Bluetooth on the Galaxy S21 series smartphone can be incredibly frustrating when it decides to not pair with your earbuds or headset. There are some ways we can work around these bugs that I can show you in this video.
This will work for the Samsung Galaxy S21, Galaxy S21+, Galaxy S21 Ultra, and the new Galaxy S21 FE series smartphones.
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Bluetooth on Android is a mess and even Google knows this right now. While the company works on fixing these limitations, I have a number of suggestions that may help fix your Bluetooth pairing connection troubles.
Whether Bluetooth randomly goes out or you’ve been unable to pair your headset with the Galaxy S21 from the start. These tips can help eliminate any software bugs.
The first thing is to simply reboot the phone. I understand how simple that sounds and you could be thinking to yourself “but I just restarted the phone recently” and I completely understand it.
But before we start trying these other steps out it’s often best to try the most simple ones first. I’ve had many people comment that a quick reboot helped fix their Bluetooth connection issues.
If that didn’t help, and it very well may not, then the next thing is to use a feature Google has built right into the Android OS specifically for instances like this.
You can find it in the General Management section of the Settings application and it will reset your network connections. This includes Bluetooth, WiFi, and Mobile Data connection.
This means any previously saved Bluetooth/WiFi devices will be deleted from the phone (and have to be manually added again). But nothing more (photos, video, and apps are safe) as your mobile data connection will come back automatically.
Again, even Google knows the software controlling Bluetooth can bug out sometimes and offers this feature to help. After resetting this connection, go ahead and reboot the phone again and then see if you can pair your Bluetooth earbuds with the Galaxy S21+.
If it still hasn’t fixed anything that’s okay. I have a couple of other things to suggest.
From here, we’ll want to open up the Settings app and then look in the Apps section. Enable the Show System Apps toggle and then tap the Bluetooth application in the list.
Then tap the Storage option before wiping both the App Cache as well as the App Data for the Bluetooth system app. Again, this will delete any previously saved Bluetooth devices but it’s needed to help clear out these bugs sometimes.
Try rebooting the phone again and then re-pair the Bluetooth device with the smartphone.
If it still has yet to fix the issue then we can also enable Developer Mode so that we can switch to a new (experimental) Bluetooth stack that Google has been writing from scratch using the Rust programming language. You’ll find that in the Developer Options section under the name Gabeldorsh.
Again, restart the phone after enabling this option and then try to use your devices again.
Failing all of these suggestions, it’s possible that there’s a deeper underlying bug causing these issues. Sometimes these bugs start when the firmware is installed at the factory. Sometimes they pop up after installing a new OTA update.
Whatever the reason, it’s possible that doing a full factory data reset will fix the issue. Or downloading a fresh copy of the Galaxy S21 Ultra firmware and manually flashing it to your phone using Odin (this does NOT require an unlocked bootloader).
These last two methods would completely eliminate any bugs in the software that would prevent you from pairing or using a Bluetooth device properly. If it’s still not working then it’s likely a compatibility issue with the brand/model. . .or maybe even a hardware-related issue (sometimes the Bluetooth chip goes bad).
Mentioned Links
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New Android Stack Details –
Developer Mode –
Full Tutorial
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1. Intro [00:00]
2. Restart the phone [01:25]
3. Reset Bluetooth Settings [02:30]
4. Delete Cached App Data [04:20]
5. Enable Experimental Bluetooth Stack [07:45]
6. Factory Data Reset [10:05]
The Gear I Use
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5W Amazon Charger –
MicroUSB Cable –
USB-C Cable –
TPU Cases –
