10
votes
Pixel Buds Pro 2 help - frequent disconnects from phone
So this may be weird, I just got a new set of pixel buds pro 2 and they work great, except if I'm not playing audio on my phone they frequently disconnect and reconnect from my bluetooth - I can tell because I can hear the tones. But if I'm playing a podcast or YouTube video, no issue. Phone is a Pixel 7a and it doesn't do this with my old A buds, my car, etc. haven't tried pairing the buds to anything else yet.
I've updated firmware, restarted everything, checked settings, turned off the adaptive sound, with no change. Help?
I had a similar problem (buds A, and it happened while playing music too) but what helped was, I had a Pixel Watch which was usually connected to my phone, but if I put the watch into aeroplane mode, the buds never disconnected. I guess my watch's bluetooth radio was causing some kind of interference? I actually got the buds replaced at first because of this and the new set were no different at all. I ended up having the watch replaced for unrelated reasons and it stopped being a problem after that. Do you have anything else connected via Bluetooth when you're using the buds?
Now very occasionally the buds do do what you describe, but it's so infrequent that it doesn't inconvenience me.
I have a Fitbit (an old Charge 3 but that's it.) I can try disconnecting it and seeing if that makes a difference. But I don't have any other speakers or anything active.
I expect occasional disconnects, this is just constant... Every 30 sec or minute or so (I haven't timed it, I'll do that)
I had a problem with the OG Pixel Buds disconnecting like I was out of range when I was doing yardwork, despite the phone being in my pocket. It turned out the issue was that I was sometimes leaving the case open in the garage.
I'm not entirely certain why this mattered, but it was almost like my phone was connecting to Buds via case. Not sure if this could be the situation with you, but I figured it's worth mentioning.
The case is in the same spot (my pocket) regardless of whether I'm listening or not. That's the weird thing, this is only when audio isn't playing. If I listen to an audiobook, zero disconnects
Sony's XM lines don't, they connect directly from the earphones.
It only happens if the case is open, though. If I leave the case in the same spot but closed, I don't have any issues.
I frequently go for walks/runs with my Pixel Buds Pro and leave the case at home without issue, so they're clearly capable of directly connecting.
Hmm... seems like you are not alone:
maybe try disabling Bluetooth LE in the buds app ?
I have no idea what Bluetooth LE is and have not been able to find this setting in the pixel app. I read those before posting here and was unsuccessful in resolving my problem
I'm not finding anyone else reporting the same thing though of it only happening when I'm not listening to audio through them
That sounds really annoying. I had a stereo that would do that when using an AUX to cassette adapter. I empathize with you
Maybe you could try disabling or enabling multipoint bluetooth? That's the only other thing that I can think of which might help
Not sure what that setting is, if you can point me in the right direction?
ETA I also just have to joke that I'd call you old for that, but, I absolutely used the cassette to aux so..... We're old together.
I don't have a pixel nor pixel buds but you can find the settings location here :)
https://old.reddit.com/r/GooglePixel/comments/1fv6688/pixel_buds_pro_2_multipoint/
https://support.google.com/googlepixelbuds/answer/12319417?hl=en
It's alas, already off.
you could try toggling it on then. If it is connecting or disconnecting to other devices it should stop making noises at least when it switches. Even if you don't use multiple devices with it, turning it on could use a different code path where the "idle" mode has less bugs... it's worth a try anyway
I have never connected the buds to something else (well I have now because the support asked me to) but it doesn't seem to happen with the laptop. But if it's the phone idk why I'm having this issue now and not with any previous pixel buds.
Support basically said if it persists we can probably do a warranty replacement but I'm frustrated :(
So tried this setting. Ironically, if it's also connected to the computer it doesn't do this. But if on the phone alone it does. Which isn't useful really. Sigh
huh... that kind of information helps narrow down the problem. Sounds like the problem is likely a phone setting--maybe energy savings/battery saver related. Have you restarted the phone recently?
I guess you could try returning it and seeing if the hardware was defective but it really sounds like a software problem.
Checked the battery settings already. doing an update tonight and then we'll see.
I'm not entirely certain that when it's connected to the computer, it's not actively transmitting my voice the whole time in some way that makes it stay connected, but I don't seem to have a way to figure that out
And I agree, it sounds like it's software but my troubleshooting is pretty limited to doing everything on the lists of support Q&As
It's been a while since I had this issue with the Pixel Buds 2, but iirc, I fixed it by performing a factory reset on the buds. You've already done quite a bit of troubleshooting, but could be worth a shot if you haven't done that already.
I hadn't yet, this happened new out of the box. I'll try it along with the other troubleshooting steps suggested here. Then I'll brave Google support 😩