Update 8901.4.A.0016.6: Bluetooth control broken on various devices

[AnotherElk]

@uodalricus

and then recommend to do a factory reset which is a huge hassle and doesn’t help.

With Bluetooth issues, one step before that should be the network reset in the Settings (resetting Wi-Fi, mobile data and Bluetooth).
It’s a hassle, too, e.g. for Wi-Fi passwords which have to be re-entered and for Bluetooth devices needing pairing again, but less hassle than a factory reset.

[uodalricus]

@AnotherElk

With Bluetooth issues, one step before that should be the network reset in the Settings (resetting Wi-Fi, mobile data and Bluetooth).
It’s a hassle, too, e.g. for Wi-Fi passwords which have to be re-entered and for Bluetooth devices needing pairing again, but less hassle than a factory reset.

Do you happen to know whether WiFi credentials stored in a Google account are deleted when doing this? If they’re not and they’re used to reestablish the connection after the reset I’d give it a try, though I don’t have much hope.

Today I used my FP3 in the car and, not unexpectedly, nothing apart from audio playback started on the phone worked. The title of the currently playing song wasn’t displayed in the car; the car’s entertainment system didn’t even seem to know that something was playing and happily displayed a play (instead of a pause) button that of course did nothing.

Since very obviously the problem aren’t the TWS earbuds but the latest FP3 update, shouldn’t this topic be renamed and moved to the FP3 section?

[AnotherElk]

@uodalricus

Do you happen to know whether WiFi credentials stored in a Google account are deleted when doing this?

I don’t know, sorry.

[MikeSixPointEight]

It’s not just earphones. Happens to bluetooth connections in cars, too, at least in my Skoda.
There’s no song title shown in the displays, you can’t skip forward from the car any more (neither from touch displays nor from wheel-steering).That seems to verify, that this is not an issue with my car only:

@uodalricus

Today I used my FP3 in the car and, not unexpectedly, nothing apart from audio playback started on the phone worked. The title of the currently playing song wasn’t displayed in the car; the car’s entertainment system didn’t even seem to know that something was playing and happily displayed a play (instead of a pause) button that of course did nothing.

@AnotherElk

With Bluetooth issues, one step before that should be the network reset in the Settings (resetting Wi-Fi, mobile data and Bluetooth).

Doesn’t work. Tried that, even did a factory reset on my cars media and phone settings. Changed AVRCP from version 1.5 (default) to version 1.4, then to 1.3, then 1.6. Nothing helps. That update broke the bluetooth connection.

[smsm1986]

I have a similar but slightly different issue. When I connect my Fairphone ear phones they now try to start a call to the last person I called, which is rather err annoying not just for me but the other person too. Has anyone else had this issue?

I also have issues with them pausing audio and video unexpectedly whilst in use.

[urs_lesse]

Had to hunt a bit, but found it:

Everytime the FP earbuds connect, the phone calls the most recent number that was called

On my girlfriends FP4, everytime the FP earbuds connect, the phone calls the most recent number that was called. Currently she calls her own number before she uses the Fairphone wireless earbuds to not disturb other people. Has anybody experienced this strange behavior, too? Are there any solutions?

[Gustaphe]

Can confirm on JBL headphones, a Polestar car and a speaker (could check the make and model, but I don’t think it changes the point).

Definitely started after the update.

[nyi]

I have the same issue. Volume buttons of the bluetooth headset still work, but the media button does not. Single click for play/pause has no effect and double or tripple click also has no effect.

I use these all the time, so this is super annoying. I already had issues with one update regarding display brightness and that took months to be fixed. Not sure if I want to live that long without the media button.

Is there a way to revert the upgrade? Is there a workaround to make the buttons work again?

[TW8punk]

I don’t know any way to revert the ‘upgrade’. Google don’t make that sort of thing easy.

