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I have a Bluetooth speaker which I pair to from my iPhone, iPad and sometimes from my MacBook.

I am no Bluetooth expert but I have observed that if a connected device is playing music, no other device can connect. However I have also noticed that if the 'connected' device is not sending any data to the speaker, it will let another device connect, bumping it off. I have seen this working nicely between my iPad and iPhone, allowing me to switch the sending device without first disconnecting the other.

Is this true or is there something else going on? I have tried reading the Bluetooth spec to understand but it's really dense and there are many features and versions so its hard to work out.

Secondly, my MacBook refuses to let other devices connect to it if it's connected, even if it's not playing any music. I have tried to close all applications that might play media.

What's even worse is that while my MacBook is asleep, it seems to be holding on to the Bluetooth connection. This means that I have to wake it up and manually disconnect it to let my phone pair.

Questions:

  1. Is my earlier assumption true?
  2. How do I diagnose/understand what the problem is?
  3. How can I fix this?
fixer1234
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Luke De Feo
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2 Answers2

2

I am no Bluetooth expert but I have observed that if a connected device is playing music, no other device can connect. However I have also noticed that if the 'connected' device is not sending any data to the speaker, it will let another device connect, bumping it off.

This depends from device to device. For example, it you aren't playing music, Bluetooth music systems (speakers) will usually let other devices connect, however, the same is definitely not true for Bluetooth earpieces.

My MacBook refuses to let other devices connect to it if it's connected, even if it's not playing any music. I have tried to close all applications that might play media.

Some computers appear to send signals to connected Bluetooth devices even if they aren't being used actively to ensure that the Bluetooth device doesn't automatically power off or get disconnected. There usually isn't a setting to change this.

How can I fix this?

As far as I know, the only way around this is to press the "connect button" on your Bluetooth device, which should disconnect any connected phones/computers.

DavidPostill
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undo
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0

Reset your Mac’s Bluetooth Module

Try to re-configure all of your Bluetooth accessories, maybe resetting your Mac’s Bluetooth module might do the trick.

To reset your Mac’s Bluetooth module, you’ll need to follow these steps:

Step 1: Hold down the Shift (⇧) key and the Option key and click on the Bluetooth menu in your Menu Bar on your Mac.

menu bar bluetooth menu mac reset bluetooth module

enter image description here

Step 2: Go to Debug > Remove all devices and click on it to disconnect from all paired Bluetooth devices.

Step 3: Now open the same menu once again and click on Debug > Reset the Bluetooth module to reset your Mac’s Bluetooth module.

Step 4: After resetting your Mac’s Bluetooth module, you can now attempt to re-pair all of your Bluetooth accessories and everything should work as expected.

DeerSpotter
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