The Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ have been on sale for a few months now. Samsung has rolled out quite a few updates since the release of the handsets to squash all bugs that the handset initially shipped with. However, despite Samsung’s best efforts, the Galaxy S8 and S8+ continue to suffer from weird Bluetooth issues.
This is not entirely Samsung’s fault though since there are thousands of Bluetooth chips out there, with every device having its own implementation. While the Bluetooth issues on the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ is nowhere near as bad as the Google Pixel, there is no denying the fact that the handset does suffer from Bluetooth connectivity issues.
I have been facing a lot of Bluetooth connectivity issues on my Galaxy S8 and my Asus ZenWatch 3. The phone will end up losing connection to the watch every once in a while and sometimes, despite being connected, the watch and the phone fail to communicate with each other. If you are in the same boat as me, below are some tips that will help you in alleviating the Bluetooth connectivity issues that you are facing on your Galaxy S8 or S8+.
Restart Everything
The first tip to solve almost any problem with any device: restart. If Bluetooth on your Galaxy S8 starts acting wonky after a few days, it is likely that you will be able to solve the problem by restarting the handset. And if the handset loses connection to a particular device, you can try restarting that device as well to see if that solves the problem or not.
Pair Devices Again
If a restart does not help in fixing the Bluetooth connectivity issue that you are facing, it’s time to pair your Galaxy S8 with the device in question again. For this, you will first have to ‘forget’ the device from the Bluetooth section of the handset and then add it again. This should help solve connectivity woes, though this tip only works if you are facing Bluetooth issues with a particular device.
Car Infotainment System
If your Galaxy S8 is facing Bluetooth connectivity issues with your car’s infotainment system, there’s not much that you’d be able to do. The infotainment system of most cars ends up having issues with one handset or another either due to a bug in their own Bluetooth stack or with the handset in question. Most cars nowadays come with Android Auto support though which keeps such Bluetooth connectivity issues to a minimum.
Software Updates
This goes without saying but if you have not already, make sure that you are running the latest software available for your Galaxy S8 or S8+. Samsung has done a commendable job in rolling out software updates for the Galaxy S8 on a monthly basis packed with the latest security patch. These updates have helped solved most of the initial issues that the handset shipped with and should also help fix Bluetooth connectivity issues that you have been facing.
Factory Reset
If you still continue to face Bluetooth connectivity issues on your Galaxy S8 with almost all Bluetooth devices possible, you should consider doing a factory reset on the handset. Consider this as a last resort tip, though one that probably has the highest probability of working if Bluetooth connectivity on your Galaxy S8 is downright wonky. Doing a factory reset also means that all your installed apps, games, and important documents and photos will be erased. So make sure to back up them before proceeding with the reset process.
If the above steps did not help in fixing the Bluetooth issues that you have been facing on your Galaxy S8 then there’s really not much you can do. You can hope that a future software update from Samsung will help fix the issue but that’s a long wait. Similarly, it is also possible that while the Bluetooth on your Galaxy S8 is working fine right now, it might start exhibiting Bluetooth issues post a future software update. A similar thing happened with me and post the July update on my Galaxy S8+, the handset no longer works reliably with my Ford EcoSport’s infotainment system.
