I recently had the frustrating experience of trying to figure out why Bluetooth devices wouldn’t connect properly to my iPhone 16 Pro Max. I bought the phone on launch day, and it seemed fine at first. However, in December 2024, I started noticing instability.

The annoying issue was that any Bluetooth device paired to the phone would randomly fail to reconnect after a certain period. The timing was unpredictable. AirPods would connect but then fail to work, CarPlay would rarely function unless I completely re-paired the device (and even then, it was hit or miss), and I noticed my Apple Watch wasn’t connecting either. Passkeys wouldn’t work properly, and the Bluetooth connection was just unreliable across the board. After searching through iOS settings without finding a solution, I took to Google, looking up variations of “Bluetooth disconnects after some time” and “AirPods Pro connect but fail after x minutes.” I tried all the typical fixes, like resetting network settings, turning off AirDrop, unpairing and repairing devices, and deleting devices to reduce the device count (though I wasn’t sure why that would help). Nothing seemed to work.

One thing that did have partial success was performing a full reboot of the phone. After a hard reboot, Bluetooth would function correctly for a while, but eventually, it would fail to connect again. This reboot seemed to reset something, but I wasn’t sure if it was a hardware or software issue.

I began to suspect it was a bug in iOS. I waited eagerly for each point release after 18.0, hoping the bug would be fixed, but no luck with any updates. At one point, I wondered if something in my home office environment was causing interference, but this theory was quickly discarded as the issue persisted with CarPlay in multiple vehicles and locations.

The issue was clearly related to the phone itself. By January, I was making more calls on my iPhone, and not having headphones was becoming a real problem. So, I decided to contact Apple Support. You might wonder why I didn’t reach out sooner. As I indicated, I don’t often use Bluetooth, it wasn’t a priority for me until now. Apple Support ran through the same troubleshooting steps I had already tried. They performed several diagnostics and confirmed that all hardware tests showed normal results. The representative acknowledged my frustration and offered a replacement. Normally, I’d have gone ahead with it, but I have several MFA tokens, and setting up a new phone sounded like a huge hassle. I told them I’d do more testing and asked for a follow-up call in a week to decide whether to proceed with a replacement.

Later that same day, while absentmindedly looking at my phone on my desk, a thought crossed my mind: could it be the case? The case I was using was a “CASEKOO Titanium 360° Rotatable Magnetic Stand for iPhone 16 Pro Max.” I had been happy with Casekoo cases for previous iPhones, so I did not hesitate to get this one.

I removed the case and tested my AirPods Pro. Success! When I checked the Bluetooth device list, I saw my Apple Watch was connected. I left the case off for the next two days and tested my various Bluetooth devices—everything worked perfectly. So, it turned out the case was causing the problem.

I then put the phone back in the case and tested it again. This time, Bluetooth worked fine, with no issues over several days.

I’m not sure if the phone was getting into a strange state while using inductive charging and removing it from the case fixed the issue, but I’m still testing it. I’ll update this if anything changes.

I’m posting this for anyone else who might be dealing with a similar issue.

While I doubt this would ever take off in the US it’s interesting to see.

The digital documents will be linked to the VIN and a QR code that, when scanned with a digital device, will reveal detailed information about the sources and nature of the raw materials prior to manufacturing, along with post-manufacturing details, such as capacity and condition

Source: Autocar

Now I realize there are always two sides to every story and don’t believe everything you read on the internet. With that said I have read more and more of these stories.

If this is even remotely true, this is utter and totally insanity and should be a huge red flag for Airbnb would be hosts.

Here's the story of how I ended up pregnant and homeless and in over $300,000 of debt after Airbnb guests flooded my home

Source: Coach Erika on X 

I wanted to put this out there in case some other poor savage goes down this road. Plugging a Ziply fiber connection into a EdgeRouter 4 will most likely see you dropping packets randomly. This is due to the MTU size needing to be adjusted. In my case, the default value in use was 1500. I needed to set it to 1492 to eliminate the issue. I screwed around with numerous equipment swap outs and resets trying to figure out what was going on. I have had to set the MTU for an ISP exactly once in my life (this being it) and I have consulted for a great many years. I have a redundant Internet connection. The failures would see me ping ponging between connections (driving me insane in the process). The fix:

SSH into your router (or CLI in the GUI) and do the following:

configure
set interfaces ethernet ethX pppoe X mtu 1492
set firewall options mss-clamp mss 1452
set firewall options mss-clamp interface-type all
commit;save

Reboot your router and you should be good. You can also do this in the GUI. Select your WAN interface (via DASHBOARD tab) and click config. You will see the MTU value there. Next, you can go to config tree and then firewall / options / mss-clamp : Enable IPv4 TCP MSS clamping for specified interface types. Set the value of 1452. Save and reboot.

Hope this helps you!

Stumbled across this on the internetz. Interesting documentary on Fog Creek software. Well worth the view.

Source: Michael Lynch Website

Well this is not a good look at any level

Source

Well this is an interesting read on Intels new PowerVia technology.

PowerVia by way of Spectrum.ieee