. The only issue I have seen recently is that the mouse stops tracking well, if I put it on a different surface the problem goes away. Working fine now on my desk. I suspect this is not a bluetooth issue.

Hope this is helpful.

 

[nmakk44]

with 11.2.3 BT issue seems to be improving. No disconnects anymore. Mouse is lagging sometimes, I cannot identify why that happens, but if it happens, only reboot helps. But that happens with dongle mouses and wired mouses as well, so that is not connected to BT.

 

[haralds]

Big Sur 11.3beta completely resolved my issues. Have not had one BLE issue with that.
It also solved sporadic crashes overnight.

 

[robertjoe]

The Bluetooth issue of Mac Isn't anything new for Mac users. Will we ever get rid of Mac's Bluetooth problem!


However, now it has been possible for me to get rid of this problem. When i faced this BT problem of mac, I was looking for a solution to this problem and I came to this MacRumors forum. I saw someone giving suggestions for using the Hideez dongle for the Bluetooth issue of Mac. That is 4.0 BLE technology and I am dealing with this common problem of Mac by using this dongle.
It's very easy to use. If you are follow the setup instruction, it will be more easy for you.

 

[gradi]

It would be unacceptable if some BT accessories had issues

It’s a complete ****up when even Apple’s own magic keyboard and mouse have issues connecting with AS Macs.

Who tested these computers prior to release ??? People with cable keyboards and WTF cable mice ????

A few weeks ago I bought an M1 iMac 16gb/512gb 12.2.1 and several times the Magic mouse lost connection. The Magic keyboard did too. For that and other reasons I returned it.