Bluetooth bug, pairing constantly

[drivethru]

Yes I'm on the latest ios.
It fails to connect and then when it does it disconnects randomly.

I'll try another lightning cable to see if that helps.

 

[golf59]

I’m also having problems iPhone 13 loosing pairings got r33 phone with latest update my dealer also blaming phoneridiculous. Have also found since latest update to r33 sensitive auto headlights coming on passing through shadows, sat nav lacks destinations aswell. Why can’t the dealers sort this so frustrating on a great car

 

[drivethru]

I’m also having problems iPhone 13 loosing pairings got r33 phone with latest update my dealer also blaming phoneridiculous. Have also found since latest update to r33 sensitive auto headlights coming on passing through shadows, sat nav lacks destinations aswell. Why can’t the dealers sort this so frustrating on a great car

Yes, same here. Unfortunately I've even tried changing the Bluetooth name of the car but it hasn't worked. Unfortunately I have to pair the iPhone and car almost each time I start a new journey - which is more tedious than it sounds - as I have to forget the mg first on my iPhone and then add it again.

 

[Deanicus]

I've noticed that every time I get asked to re-pair and it does actually pair, it shows up as a new device in my phone.

Looking further, the MAC address of the car has changed from the last time. I've looked that up and it seems that Android automatically creates new bluetooth MAC addresses for devices (makes tracking devices harder) but once paired the device is to send a unique key that identifies it. This should not change and allows for automatic pairing in the future

To me, it looks like this might be the root cause of the issue. That the car is sending a different unique key when it shouldn't and so your phone sees it as a new device and requests permission to pair

 

[drivethru]

I've noticed that every time I get asked to re-pair and it does actually pair, it shows up as a new device in my phone.

Looking further, the MAC address of the car has changed from the last time. I've looked that up and it seems that Android automatically creates new bluetooth MAC addresses for devices (makes tracking devices harder) but once paired the device is to send a unique key that identifies it. This should not change and allows for automatic pairing in the future

To me, it looks like this might be the root cause of the issue. That the car is sending a different unique key when it shouldn't and so your phone sees it as a new device and requests permission to pair

Makes sense ; however the issue is intermittent. At times my iPhone 13 connects flawlessly to the MG via Bluetooth and at other times - I have to reintitate the entire pairing process.

 

[AndyL61]

It's the same with my Android phone. Sometimes it connects as it should for maybe 5 days flawlessly. Then it asks to pair the phone, then it doesn't even request pairing , then it works well again. No pattern to it.

 

[mg4mc]

Mine requested a pairing again today, I went into the Bluetooth screen and noticed the phone was still listed right at the bottom of the screen. I tapped it and the phone connected without needing to pair again.

 

[jonney]

Mine requested a pairing again today, I went into the Bluetooth screen and noticed the phone was still listed right at the bottom of the screen. I tapped it and the phone connected without needing to pair again.

Good find. Will try that. At least that'll avoid the pile up of 'MG' devices on the phone.

 

[AdyC]

Mines all fixed and has worked everytime over the last 3 days on both mine and the missus phone Prior to this the phone had to be paired everytime we got in the car.
I did a reset of the headunit then changed the phone pairing name on the headunit ffrom MG to Adys MG4. (you dont have to call it this you can use your own name and title). Once i did this it connected straight away and after 5 to 6 short journeys has been faultless. Missus called from the car this morning and hers also paired straightaway . Fingers crossed .Both android phones.

 

[jonney]

Mines all fixed and has worked everytime over the last 3 days on both mine and the missus phone Prior to this the phone had to be paired everytime we got in the car.
I did a reset of the headunit then changed the phone pairing name on the headunit ffrom MG to Adys MG4. (you dont have to call it this you can use your own name and title). Once i did this it connected straight away and after 5 to 6 short journeys has been faultless. Missus called from the car this morning and hers also paired straightaway . Fingers crossed .Both android phones.

You mean reset by holding home button or using factory reset in settings?

 

[AdyC]

Yes. You may not need to do it but I thought I would start a fresh.

 

[drivethru]

Mines all fixed and has worked everytime over the last 3 days on both mine and the missus phone Prior to this the phone had to be paired everytime we got in the car.
I did a reset of the headunit then changed the phone pairing name on the headunit ffrom MG to Adys MG4. (you dont have to call it this you can use your own name and title). Once i did this it connected straight away and after 5 to 6 short journeys has been faultless. Missus called from the car this morning and hers also paired straightaway . Fingers crossed .Both android phones.

It seems Androids are facing less pairing issues that IPhones.

 

[Deanicus]

Makes sense ; however the issue is intermittent. At times my iPhone 13 connects flawlessly to the MG via Bluetooth and at other times - I have to reintitate the entire pairing process.

