Users are having various Bluetooth issues after upgrading to Oreo

One of the features I've been especially looking forward to with Android 8.0 Oreo was the improved Bluetooth support. One of the first features to be announced was native support for high-quality Bluetooth audio codecs, and later on, we heard some members of the Pixel team describe how Oreo was going to improve Bluetooth errors and iconsistencies.

Android Police reports that Pixel and Nexus users with Oreo installed are still having issues, sometimes even worse than before the upgrade. On both the Pixel and Nexus help forums, users report connection issues, "skipping and clipping sounds" when playing music, Bluetooth phone call support working but media support broken, no media information being displayed on a car head unit, Bluetooth turning off a second after being turned on, and a device freezing up and rebooting when trying to listen to podcasts. There are different types of hardware represented such as car head units that are likely using an older Bluetooth version and headphones and speakers that would likely be on a newer Bluetooth version.

Google has used notoriously bad Bluetooth radios for years now, but with the changes promised in Oreo there was hope that Bluetooth would be more reliable. While a user should not have to do this, one thing I didn't see mentioned in the Google Product Forums was whether or not a user tried factory resetting their device. Google is collecting feedback from users, including specific Bluetooth devices and what issues are present. Hopefully, the Android and Pixel teams will be able to diagnose what's going wrong, and things will be better on Android 8.1 or 9.0.

Are you having Bluetooth issues after upgrading to Oreo? Let us know down below!

Tom Westrick