Pairing bluetooth earbuds with iPhone
Discussion
I've had a look at some of the other threads about wireless earbuds (and commented on some too) but my issue is a little different.
I have an iPhone 8+ which is about 2 years old and does what I need it to do; I'm not ready to upgrade yet. It's fully up to date on iOS 14.6. But I do need some decent wireless earbuds. Not just for music (I use them for that occasionally but probably only a couple of times a month) but also for calls and nav whilst driving vehicles other than my own, which I do once or twice a week currently.
I bought a pair of the much-vaunted Anker Soundcore Life P2, and the sound from them was excellent. However, after the initial pairing, they would not pair with my phone unless I did a full reset every time. In fact sometimes I had to reset them several times. Spoke to Anker who were brilliant and sent me a second set f.o.c but still the same happened.
Gave up in the end and bought a pair of JBL Tune 125. Paired them up, they sounded good and worked fine a couple of times....and now won't pair!!
It's not something simple like "I already have something else paired with the phone". There's nothing else connected, and even if I turn BT off and back on again they still won't connect.
In amongst all this, MrsC found (literally) a pair of AirPods Pros whilst she was walking the dog across farm land. We put messages out on social media to try and return them to their owner but nobody came forward. So, after much disinfectant and a new pair of rubber tips, I thought I'd try those. Well, what a disappointment. I have a suspicion they may not be genuine (although they "present" as genuine on the phone) but the sound quality is abysmal. Dull and muffled, both for listening to music and for phone calls. The "ear fit test" says they are all good. However there is no visible serial number on the case or the pods, so they may be a moody set.
Thanks for reading this so far
My questions are, why does my phone struggle to pair with earbuds (it works fine in all our cars on both the installed BT and on Bovee devices), and are there any other makes worth trying? I don't really want to spend £250 on AirPods (a) if they sound as lousy as this pair and (b) because I only use them sporadically.
TIA.
I have an iPhone 8+ which is about 2 years old and does what I need it to do; I'm not ready to upgrade yet. It's fully up to date on iOS 14.6. But I do need some decent wireless earbuds. Not just for music (I use them for that occasionally but probably only a couple of times a month) but also for calls and nav whilst driving vehicles other than my own, which I do once or twice a week currently.
I bought a pair of the much-vaunted Anker Soundcore Life P2, and the sound from them was excellent. However, after the initial pairing, they would not pair with my phone unless I did a full reset every time. In fact sometimes I had to reset them several times. Spoke to Anker who were brilliant and sent me a second set f.o.c but still the same happened.
Gave up in the end and bought a pair of JBL Tune 125. Paired them up, they sounded good and worked fine a couple of times....and now won't pair!!
It's not something simple like "I already have something else paired with the phone". There's nothing else connected, and even if I turn BT off and back on again they still won't connect.
In amongst all this, MrsC found (literally) a pair of AirPods Pros whilst she was walking the dog across farm land. We put messages out on social media to try and return them to their owner but nobody came forward. So, after much disinfectant and a new pair of rubber tips, I thought I'd try those. Well, what a disappointment. I have a suspicion they may not be genuine (although they "present" as genuine on the phone) but the sound quality is abysmal. Dull and muffled, both for listening to music and for phone calls. The "ear fit test" says they are all good. However there is no visible serial number on the case or the pods, so they may be a moody set.
Thanks for reading this so far
My questions are, why does my phone struggle to pair with earbuds (it works fine in all our cars on both the installed BT and on Bovee devices), and are there any other makes worth trying? I don't really want to spend £250 on AirPods (a) if they sound as lousy as this pair and (b) because I only use them sporadically.TIA.
Dogwatch said:
Incompatible generations of Bluetooth? Seems unlikely here though.
I did consider that but as you say, probably unlikely. I've just managed to get the JBLs to pair again and the sound compared to the dodgy AirPods is night and day better. I'll try them again a few times, they would do the job if they would just work seamlessly!CAPP0 said:
I've had a look at some of the other threads about wireless earbuds (and commented on some too) but my issue is a little different.
I have an iPhone 8+ which is about 2 years old and does what I need it to do; I'm not ready to upgrade yet. It's fully up to date on iOS 14.6. But I do need some decent wireless earbuds. Not just for music (I use them for that occasionally but probably only a couple of times a month) but also for calls and nav whilst driving vehicles other than my own, which I do once or twice a week currently.
I bought a pair of the much-vaunted Anker Soundcore Life P2, and the sound from them was excellent. However, after the initial pairing, they would not pair with my phone unless I did a full reset every time. In fact sometimes I had to reset them several times. Spoke to Anker who were brilliant and sent me a second set f.o.c but still the same happened.
Gave up in the end and bought a pair of JBL Tune 125. Paired them up, they sounded good and worked fine a couple of times....and now won't pair!!
It's not something simple like "I already have something else paired with the phone". There's nothing else connected, and even if I turn BT off and back on again they still won't connect.