Does your headphone volume control still control your phone volume or are the two levels now independent of each other? In my case I have “Disable absolute volume” enabled in developer options so phone and bluetooth levels were already independent. When the headphones did work the phone volume, I couldn’t get the level right as the steps were too great. Level was either too loud or too soft.

No reply from Fairphone on my report ticket opened 11:50 Wednesday. If I have time I will try and phone them tomorrow to see if they are aware.

[peteruithoven]

Same issue with my FP3, with both BS Boss and Galaxy Buds+.
Both with PocketCasts and Spotify.

I’ve tried almost all suggestions in the links below.

• https://gadgetstouse.com/blog/2021/01/04/5-ways-fix-bluetooth-not-working-android/#3_check_bluetooth_device_details
• https://thedroidguy.com/fix-bluetooth-problems-samsung-android-10-1123496

Including:

• Restart Your Phone
• Forget Device and Pair
• Check Bluetooth Device Details
• Reset Network Settings (which will indeed forget all your wifi passwords).
• Reset Bluetooth Settings / Clear Bluetooth app cache and data
• Checked for updates

Excluding:

• Refresh the Cache Partition
• Factory Reset.

[anon9989719]

@TW8punk

“Disable absolute volume” enabled in developer options so phone and bluetooth levels were already independent.

So what about this setting?

[nyi]

No, the volume is also split now. Before the volume buttons of the headset controlled the phone’s bluetooth volume. Now, it doesn’t. It still changes the perceived volume though.

[TW8punk]

@anon9989719

So what about this setting?

Just trying to work out if the volume is controlling the phone or just the headphone volume as nyi states “Volume buttons of the bluetooth headset still work”. The two can work independently. Does that answer your question?

[anon9989719]

@TW8punk

Disable absolute volume

This a setting offered in Developers Options if you have it enabled

[TW8punk]

By default that setting is off meaning that physical volume control on the bluetooth device controls both its own audio level and the phone volume at the same time. I set mine to on as soon as I got my FP3 because it was horrid. Better to have the levels seperate (in my case) at as smaller steps means more control.

I disabled the setting just for a moment as a test to see if my bluetooth devices would control the phone volume as well as its own (not that I want it to). It didn’t So though ‘nyi’ says that volume control works, only the headphone level is being controlled, not the phone. If the phone volume was set to mute, upping the headphone volume would have no effect.

As far as I can tell, no bluetooth control functions work since 8901.4.A.0016.6.

Has anyone who put in a support ticket had a reply?

[TW8punk]

@peteruithoven

I’ve tried almost all suggestions in the links below.

Thanks for sharing your findings.

@nyi

the volume is also split now.

Different people have different issues with the FP3, so thanks for confirming. This issue seems to be the same for everyone so far.

The Fairphone 3(+) release notes make no mention of any Bluetooth meddling.

[MikeSixPointEight]

@TW8punk

t didn’t So though ‘nyi’ says that volume control works, only the headphone level is being controlled, not the phone

Exactly. Same here, there’s no work-around. It’s downgrade, wait, use another OS or say good bye to fairphone.

[MikeSixPointEight]

@TW8punk

The Fairphone 3(+) release notes make no mention of any Bluetooth meddling

Probably, thats because they didn’t realise the upgrade would, because they did not test the software they produce thoroughly.

[TeamB58]

Hi,
It would be good if anyone can capture adb logs when the button(s) pressed and nothing happens.

adb logcat -c && adb logcat -b all > bt_issue.log and adb logcat -c && adb logcat -b all "*:E" > bt_issue_errors.log the next time.

I am just curious to understand what’s going wrong and see if I can do something.

Thanks.

[OldRoutard]

Yes. As I see it, a major problem with this bug seems to be that it has not affected all users in the same way. For example, my Bluetooth headset still controls the phone’s “media” volume and the media control button works, seemingly, as normal.

All that I can see for the moment is that it seems to vary from one phone to another rather than from one device to another. Of course it’s typically bugs like that which slip through the net.