Chromebook apps reportedly crashing due to Wi-Fi/Bluetooth interference

Bluetooth has never been one of the strengths of Chrome OS. Matter of fact, Chrome OS has had years of Bluetooth issues and while Google has been addressing them through software updates, they still persist.

We can easily choose to direct our blame for these Chrome OS Bluetooth issues to cheap hardware or anything else you can think of. But truth be told, Chromebooks and Bluetooth devices are still far from a perfect match.

Of course, these are issues that can easily be addressed. Matter of fact, Google has been fixing Bluetooth issues in Chrome OS for the longest time possible.

However, being a fixable issue shouldn’t be an excuse for the wanting state of Bluetooth on Chromebooks. Despite most of us turning to wireless devices that heavily rely on Bluetooth, wired accessories remain a necessity for Chromebook users.

In the event that your Bluetooth headphones, for instance, successfully pair with a Chromebook, instances of automatically disconnecting and reconnecting cannot simply be avoided.

As I write this, some Chromebook owners, including the Pixelbook, say connected Bluetooth headphones keep disconnecting at will, forcing them to restart the Chromebook in order to establish a fresh connection with the wireless headphones.

It’s been doing it since I’ve had it almost a year – the mouse will suddenly stop working and opening bluetooth it will be disconnected or bluetooth will be disabled altogether and I have to turn off the laptop and on again and it will work. I enabled ‘newblue’ but this didn’t seem to fix the problem.
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Interestingly, this issue has been here since 2018 (the quoted statement above is from November 2018) and while Google allegedly fixed it via a software update, it still persists to date, with some having experienced the issue only hours ago.

I have used my QC30 for last 2 years. and I’ve used it with other equipment like mobiles, tv, etc. but I haven’t faced this issue before. but I’m facing this issue continuously.. Definitely this issued caused by Pixelbook. I bought pixelbook yesterday. I’ve faced this issues 100 times so far. Please solve this issue quickly.
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What’s even more damning is the fact that Chrome OS Bluetooth issues are no longer about disconnecting and reconnecting accessories. Apparently, Chromebook apps are now crashing when using Bluetooth headphones.

Google has yet to determine the cause of this issue, but chiming in, a Redditor points to Wi-Fi/Bluetooth interference as the possible causal agent here.

Check your WiFi connection – Bluetooth uses similar frequencies as some of the 2.4 GHz WiFi channels. You should only use channels 1, 6 or 11. Check your router configuration. Switch between those 3 channels to see if one works better than the others.
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The “WiFi analyzer” app should come in handy when analyzing channel interference issues on your devices. It can be downloaded here, with some more details here.

It remains to be seen when Google will address these Chrome OS Bluetooth issues, but as noted earlier, these are fixable issues that shouldn’t take ages to take care of.

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