In amongst all this, MrsC found (literally) a pair of AirPods Pros whilst she was walking the dog across farm land. We put messages out on social media to try and return them to their owner but nobody came forward. So, after much disinfectant and a new pair of rubber tips, I thought I'd try those. Well, what a disappointment. I have a suspicion they may not be genuine (although they "present" as genuine on the phone) but the sound quality is abysmal. Dull and muffled, both for listening to music and for phone calls. The "ear fit test" says they are all good. However there is no visible serial number on the case or the pods, so they may be a moody set.
Thanks for reading this so far My questions are, why does my phone struggle to pair with earbuds (it works fine in all our cars on both the installed BT and on Bovee devices), and are there any other makes worth trying? I don't really want to spend £250 on AirPods (a) if they sound as lousy as this pair and (b) because I only use them sporadically.
TIA.
You can get new AirPods on Ebay from £100I have an iPhone 8+ which is about 2 years old and does what I need it to do; I'm not ready to upgrade yet. It's fully up to date on iOS 14.6. But I do need some decent wireless earbuds. Not just for music (I use them for that occasionally but probably only a couple of times a month) but also for calls and nav whilst driving vehicles other than my own, which I do once or twice a week currently.
I bought a pair of the much-vaunted Anker Soundcore Life P2, and the sound from them was excellent. However, after the initial pairing, they would not pair with my phone unless I did a full reset every time. In fact sometimes I had to reset them several times. Spoke to Anker who were brilliant and sent me a second set f.o.c but still the same happened.
Gave up in the end and bought a pair of JBL Tune 125. Paired them up, they sounded good and worked fine a couple of times....and now won't pair!!
It's not something simple like "I already have something else paired with the phone". There's nothing else connected, and even if I turn BT off and back on again they still won't connect.
In amongst all this, MrsC found (literally) a pair of AirPods Pros whilst she was walking the dog across farm land. We put messages out on social media to try and return them to their owner but nobody came forward. So, after much disinfectant and a new pair of rubber tips, I thought I'd try those. Well, what a disappointment. I have a suspicion they may not be genuine (although they "present" as genuine on the phone) but the sound quality is abysmal. Dull and muffled, both for listening to music and for phone calls. The "ear fit test" says they are all good. However there is no visible serial number on the case or the pods, so they may be a moody set.
Thanks for reading this so far
My questions are, why does my phone struggle to pair with earbuds (it works fine in all our cars on both the installed BT and on Bovee devices), and are there any other makes worth trying? I don't really want to spend £250 on AirPods (a) if they sound as lousy as this pair and (b) because I only use them sporadically.TIA.
As you have now returned them I am not sure that my post will be of any use to you, but on Jeffy B's Prime day I acquired a pair of Soundcore "Liberty Air" P2s. This purchase was a result of the constant ribbing from my offspring over my continued use of my old BlackBerry's wired earbuds; kids can be merciless.
Personal mobile is a cheapy Android, works phone is an iPhone 11 running iOS 14.6.
First thing I did was install the Soundcore app, which prompted me to upgrade the firmware in the earbuds - a proper I.T. experience!
FWIW I can swap between both phones without aggro, but have only used them on the works iPhone for Teams calls so cannot comment on audio quality.
Audio quality is fine on my Android phone.
Personal mobile is a cheapy Android, works phone is an iPhone 11 running iOS 14.6.
First thing I did was install the Soundcore app, which prompted me to upgrade the firmware in the earbuds - a proper I.T. experience!
FWIW I can swap between both phones without aggro, but have only used them on the works iPhone for Teams calls so cannot comment on audio quality.
Audio quality is fine on my Android phone.
Genuine AirPod Pros sound great. Usually the cheap knockoffs don’t even attempt to do the noise cancelling and pass through thing that genuine ones do. They have cloned the chips Apple use so appear to do the right thing on the phone side.
I spent almost as much as a set trying various Bluetooth earbuds that all annoyed me in some way, usually not pairing when they should. The AirPods just work. Only regret is wasting the time and money on the others first.
I spent almost as much as a set trying various Bluetooth earbuds that all annoyed me in some way, usually not pairing when they should. The AirPods just work. Only regret is wasting the time and money on the others first.
sjg said:
The AirPods just work. Only regret is wasting the time and money on the others first.
I think this is the nub of it really, I’ve been heard to say the same about the rest of the Apple family many times. I should have known better. It’s just that my use is infrequent for the cost. I’ll have a hunt around. Thanks for the other tips, including the Soundcore app and the eBay source.
sjg said:
Genuine AirPod Pros sound great. Usually the cheap knockoffs don’t even attempt to do the noise cancelling and pass through thing that genuine ones do. They have cloned the chips Apple use so appear to do the right thing on the phone side.
I spent almost as much as a set trying various Bluetooth earbuds that all annoyed me in some way, usually not pairing when they should. .The AirPods just work. Only regret is wasting the time and money on the others first.
Of course they do. Why would Apple make it easy for you to use alternatives at a fraction of the cost of their AirPods?I spent almost as much as a set trying various Bluetooth earbuds that all annoyed me in some way, usually not pairing when they should. .The AirPods just work. Only regret is wasting the time and money on the others first.
Gassing Station | Computers, Gadgets & Stuff | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff