2013 A6 - Bluetooth problems

[abuelbanat]

MMI has been increasingly playing up - the frequency of reboots has increased steadily over the last few months & I'm now dealing with a bit of kit that routinely fails.

I frequently connect my phone for both audio & calls. Calls don't seem to be an issue however Google play music & youtube frequently lead to the Bluetooth disconnecting by itself & then it turns itself off. If I wait 5 mins or so it turns itself back on without me asking to re-enable it.

Haven't changed my phone recently, been using an S6 Edge for the last year or so but the problem has only manifested in the last 6 weeks or so. I mentioned it to audi Glasgow when it was in for its first MOT a week ago & I've been told they updated the Bluetooth but it hasn't improved the situation.

Any ideas?

[Akash]

I don't think this will help however I'll tell you my story anyway...

I had an as new 2015 A6 facelift last year and one of the many issues was my S6 Edge constantly disconnecting from the car. What was interesting is that the first few weeks it was fine however I felt after an over-the-air update (albeit maps), it started to play up.
It went in due to this and a number of other issues and in that time, I had a loan car for a number of months. This was a late 2014 A5 so the previous MMI I guess...no issues at all.
Fast forward a few months and I got the original A6 back for a day...and voila, the phone kept disconnecting in that day.
The car went back for a replacement car altogether due to the other issues still existing and the replacement A6 which is an early 2016 model - This was better but still had disconnecting issues, some on call, other times just sitting there. I never found a pattern despite setting up auto-text message on connection to the bluetooth in the car.

A few weeks ago, I got a S7 Edge and I've had no issues since.

Was it the phone? I don't think so.
Was it the car? Well I don't think it was the car either given the current S7 works fine.

Never got to the bottom of it

Audi's stance was simply that if it was not on the supported models list, they could not help - thankfully it was ... but despite several updates, nothing helped although they did state that the S6 was on the list not the edge (seriously??)

Anyway having looked again, it's still listing on the S6 only and does have the following message under it:
The Bluetooth link may be disconnected sporadically if older software versions are used.

[Akash]

Oh and the tested firmware of it:
Tested firmware version: 5.0.2
Last change: 13.05.2015

[abuelbanat]

Thanks Akash.

My concern is simply that it was working fine for months - zero problems since changing from a Samsung S4 to the S6 and using the S6 for months without incident. It's only really since 6 weeks or so ago I noticed the problem was becoming more frequent and hence more annoying - then it was fortuitous that the car needed it's first MOT so I mentioned it.

I don't believe it has anything to do with the phone.

[Akash]

I hear ya!
Mine too was fine initially - it felt overnight it just "happened" with no changes
I assume you've done a factory reset with no restore of old backups just to test?
And also reset the MMI fully to test?

[abuelbanat]

how do I reset the MMI?

[Akash]

From memory, it's under the Car settings and you've got an option to factory reset - it's where the language/clock/brightness etc settings are
If you can't find it, let me know and I'll grab the exact place in mine when I get home from work

Note, you would lose any media on there + contacts, bluetooth devices etc so essentially you'll be pairing up, copying your music, setting your radio stations again

[johnsimcox]

Thanks Akash.

My concern is simply that it was working fine for months - zero problems since changing from a Samsung S4 to the S6 and using the S6 for months without incident. It's only really since 6 weeks or so ago I noticed the problem was becoming more frequent and hence more annoying - then it was fortuitous that the car needed it's first MOT so I mentioned it.

I don't believe it has anything to do with the phone.

Are you sure the S6 has not had a software update without you realising? As others have said the MMI restore to factory settings is under settings in the Car menu. You can also do a restart by pressing Setup+Main MMI Control Knob and Top Right "Soft button" all at the same time

[abuelbanat]

The phone has had the normal updates as they've came out however I've not yet had the recent update for the S6 and the problem has definitely manifested while the phone has been on the one level of software. I reset the mmi last night & deleted all the bonded devices & started afresh. I paired my daughters iPhone 5 with it first of all to see if the problem occurred with it - it only took 3 or phone songs for it reoccur. I videoed it so that I would have something to show the dealer - basically instead of continuing to play music it will go quiet, the phone will continue to think it's paired & so no music comes from it either. After a couple of minutes the discoverable will turn to off, followed by Bluetooth turning off by itself & then turning back on and repairing with the phone.

I'll try & post the video later.

[Olio]

I've also got some BT problems with mine. Minor in a sense, as it does not disconnect (I don't stream music, just use the hands free capability).

The car sometimes does not recognise the phone (Huawei Honor 3X, Android 4.4) and I need to pair it again. Strangely enough, I don't need to allow access to calls and directory.

But I'll do it at least once a week these days. No big deal as it only takes seconds, but definitely getting worse these days.

Once paired, everything works as expected.