I have the iPhone 7Plus and the Series 4 Applewatch. I haven’t tried pairing to anything yet except my iPhone which works perfectly. So if I understand what you are saying, if I want to pair with the Applewatch, all I have to do is turn off bluetooth on the iPhone, power down my hearing aids, turn on my music on my watch which automatically opens the Bluetooth search function. then power my hearing aids up again?? Is that correct?
I believe that would work (just got them today, so more experimentation will be coming). For initial pairing, you can’t be connected to another device - so, turn off BT on phone, toggle HA’s off/on, then pair on Watch (which will connect automatically). To switch back to iPhone, toggle HA’s off/on, then connect on iPhone in BT settings. Let me know how it goes!
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I’m using a Samsung Galaxy, a Samsung tablet, and an iPhone 7.
Turning the heairng aid on and off and the trying to reconnect works to re-pair the samsung devices (i.e. I don’t need to scan for devices again, though it does pop up a notice saying “paired”) but not the iPhone, for which I consistently have to forget and re-scan.
Don’t understand when you say it worked for you. You made it sound nice by saying ‘simply’. Power off/on the hearing aid means removing it from the ears and open and close the battery door, which is not so simple, at least for me, infact too irritating. Maybe will do couple of times in the beginning if I am a fanboy of phonak but not more than that.
Maybe you have the rechargeable model so you may be able to use the button to restart. But still it may work only if the watch and the phone are your only gadgets. But for someone using a personal MacBook, work laptop, desktop and iPad, once connected to a different device and when a call comes, don’t think it’s so simple to power on/off the ha and then pair and then answer the call.
Indeed, I have the M-R’s, and I agree that the implementation is sub-standard. Changing devices to answer a call would be very annoying, I agree. Can you walk me through your use case(s) so I can understand more clearly what you’re trying to do?
Very interesting conversation but I think the issues that are described are not issues of the hearing aids but of the Bluetooth technology itself.
When Bluetooth Classic is used instead of Bluetooth BLE or Made For iPhone -and soon Made For Android-, it is not only that the battery drainage is greater, but that the hearing aids are not identified as hearing aids proper but as a Bluetooth receiver device such as a Bluetooth speaker or a Bluetooth headset. The hearing aids with Bluetooth Classic are simple Bluetooth audio receivers.
Think of your Bluetooth speakers at home. They are usually connected to the same audio source all the time (hi-fi, computer or TV) but never to several sources at the same time simply because the Bluetooth Classic protocol does not allow it. When you want to change the audio source that your Bluetooth speaker receives you have to change or manipulate something in the device that emits the audio not in the speaker. So the same with Bluetooth Classic hearing aids.
The problems that can be generated in a hearing aid with Bluetooth Classic are inherent to Bluetooth Classic that today is not a protocol designed for hearing aids or multi-device sound. It is necessary to improve or create and use Bluetooth protocols designed for hearing aids and the needs of its users.
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The following article under #2 heading says that Bluetooth Classic and Bluetooth LE use the same pairing protocol and the sections following #2 identify differences in transmission behavior (Bluetooth Classic is a continuous connection) as the principle difference between the two protocols.
According to the Bluetooth Wikipedia article, “piconets,” which support a master/slave relationship with up to 7 slave devices have been around since Bluetooth Classic. Perhaps it really is Phonak that is responsible for how it has implemented its Bluetooth, not the Bluetooth spec, as there seem to be plenty of options in the BT spec itself.
@jim_lewis So perhaps the problem is that in the “piconet” of a hearing aid user, the hearing aid does not play the Master role but the Slave role because of power consumption, hence the problems in the control of the entire Bluetooth ecosystem surrounding the hearing aid.
Yep, it could be smarter. They could have a BT control panel in the app, to control which paired device is allowed to have a connection. Of course they would have to support multiple simultaneous app connections, so you could control the connection from whichever Android or iOS device is at hand, phone or tablet or whatever.
Most of us have to forget the device and repair. I’m wondering if it matters which device you have. I know you have the iPhone XS which has its own issues, but maybe newer Bluetooth helps the issue we are having? Which iPad do you have?
FTR mine is iphone6s plus and iPad air2 Apple watch3
I have your same problems.
I have an iphone XS max, an iphone 6, an apple watch 4, an ipad pro (first generation), a macbook pro of 2012 and the gigaset SL450H.
Hmm, these devices are pretty funky when it comes to BT.
So has anyone gotten the Marvels to work with phone calls on Apple Watch that’s paired/connected? When I try, the phone rings in my HA’s, but when I answer, the call uses the watch’s audio input and output. Music works great direct from the Watch, but calls not so much.
As an aside, an actual headset works fine with standalone Apple Watch. So it seems the Marvels won’t connect to the Watch as a headset, which is … very odd.
Bluetooth is easy to turn off/on on Samsung devices. If you pair and connect, then turn off Bluetooth on that device (device 1), and pair and connect on the other Samsung device (device 2), THEN, turn Bluetooth off on device 2, and on, on device 1, and choose the Marvels to connect to, does it work?
So I have the Series 4 Apple Watch and an iPhone 7 Plus. My Marvels are paired only to my iPhone but my watch is also paired to my iPhone. When my phone receives a call it rings in my Marvels and also on my watch and my phone. If I press the toggle on my Marvels the call goes into my hearing aids. If I cancel the call on my watch it goes away. I use my watch to “screen” the call and then if I want to answer I use the toggle on my Marvels to answer the call. I have my Marvels paired to the phone but my watch is also paired to the phone. This is working well for me and I’m currently away from home through New Year’s so I haven’t yet tried to change anything.
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Saratoga - Thanks; mine works the same way. What I’m curious about is if the Watch can be used as a phone “properly” with Bluetooth (i.e. hear ringtone and call, and use HA mics); right now, I can’t get this to work.
Hi. Can you use your Watch standalone for phone calls? For me, I hear the ringer, but audio plays from the watch no matter what I do.
No. I can turn off the bluetooth on one in order to pair it to the other, but then when I go back to the first one (turning the bluetooth off on the second one) it will not automatically connect. I have to go into the bluetooth settings menu and select it again. However, I do not have to unpair and re-scan as I do with the iPhone.
So, wait, then yes. Maybe that’s what you were saying. I have to choose the Marvels again.
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I’ve had the same issue. But I don’t have cellular on my watch so I still need my phone nearby. I’ve also come to find its best to press the toggle up on HA to answer a call. Every time i answer by touching my watch I’m using the watch speakerphone. Yuck. When I had my Compilot I could answer the call on my watch. So this is a habit change for me.
I have not paired the watch to the HA in a long time. That would probably work, but then it’s hard to forget the device on the watch, so I end up staying connected to the phone unless I’m going to watch a movie on the iPad. Then I will go through the re-pairing hassle.
Sound quality in streaming is definitely great on the Marvel, and I’m still glad I returned the Quattros because that streaming sound was very unpleasant. Connectivity on the Quattros was much much better.
Actually, even when I answer a call while paired to my phone, it’s not going through my aids but the phone speaker. So changing habits to touch the Ha is the easiest fix there
I am happy with my combination of the iPhone, apple watch, and Marvels as I indicated above. Like you my apple watch is the GPS model so only works as a phone if my iPhone is within 30 feet or so, just like the Marvels.