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bluetooth - wireless issues with samsung S4 due to Android 4.2.2 ?

Just upgraded to an S4 over the weekend, and with 20 minutes of using it to stream music to bluetooth speaker, the WIFI gets corrupted. Have been using my Droid Bionic for this for 2 years with no problems.

Searching various forums I find 1000's of posts from people saying that as soon as they get an Android 4.2.2 device, or they old devices get updated to 4.2.2, this happens and there must be a bug in the 4.2.2 bluetooth stack.

Very disappointing, as I use bluetooth and wifi together all the time.

Verizon support has no ideas.

I'm thinking I just have to return the S4 and go back to my old Bionic, since there's no indication of when this is going to get resolved.

Anybody have any hope for this?

Comments

Verizon_Support

Thanks for providing your feedback to us, kwinton.

You mentioned that the WiFi get "corrupted" after streaming music via bluetooth? What exactly happens?

Once I can get more details we can test it to get a resolution for you. You seem like music lover like myself and I want to see what can be done to make this right.

Tamara H.

Follow us on Twitter @VZWSupport

kwinton

When using my S4 to stream music via WIFI to a bluetooth speaker, withing 15 minutes the WIFI connection becomes unusable and I have to turn WIFI off and back on (or reboot the phone) to get it to work again. This occurs every time when using WIFI and bluetooth together. We have four old android phones in our house, and four android tables. Any device that gets updated to android 4.2.2 instantly has this problem...any device not on 4.2.2, or the same device *before* it is update to 4.2.2, has no problem. We also have three different bluetooth devices, and it occurs regardless of which one is used. We have had to send two tables back to the mfg. (twice each), and the problem is only fixed when the vendor installs their old version of android prior to 4.2.2. There are 1000's of posts on various forums across many devices reporting this problem with 4.2.2, and unless you can put a prior release on the S4, I fear you can't fix it and I will just have return my phone and keep using my old Bionic. Very disappointing.

mojoseppi

I am also having issues recently bluetooth headset lg tones I have been using everyday at gym working perfectly fine. Now whenever I connect a bluetooth device the phone device volume is reduced to almost nothing . I have also noticed once you turn off bluetooth and turn phone off and back on turns volume on device back on.this is very frustrating and is making me miss calls text and or notifications.

Verizon_Support

Thanks for the additional information, mojoseppi. I can just imagine how frustrating it must be. Did you recently update the software on your device?

TamaraH_VZW

Follow us on Twitter @VZWSupport

mojoseppi

I have recently upgraded to 4.3 android version. I really been doing some research and seems to be a problem for most people with galaxy ,even from past models of any galaxy upgrading to new software. So Again regardless of any Bluetooth device, my Honda car , Motorola , lg tones , it doesn't matter the results are the same once connected to phone, all the phone volume is reduced or turned off and almost muted. Phone calls will sometimes work but all media/music or notifications sound will not come through Bluetooth. You have to physically turn phone off and back on to reinstate the volume on device. Now when i say volume on device....... I mean everything ex: keyboard key tap sound , screen lock sound , notification ringtone, ringtone, also instead of speaker being used for music or media ex:sound watching movie on device all sound is routed through top ear speaker and is very faint, not through rear speaker of phone like previously! I have played process of elimination in store and at home, ex; different Bluetooth..... I tried getting replacement phone, still does same thing , factory reset all phones still does it so its not device and not the Bluetooth.

dgporter

I've got the same issue on a brand new Galaxy s4. Took it back to Best Buy. Best Buy tech replaced the phone and I made him demonstrate the bluetooth working before I left the store. It worked. Then I came home and set my phone up, downloaded apps and tried the bluetooth again. Now it doesn't work (on second phone). Perhaps it's an app that is interfering with bluetooth, but I'm loath to remove all apps and add them one at a time to see which one.

SEAYAH

Is this a problem with Galaxi 4 only. I'm about to upgrade and I use the Bluetooth all the time.

