Bluetooth trouble is often encountered when pairing. If your Galaxy Note9 can’t seem to pair with another Bluetooth device, you should troubleshoot the issue to know where it’s coming from. Follow our suggestions below on how to fix Bluetooth won’t pair issue on your Note device.
Causes for Bluetooth won’t pair issue
There are a number of possible reasons why your Note9 is having trouble connecting to another Bluetooth device. Below are some of the most common ones:
- incompatibility issue
- spacing or range between devices
- low power
- devices are not setup properly for pairing
- interference
- software glitch
Incompatibility between Bluetooth devices is real. Before you try doing some troubleshooting on your Galaxy Note9 or on the other Bluetooth device, it’s a good idea to know if there’s a chance that incompatibility is a factor. If both devices were able to pair up before, then you can skip this check. However, if it’s your first time to connect your Note9 to, say, your car’s Bluetooth, there’s a real chance that there exists an incompatibility issue between them.
Keep in mind that there’s no universal standard for Bluetooth devices. Car makers tend to use a third party Bluetooth system on their vehicles and sometimes, such systems can be outdated. While older Bluetooth devices may still be able to work with newer and regularly updated Bluetooth systems on phones, the profiles they use may not work 100%. This is the reason why some cars that use older Bluetooth may suddenly fail to pair or use previously working functionality when a phone gets an update.
Newer Bluetooth devices are designed to work with older Bluetooth versions but there may still be hiccups from time to time. Every manufacturer can’t support every Bluetooth device so there’s still a chance that something may not work right.
Phones like the Galaxy Note9 are Bluetooth Smart Ready, which means that it utilizes the latest Bluetooth 4.0 technology to connect to other Bluetooth Smart devices. If your Note9 fails to pair with your car or your Bluetooth device, it’s possible that such device or your car does not support Bluetooth Smart. Unfortunately, there’s nothing much that you can do about it and you must upgrade that device if you want to use your Note9 for streaming information.
Prepare the device to pair. This is basic. Before pairing, make sure that both devices are configured to receive each other’s request for pairing by turning them on. If only one device is powered on, the other one won’t obviously detect it. This may seem obvious but a lot of people dealing with Bluetooth pairing issue fail to check this. Depending on the device you’re trying to connect to your Note9, light indicators are the best way to know whether or not everything is set up.
Distance matters. Just like any other wireless device, proximity is a major consideration when pairing Bluetooth devices with your Note9. This may not be applicable for car Bluetooth cases but you should consider this if you are trying to deal with a much larger space like in a building or home. Most Bluetooth connections are only good if it’s within range of 30 ft. if you are working in a big house or building and there’s Bluetooth pairing issue, the distance between devices must be checked. Obstructions like glass, metal surfaces, thick, reinforced concrete walls can also significantly affect Bluetooth signal. When pairing, try to get both devices as close as possible.
Power issues. Older Bluetooth devices are notorious power hogs. While this is no longer the case with devices running Bluetooth 4.0, like the one on your Note9, the other device may be. This won’t apply to your car as it gets power straight from the battery but it can be the case for stand alone ones. Make sure that the device with the problem is connected to a charger or has enough battery level before pairing.
Check for signal interference. As mentioned briefly above, Bluetooth signals can become problematic if something affects it. Bluetooth is unregulated so there are many sources of interference that can affect its signals. If you seem to be having a problem pairing only in one particular place, that’s probably because there is another device that blocks or affects your Bluetooth signals. If you’re having an issue pairing your car with your Note9, try driving away from that location and that should fix it.
If you’re trying to work with a fixed Bluetooth device like a speaker in your home, there might be other factors to consider.
In some cases, wifi signals can also affect Bluetooth. If you have a portable wifi device, try turning it off to see if it makes a difference.
How to fix Bluetooth pairing issue on your Galaxy Note9
As far as troubleshooting on your device is concerned, these are the things that you can try:
Forced reboot. Refreshing the system is one of ways to fix temporary Bluetooth bugs. In this case, try to simulate the effects of a battery pull with these steps:
- Press and hold the Power + Volume Down buttons for approximately 10 seconds or until the device power cycles. Allow several seconds for the Maintenance Boot Mode screen to appear.
- From the Maintenance Boot Mode screen, select Normal Boot. You can use the volume buttons to cycle through the available options and the lower left button (below the volume buttons) to select. Wait for up to 90 seconds for the reset to complete.
Reset network settings. Making sure that your Note9 has all the right network settings is important. You can do that by clearing the current network setup. Here’s how it’s done:
- From the Home screen, swipe up on an empty spot to open the Apps tray.
- Tap Settings > General Management > Reset > Reset network settings.
- Tap RESET SETTINGS.
- If you have set up a PIN, enter it.
- Tap RESET SETTINGS. Once complete, a confirmation window will appear.
Install updates. This is to lessen the chances of your device getting app and software bugs. Some network problems including Bluetooth errors may be coming from poor coding which only an update can fix. Make sure to keep Android and apps up-to-date.
Clear cache partition. Some forms of network errors and caused by a corrupted system cache. Try to clear your device’s cache partition to keep the system cache in good shape. Here’s what you need to do:
- Turn off the device.
- Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Bixby key, then press and hold the Power key.
- When the green Android logo displays, release all keys (‘Installing system update’ will show for about 30 – 60 seconds before showing the Android system recovery menu options).
- Press the Volume down key several times to highlight ‘wipe cache partition’.
- Press Power button to select.
- Press the Volume down key until ‘yes’ is highlighted and press the Power button.
- When the wipe cache partition is complete, “Reboot system now” is highlighted.
- Press the Power key to restart the device.
Factory reset your device. This is a bit extreme for a Bluetooth issue but if you suspect that there’s a problem with the software, you can wipe the device. To prevent losing your personal data, be sure to back them up ahead of time. You can follow this link on how to create a backup using Smart Switch.
Once you’ve secured your data, do these steps to factory reset your Galaxy Note9:
- Create a backup of your data.
- Turn off the device.
- Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Bixby key, then press and hold the Power key.
- When the green Android logo displays, release all keys (‘Installing system update’ will show for about 30 – 60 seconds before showing the Android system recovery menu options).
- Press the Volume down key several times to highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset’.
- Press Power button to select.
- Press the Volume down key until ‘Yes — delete all user data’ is highlighted.
- Press Power button to select and start the master reset.
- When the master reset is complete, ‘Reboot system now’ is highlighted.
- Press the Power key to restart the device.