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

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.

Same issue with my FP3, with both JBL on-ear and Jabra Elite Active 65t.
Both with Spotify.

I have a Fairphone 3 and Jabra Elite 45h Bluetooth headphones. Since the last Android update in August, the Fairphone no longer responds when I press the play/pause button of my headphones. I can press play/pause button of headphones as often as I want, nothing happens.

These have I tried so far:

  • Connecting my Jabra Elite 45h Bluetooth headphones to my Windows laptop (play/pause button works)
  • Repairing my Jabra Elite 45h Bluetooth headphones with my Fairphone 3 (play/pause button does not work)
  • Restarting my Fairphone 3 (play/pause button does not work)
  • Trying multiple apps like Google Podcasts and YouTube on my Fairphone 3 (play/pause button does not work)

Hi Martin, welcome to the Community Forum :slight_smile: I have moved your post here as your problem is currently affecting many FP3 users – see above.

I’ve just spoken to a helpful Fairphone support rep by telephone. He put me on hold while he checked with someone if they knew about the BT problem, after a couple of minutes he reported back that they do. He couldn’t give a timeframe for a patch, but said they are working on it.

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Thanks for doing so :+1:
Just for the info of everyone (while it won’t help you folks), I also fed this Bluetooth issue and the even more pressing NFC issue into /e/ development the other day so they (hopefully) can ensure this will never spill over into one of the coming /e/OS updates for the FP3.

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Just to add another way to geht a bug report

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Same thing in my Skoda. Phone functions work properly, media audio does not. Volume change does not work, and neither does skipping songs.
It’s also the same with a couple of headphones I have.

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Thanks idle. I didn’t realise that phone functions still worked until you mentioned it.

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Well, thats curious. Do you change phone media volume and car music volume simultanously?

Hello,
I have the same problem with a bluetooth loudspeaker (Anker Soundcore Mini).
Before the August update it worked fine.
Now my phone (FP3) doesn’t react to the stop/play button (volume up and down works).
Quite annoying. I opened a request (https://support.fairphone.com/hc/requests/542362) but no answer yet.
I am curious how long it will take to receive an answer.

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Same in my Nissan. Very annoying.

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Nice that you’ve called! I also got a reply on my reported issue, stating that it will be forwarded to the relevant team, that they’re doing everything to resolve it as quickly as possible etc.

Nothing more to do than to be patient I guess.

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Welcome to the no BT media control club!

How long is a piece of string? I was told a long time ago that the customer service team are very small. I was quoted it being less than 20 agents? Treat that number as hearsay though, it could be more or less. BUT just assume it’s now 10 (at worst), that would mean 10 agents dealing with 1,381 new support requests in 10 days. I’m basing the number of support tickets using your number and mine 10 days ago if the numbers are sequential. That would make the last 10 day average as 138.1 tickets a day. With 10 agents, that’s 19 tickets a day each assuming they work a 5 day week. I guess they follow up older tickets too, you can see it could end up being much more than 19 a day per agent. I presume the same agents answer the phones as well. Is that do-able? I dunno if you include backlog ? To be honest, I think the best way to report a problen is to firstly use the ticketing system followed by a phone call. You can then draw your ticket to their attention and they can forward it to whoever is best equiped to deal with the problem. I’m not suggesting you do this on this issue as the fault is already known.

Yes I agree. Several of us reported it, now lets hope those responsible for breaking it come up with a fix without breaking anything else. I hope it’s done by the time the next security update comes out. Also that the NFC issue brought to our attention by @urs_lesse is sorted too.

One thing I’ve noted is Fairphone end users seem to be the beta testers. Is anyone here an actual beta tester as in get the update before anyone else? Angels?? Anyone??? Before FP tweak anything, they really out to test it first. I’m guessing is costs them money to send updates out so they bundle whatever with the latest security update.

OT: When 'droid 11 was installed, a sound recorder appeared. It seems to have gone with this update!? Was it removed or have I just forgotten where it is?

there is a group of beta testers, probably none of them uses BT… such bugs always happen also at the big player, the difference is, the big player can fix it faster (although I think the NFC bug is fixed quite fast as being potentially life threatenig when you cant use the device for health related apps) as Fairphone can do, becasue they just have more man power to do this. The bug is annoying yes, however is not as important to be fixed as the NFC bug I would say.

did you check all apps, probably its only gone from homescreen? in case its gone in general, just download something from playstore.

On what is this based?

The current BT problem is more complex than might at first appear. It would seem that certain phones have shown no problem, while other phones are exhibiting media audio faults regardless of the Bluetooth device used.
Naturally, we mostly have reports of phones that are exhibiting problems, since people rarely write in to say that everything is working well.

you read the word probably? its a potential root cause assumption and I never said anything is easy. I dont have the issue and I dont expect anything from any beta tester as I know they do it in their freetime.

Oh, I meant changing media audio volume. Changing audio level for phone works fine (while in a call).

Do you change phone media volume and car music volume simultanously?

To clarify: No, I can (or rather could before) change media audio if not actively using the phone (ie. being in a call), and phone audio while in a call.

I also have problems with notifications from my weather warning app. does anybody else notice such issues?