Verizon_Support

No issues are noted for Bluetooth with the Galaxy S4 SEAYAH! However, some third party applications may conflict with Bluetooth performance. I recommend upgrading to your new phone and install your third party applications one at a time and test your Bluetooth profiles for a couple hours before next install. This will help you identify conflicting applications (if any).

AntonioC_VZW

Follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/VZWSupport

TamaraH_VZW

I just wanted to follow up, kwinton.

The sofware team was able to test several devices with different bluetooth speakers, but they weren't able to reproduce what you have experienced. What Bluetooth speaker are you having a problem with?

TamaraH_VZW

302Stang

This is truly insane, I cannot believe the Verizon rep is telling you they know of "no" issues.

DO NOT UPGRADE TO 4.3. DON'T-DO-IT!

There are uncountable thousands of people having problems with WIFI and Bluetooth after the 4.3 upgrade. Just search here and you'll see many threads to that effect.

If you "Google" you will find many more threads from around the world with people experiencing problems post-4.3 upgrade.

DO NOT UPGRADE (for as long as you can; eventually it will be forced on you and there is a better than average chance you will join we minions of S4 customers with ZOMBIE phones. Not alive and fully functional, but not quite dead either).

You are warned...

Sunz139

I have recently purchased an S4 and post the upgrade, I had the same issue with Bluetooth and a very new car. None of the repair apps worked and I was out of ideas. I tried one last thing that appears to work for me.

Turn on Bluetooth

Go into setting and then click more

Click application manager

Scroll to the right to running applications

Select Bluetooth share

This will open up a variety of services within the Bluetooth process and application. I began to stop several of these individually but made sure to leave on a2dp. I am still fine tuning exactly which needs to be shut down, however this allowed me to connect a variety of applications and the disconnect issue seems to have gone away.

You will need to do this each time you activate Bluetooth but seems to solve the issue (at least until the next version is released)

TamaraH_VZW

Thanks for that information, Sunz139.

Do you mind me asking what type of car you have (make/model/year)? I want to be able to forward this information to the software team.

TamaraH_VZW

Reneplante

I am having a similar issue with my Galaxy S4. I have two strap on heart rate monitors that worked fine with my iPhone but the GAlaxy S4 does not recognize them. I have upgraded to 4.3 but still no positive results. I also have a Nikon WU-1a wifi transmitter for my camera. with my Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 it works fine and transfers the photos from the camera to the tablet however with my Galaxy S4 it sees the WU-1a but it said there is not sufficient signal strength to operate and terminates the connection even though the devices are sitting right next to each other. What's being done to correct this.

Reneplante

I contacted Samsung Chat this morning and after the discussion about the Galaxy S4 not working with my heart rate monitor and my Nikon WU-1a wifi transmitter I was told that the S4 was not designed to work with the blue tooth and wifi devices even though other products like my Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 does work with them. So basically she said that there is no solution with the S4.

Reneplante

I contacted Samsung Support this morning and after a lengthy chat I was told that the S4 does not support wifi or most other bluetooth devices like my exercises heart rate monitor even though my Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 does support them.And yes I did upgrade (sic) to the 4.3 version

trkrhelp

I have a Galaxy S4 and after the upgrade to 4.3 my Bluetooth doesn't work with my music, the phone starts playing music after my primary phone (an iPhone 5) hangs up from a call and the phone has become mostly useless. This is a major problem with the Galaxy S4 and I would advise against purchasing one until Samsung or Verizon gets this straightened out. We obviously have a serious glitch in the phones software somewhere. I tried the suggestion above for starting it in safe mode but that was no help. I purchased this to be my main phone and replace my iPhone - I'm now back to using the iPhone as my primary phone as the Galaxy simply does not work adequately to be usable as a primary phone.

VERIZON - anyone home? Anyone listening. I have a $650/mo account, and we have two Galaxy phones that are mostly useless, are causing missed calls and other issues for us. You need to RECALL these defective phones or offer those who were duped into purchasing them a free upgrade to something that works!