After further reading, the randomisation schedule is sometimes defined by the "manufacturer" i.e. whoever supplies the firmware of the bluetooth module. I also believe it can be controlled by the OS of the host device (in this case the Android build used in the car). It's possible that this schedule is also randomised so sometimes it could be days, others it could be minutes or hours

It also appears that the randomisation happens when the bluetooth transmitter is restarted. This could be scheduled in software too but can also be after a hardware restart. I'd suggest MG are not the first to have issues like this but for things like phones, where you rarely restart, it might not be as noticeable. However given that the infotainment system in the MG4 shuts down and restarts very regularly, it is much more noticeable

I'm not a dev nor an engineer but based on what I've read, a poorly implemented bluetooth mac randomisation schedule makes the most sense to me. Good news is that it seems it can be fixed in software

Something else interesting I've just seen. If you go into the secret menu and go to the bluetooth/wlan section, device name is NA despite my phone being connected.

The equivalent section in WLAN shows my wifi network name.

Wonder if it is related? Perhaps the device is not remembering the devices it is paired to. Your phone remembers and it is it that re-establishes the connection. Then when the mac address changes, your phone can no longer make the connection as the pairing code associated with the mac address is different and the car has no memory of the phone so sees it as a new device?

 

[fshuk1]

I am certain most of these problems are the car's software issue. Not only that, the car's running of the software is not always the same. So problems come and go depending on how the car runs the software this tome as opposed to the last time etc. Listen to this section all the way and you see why r33 etc is not relevant. IT IS HOW THEY UPDATED THE SOFTWARE.

 

[Byrnie]

I also think it's a Trophy problem unless anyone knows different? Saying it's the phones is ridiculous. I would have asked which phones work then ? Lots of people have this issue, as usual MG are trying to pretend there's nothing wrong.

Hi, i had the recent software update (end April) on my MG4 Trophy and now the bluetooth pairing is lost every time i stop using the car. It’s super frustrating and was totally fine before, so it’s nothing to do with the phone. I’ll update when i get some feedback from MG…

 

[AndyL61]

Hi, i had the recent software update (end April) on my MG4 Trophy and now the bluetooth pairing is lost every time i stop using the car. It’s super frustrating and was totally fine before, so it’s nothing to do with the phone. I’ll update when i get some feedback from MG…

Yeah if everything working updates can cause more issues. Hope you get it sorted. But try changing the name on your car's Bluetooth. It shouldn't really make any difference but I changed mine nearly a week ago and it hasn't had to re pair once since. Now watch it forget now I've said that.

Yeah if everything working updates can cause more issues. Hope you get it sorted. But try changing the name on your car's Bluetooth. It shouldn't really make any difference but I changed mine nearly a week ago and it hasn't had to re pair once since. Now watch it forget now I've said that.

Well I said it and went out to the car and it asked to be paired. So there you go , still does it.

 

[kounanz]

Mines all fixed and has worked everytime over the last 3 days on both mine and the missus phone Prior to this the phone had to be paired everytime we got in the car.
I did a reset of the headunit then changed the phone pairing name on the headunit ffrom MG to Adys MG4. (you dont have to call it this you can use your own name and title). Once i did this it connected straight away and after 5 to 6 short journeys has been faultless. Missus called from the car this morning and hers also paired straightaway . Fingers crossed .Both android phones.

This worked for me. 1 week straight without losing pairing. Fingers crossed it will keep that way. Many thanks for the tip!

 

[Paul225]

After further reading, the randomisation schedule is sometimes defined by the "manufacturer" i.e. whoever supplies the firmware of the bluetooth module. I also believe it can be controlled by the OS of the host device (in this case the Android build used in the car). It's possible that this schedule is also randomised so sometimes it could be days, others it could be minutes or hours

It also appears that the randomisation happens when the bluetooth transmitter is restarted. This could be scheduled in software too but can also be after a hardware restart. I'd suggest MG are not the first to have issues like this but for things like phones, where you rarely restart, it might not be as noticeable. However given that the infotainment system in the MG4 shuts down and restarts very regularly, it is much more noticeable

I'm not a dev nor an engineer but based on what I've read, a poorly implemented bluetooth mac randomisation schedule makes the most sense to me. Good news is that it seems it can be fixed in software

Something else interesting I've just seen. If you go into the secret menu and go to the bluetooth/wlan section, device name is NA despite my phone being connected.

The equivalent section in WLAN shows my wifi network name.

Wonder if it is related? Perhaps the device is not remembering the devices it is paired to. Your phone remembers and it is it that re-establishes the connection. Then when the mac address changes, your phone can no longer make the connection as the pairing code associated with the mac address is different and the car has no memory of the phone so sees it as a new device?

Driving me mad - had to re-pair iPhone 3 times yesterday - sometimes iPhone does not get the pairing code from my MG4 screen - must be a major software problem - do I need to go to the secret menu - if so how is this done please ??

 

[Mojomarm]

Just had this issue on my Trophy after its software update to R33 on Weds to try and fix the DAB radio signal dropping out intermittently. Never had a Bluetooth issue before when on R30 but changed the name of the car and it seems to be ok. I did need to restart my phone though as the car could see that but not vice versa at first.
Sounds like I need to be prepared to do this every few days

 

[tsedge]

I will try the same (changing the name) and see if it fixes the problem.