Possible MFI hearing aid bug

Might you mean iOS17.0.3?

About the time iOS 17 was released my aids' app pushed new firmware to the aids. The release notes did not say a lot but did say mFI support was improved. I know over the years major iOS releases have caused my aids to get firmware updates from time to time. All of this is a long way of asking have ou checked if there is new firmware available for the aids? Some aids can be updated via the app doing it yourself, while others require an audiologist to do it.

I think she meant iOS 17.1 beta 3
By the way, 17.1 RC just dropped, for those who are on the Developer track.

Howdy Deborah,

I have had some somewhat random difficulties with my own hearing aids of late. It happens on a nearly daily basis, but I am not quite certain how to consistently reproduce the problem to prove my point. Here is how it usually shows up...

I wear Oticon Opn S 1 miniRITE hearing aids, circa Spring 2019. They are MfI hearing aids. I also frequently put on AirPods Pro or Beats Flex headphones while my hearing aids are still in place. When I put on other headphones, the hearing aids continue to work for hearing the outside world, but music is sent through the headphones. I do that primarily because I like the ability to move ahead in a playlist and adjust volume without having to grab my iPhone. Now, until recently, as soon as I disconnect the AirPods Pro or the Beats Flex, the streaming would always automatically go back to my hearing aids. That no longer happens each and every time. now, at least once a day, I have to do one or more of the following, one or more times: Reboot the hearing aids, turn off and then turn on VoiceOver, and on rarer occasion, I completely reboot the phone. Now, when this happens, I can still get sound through the phone speakers, but I really prefer not to do that. I really want the streaming of VoiceOver, books and music to seamlessly switch back to my hearing aids, as they have done for years.

I should note that my hearing aids work very well, but they are four years old and I may replace them in the next year or so, in part, to get some of the new features that they offer. Still, it is a minor pain to have to work so hard to get them to reconnect after using the AirPods Pro or the Beats Flex.

Thanks for sharing your observation,

Morgan

Hi Morgan,
After disconnecting the headsets have you checked the Device Playback in Control Center? Perhaps iOS 17 is defaulting to speakers instead of mFI for a time? If changing the playback device in Control Center to mFI fixes the VoiceOver streaming for you without having to do all the reboot steps you can create shortcuts in the Shortcuts app to change playback device destination. I have two buttons on my home screen that call shortcuts defined in the Shortcuts app to switch between mFI and iPhone speakers for just this type of scenario.