JBHall2012

About a week ago, my Motorola Oasis Bluetooth headset started acting up with my Galaxy S4 runing v4.3 Android. I would either make or answer calls with the headset enabled and a few seconds into the call, the phone drops into speaker mode but the headset "button" is still enabled even though the headset was not working. I can push the Speaker and Headset "buttons" to get the headset back, but not always. More often than not, I'm stuck in Speaker mode.

This morning I was on a call without the headset and it "magically" dropped into speaker mode. I made sure to notice that I hadn't touched the screen with my fingers or cheek, so I know that is not the problem.

I'm starting to think there is something wrong with the phone application and not the headset. But the problem manifests itself most often with the headset. I have rebooted the phone and re-paired the headset with the phone, but I cannot get this odd behavior to stop. Based on what I've read here, this is not an isolated issue with Bluetooth.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Verizon_Support

Hello JBHall2012. Sorry to hear of the Bluetooth issues that you are experiencing with your S4 and the Oasis headset. We want to see you being able to get the most from your phone, and your accessories. Not sure if you have, but have you tried the helpful tip that Sunz139 suggested? Let us know if this helps!

Thank you JBHall2012, Sunz139, and everyone that has contributed!

NicandroN_VZW

VZW Support

Please follow us on twitter @VZWSupport

JBHall2012

I'll give that a try.

In the meantime. I saw this behavior yesterday at the hotel I'm staying. When the hotel wireless required a new logon, my Bluetooth headset dropped. If I shut off Wi-Fi I seemed to be fine. However, later in the day, I made a call without my Bluetooth headset and with the Wi-Fi off and the phone would occasionally drop into Speaker mode.

Reneplante

Duplicate post - please see:

https://community.verizonwireless.com/message/1060738#1060738

Message was edited by: Admin Moderator

Verizon_Support

Thanks, JBHall2012!

What happened when you tested it? Keep us posted.

TamaraH_VZW

Follow us on Twitter @VZWSupport

bjromaine

I too am having horrible difficulties with my newly purchased Verizon S4. It will not connect to anything. I have tried many applications via bluetooth in my car, which is a 2013 Hyundai Santa Fe. Also one application, MyPhoneExplorer will not connect to the phone via USB, Bluetooth or WiFi.

All these apps worked fine on my previous HTC Rezound including the car.

It is shameful that Samsung is selling this product without proper support. I contacted Samsung a few times and they are very polite BUT not able to resolve the problem.

Another S4 problem is the fact Samsung states apps less than 1G cannot be located on the external memory card. How many apps are out there with 1G or greater required? Not many at all. On top of that, I was going to buy a 32G S4 but alas, none were available anywhere.....

I am so very disappointed that I followed the sales persons encouragement to buy this phone, It is very restrictive, most "special features" are non functional or useless and the standard things like bluetooth, wifi, etc are not properly supported.

Huge disappointment. I was actually going to purchase a HTC One but was persuaded to buy the S4. My bad for trusting the sales person.

Reneplante

I spoke with a Samsung representative and mentioned the WiFi and Blue Tooth problems I was having . He said he understood and that within a few weeks Version 4.4 will be released and correct the problems with the S4...we will see

shadyridr

Just bought my S4 two weeks ago. I cannot pair it with my 2014 Subaru Forester. I also just bought a bluetooth speaker (JBL Charge). Paired my iPad with it in 5 seconds yet my S4 cannot find it. This is beyond frustrating. Thankfully I have 90 days to return this piece of junk.

Verizon_Support

Hi shadyridr!

Let's see if we can figure this out for you! Please follow these steps to see if we can get this resolved for you:

1) Unpair the phone/car from phone2) Delete the phone from the car kit`s internal memory3) Power cycle the phone4) Turn the car off and back on5) Repair the devices and re-test

Keep us posted, thanks!

