Does the Bluetooth connection between your headphones and smartphone (or another device) sometimes cut out, or do you experience sound cuts? Let’s check out the most common causes of Bluetooth connection drops.
The four primary causes are distance, interference, obstructions, or battery charge.
Bluetooth distance limitations
Bluetooth acts like an invisible wire between your headphones/speakers and your connected device, such as a smartphone. This invisible wire is about 10 meters but can be slightly more or less depending on the environment.
What to do?
If you experience Bluetooth drops if the distance between your headphones and source device is too great, it’s normal behaviour.
Bluetooth signal gets blocked by obstructions or the environment
Remember that we mentioned the invisible wire? Well, it gets shorter when there are a lot of thick obstacles around, like reinforced concrete walls or metal structures. It’s like when your phone gets no signal in large buildings or underground garages.
You can also experience sudden sound drops when the scenery changes from a closed to an expansive outdoor area (e.g. when exiting a tunnel or wooded area). It’s caused by the Bluetooth signal suddenly bouncing all over the place. Earbuds are especially prone to this phenomenon because the left and right earbuds communicate through Bluetooth.
What to do?
Try several places and see if you can replicate the issue. If it’s everywhere, something might be wrong with the device. If it’s only in specific locations, it’s probably a characteristic of that location.
Bluetooth Battery bummer
Check the battery status of your speaker or headphones. If the charge is low, Bluetooth issues such as sound cuts and audio quality drops might occur.
What to do?
Make sure that all devices in the mix are sufficiently charged and see if the issue persists.
Bluetooth & wireless signals
Technically, Bluetooth operates on a radio frequency that can be affected by other wireless signals, such as Wi-Fi or microwaves. Other Bluetooth devices nearby can also cause interference. It’s a less common cause of Bluetooth connection drops.
What to do?
Similar to obstructions, try several places and see if you can replicate the issue. Alternatively, switch off other Bluetooth or wireless devices and see if that works.
It’s not the distance, obstructions, interference, or the battery
If you’ve ruled out all previous causes, there are a few remaining solutions you can try:
- Update all your devices to the latest software version. If Bluetooth connection drops are causes by a software bug, it will be mitigated with a software update.
- Remove the Bluetooth connection between the headphones/speakers and your source device (smartphone). Re-establish pairing.
- Try a different source device. For example, do a test with a different smartphone to check if the issue also occurs.
- Reset or Initialize (return to factory condition) your headphones or speaker.
- If these procedures didn’t help, your Bluetooth headphones or Bluetooth speaker might need service.
