Samsung Galaxy Note 9 Bluetooth issues come to light

Lets begin with a quick recap.

It was November last year, couple of months after Samsung Galaxy Note 8’s launch, that we highlighted the Bluetooth problems troubling the company’s then flagship unit. Back then, the complainants were suggested to upgrade their to-be paired devices to match up to Note 8’s newest Bluetooth 5.0 technology.

Cut to now, we are in the last quarter of this year, and the Note line up has leveled up to Galaxy Note 9. But Bluetooth issues just refuse to budge.

Bluetooth connectivity is a widely reported issue by Note 9 users, with complaints spread across different online discussion platforms (1,2,3,4,5,6,7). While majority of them delineate pairing their phone to their car’s head unit over Bluetooth a hit and miss, some struggle while pairing with smartwatches, headphones and other Bluetooth devices as well.

A quick rush through some of the user comments will give you a better hold of the varied use-cases being reported:

My Note 9 is having problems pairing with my car (Prius) bluetooth. Once paired, it is connected for call audio but not media audio. I tried reconnecting and the same issue comes up. I deleted my phone from my car bluetooth and reconnected but still the same issue. After a few more attempts, the phone struggles to stay connected even for call audio. I thought these bluetooth connectivity issues were already addressed since they were reported by Note 8 and Galaxy S9 users

Having issues recently with auto-connecting to not only headphones and BT speakers but also to my Gear S3 – have to repair almost every morning

I have the same problem, but with 4 different Bluetooth devices (2 cars, stereo, headset), none of them work with the note 9, and all of them work with s6, s7 edge and s8. Dont tell me I need to update the Bluetooth devices when the fault obviously lies with the note 9. I have cleared the Bluetooth cache without any difference

Same vehicle and head unit (Alpine hd148bt) was working flawlessly with my Note 5 but now the Note 9 is having all sorts of problems. Pairing works fine after clearing devices. It will sometimes play for about 45 seconds then drops the audio. Interestingly enough is that the head unit still is connected and displaying the progress of the music but there is no sound. It’s like it was muted. It also recognized an incoming call and muted the radio. So, the communication between phone and unit is there but something with the audio volume is hosed

I’m having issues trying to keep my note 9 to keep playing music on my 2015 vw Passat. It only plays about 5-8 seconds then the audio goes out it does connect to through bluetooth but no audio comes out. Then after 1 minute somehow it doesn’t detect the phone then I get a message saying no connection with cellphone. I try restarting the bluetooth module underneath the passenger seat but still nothing. My wife’s S9 Plus never has an issue connecting to our 15 vw. I tried every single step on here but still no luck

There also are reports related to Bluetooth calling acting up and throwing network related errors.

I have the similar issue with my Note 9 and Toyota Prius 2016. They sync just fine, but when I try to make a phone call using voice dial or using car’s touch screen I get a message ” Out of celluar service area. Please try again later” I am in service area and I have full bars .But if I use my phone to make the call instead of Toyotas interface it works just fine and I can enjoy a bluetooth phone call. This happenes all the time. My old Mate 8 had no issues

Note 9 connects to car original car audio but no network on system.. And when i try to make calls from steering wheel control,it tells there’s no network. But when i dial from my mobile it works

While complaints continue to proliferate, a Samsung Moderator has been actively addressing the troubled users. A couple of weeks back they asked the complainants to share the following information, and updated the matter is being looked into.

Regarding the progress on the matter, not much has come to light since then, apart from repetitive stuff like there’s no update to share yet.

We hope the company does the needful to fix up whatever is causing the Bluetooth related issues (if the problem lies at their end). Rest assured, we are keeping an active tab on related developments, and will update as and when anything newsworthy comes up.

Note: For details on major issues plaguing the Galaxy Note 9, head here.

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