ChristinaB_VZW

VZW Support

Follow us on Twitter @VZWSupport

Sleuth694

I have spoken with 4 VZW Techs and 2 Samsung Techs about not being able to get my Plantronics M50 or my Jabra BT135 to work properly after pairing them to my new S4 Mini. None of these Techs knew or admitted knowing that there was a Bluetooth issue with the S4 Mini. I was told each time that both earpieces were apparently not compatible with the S4 Mini. Both were being used on Samsung phones with no issues prior to the S4 Mini. One VZW Tech told me that I should go to a Verizon Store or another retail store and try out various earpieces until I found one that works. That's convenient! From what I have gathered from this thread and other posts elsewhere there is a problem with the OS and that until there is an update the issue will continue. In my state (Illinois) we have a law that prohibits operation of a cell phone while driving unless you are hands free. Does anyone actually know of a Bluetooth earpiece that actually works with the S4 Mini?

Verizon_Support

Sleuth694, it's the law here too as we're located in Illinois, as well. The Samsung S4 Mini device is bluetooth compatible. Since you attempted to sync it to two different bluetooth devices, we can assume that this is a phone issue.

Have you ever been able to sync your device to a bluetooth device successfully? Does our device drop the connection? Have you downloaded any 3rd party applications to your device? If so, some application software may affect the performance of your device. Try running your device in safe mode while synced to a bluetooth device. Here's the steps on how to place your device in safe mode: http://vz.to/1hVT0LB Keep us posted.

LasinaH_VZW

Follow us on Twitter @VZWSupport

Jimweda

I don't get why Verizon support keeps pointing the finger at everyone or every thing instead of admitting that the Kit Kat update seems to be the culprit. The one thing that seems to be in common in almost every case is that the issues started happening after a system update.

I'm having a common problem in that my bluetooth was working fine until the last system update. Galaxy S4 on 4.4.2 and since then my phone is dropping the bluetooth signal, not my headset losing its connection.

I have 2 headsets that I use with my phone and computer which worked great prior to the update. They still work fine on the computer, but my phones bluetooth signal randomly drops, not the headset. I tried a friends headset and it also works on my computer but when the signal drops on my phone I get no sound from his headset and I have to turn bluetooth on the phone again.

I keep seeing things like its common to drop a signal but the problem is the phone shutting its signal on the phone. Do a soft/hard reset is not the right answer either. For the money we pay every month why aren't you having the programmers figure out what they changed in the new update that's causing the signal to drop. There aren't one or two headsets that this is happening to nor is it one or two phones. It's a majority of different phones that received the update. Doesn't that tell you something? The one thing in common is the updates. You don't have to be a rocket scientists to see the common denominator.

Bad enough they decided we could no longer write directly write to OUR SD card but now our bluetooth signal won't stay on when we want it to. Please own up to your error and stop making people do unnecessary and time wasting hard resets. This doesn't fix the problem and only causes more frustrations.

Verizon_Support

Jimweda, we don't want to point the finger. We just want to address all of your concerns regarding the software update and make this right with you.

Software updates are sent to your device to your device to remove bugs, implement new features, and improve your wireless experience. However, this update can sometimes conflict with 3rd party applications downloaded to your device. Have you downloaded 3rd party applications to your device? If so, we recommend that you uninstall any applications that you no longer want and power your device off/on to soft reset. Keep us posted and let us know if this step works for you.

LasinaH_VZW

Follow us on Twitter @VZWSupport

Emily_M

OK it does work in safe mode. So how do I find out which 3rd party app is the culprit?

Verizon_Support

Emily_M, let's put on our glasses and find this culprit! There's no way to confirm which application is causing the issue. As a result, you will need to uninstall applications one at a time until the issue is removed. Tap Settings>Tap More>Application Manager>tap the Application>tap Uninstall. Keep us posted.

LasinaH_VZW

Follow us on Twitter @VZWSupport

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