Bluetooth audio stuttering issues on my iPhone 16e

Same here - just got a new iphone 16e. My old iphone XR had no trouble. I have Beats Solo 3 and Studio 3 and Openrun by Shokz - all have the same stutter / intermittent sound cutting out for a split second. Hopefully a fix is in the works.

There’s not much I can say except me too. Multiple Bluetooth audio devices “stuttering” with an iPhone 16e that’s running auto update. Full batteries for both phone and devices, restart Bluetooth and reboot phone but no charge. Super disappointed!

Stuttering on multiple audio devices in close proximity with full batteries. None of the standard fixes (rebooting, reconnecting etc) work.

Problem is greatly alleviated if I disconnect my Garmin Fenix 5X sports watch. In order to disconnect that, though, I have to “Forget device” as there is no simple “disconnect device” option for the Garmin.

I think maybe the Garmin uses an older, or different, Bluetooth protocol and it’s screwing up the audio devices?

Super annoying and disappointing. Surprised it wasn’t caught before release!!!! Hopefully an update can fix this.

iOS 18.4 was just formally released, I'm currently in the process of updating to see if this officially fixes this issue or not. If you are as frustrated by this issue as I have, recommend you update as well.

Update 4:

Have updated to iOS 18.4 (22E240) today. I’ve been listening to a few songs on Spotify through my Airpods (gen 1) and my Garmin watch is connected on Bluetooth too. So far, the stuttering seems to have gone.

Hope others can report the same.

Looks like problem solved. If it has not dropped out after 20 mins, it should be fine. Try some Bluetooth earphones if you have them.

Mine was instantly fixed after upgrading to 18.4. Before, when playing music, it started stuttering after about 40 seconds.

rachel422 wrote:

Hi Jürgen. The issue was occurring also when playing spotify on my Bose bluetooth speaker. The idea of returning the phone seems like a hassle, and I decided to try an extreme experiment as a last resort before returning it. I transferred everything back to my old phone and erased the 16e completely. Then I repeated the process of transferring everything from my old phone to the 16e. It updated automatically to 18.4 during the transfer. This times, I am not experiencing the stuttering and skipping – so far. I have only tested about 20 minutes on each device (car and home speaker). I am hoping this is the end of my troubles. Thanks for your input!

If it updated to iOS 18.4 during the transfer, that means it was not previously on iOS 18.4. Once it is updated to iOS 18.4, you cannot go back to a previous version, even if you erase your phone. It was iOS 18.4 that fixed the stuttering issue.

Found the issue. If you're streaming music/ audio from Spotify, Bluetooth sputters. Crazy IOS bug.

Same here, stuttering on 4 separate devices. No issues on my SE which I’m still running. Really irritating

No it’s through the music app too. With music on the system.

had a 2.5 hr long discussion with the apple tech. To isolate things still the same.

so it doesn’t work properly then… other iPhones didn’t have this issue

i raised the issue in the UK. Got support directly from the US. They know the issue. Would change your phone right away. But you would need to ask for that

I am having the same problem with this new 16e. I thought it was my headset so i paired with another headset, same problem.

Same problem here. Bluetooth only stops stuttering when I disconnect my Oura Ring.