Phonak Marvel Bluetooth

So, I’ll just need a single app, the MyPhonak app? I’m to be upgraded to Marvels in about three weeks. When I went to the app store to get a head start, there seemed to be 3 or 4 apps, and I couldn’t quite tell if there were some redundancy, or if I’d need more than one.

For some weird reason, I feel a need to start now with rearranging the apps on my iPhone so that they’re organized properly once I get my hands on the Marvel…finally [I’ve only waited a year…my audi forgot to call me back last October…;-( ]

That is correct. You will only need the new MyPhonak app (there was a previous version but I believe the App store now only has the new one). When you pick up your new Marvel aids your audiologist should have already updated them to the Marvel 2.0 firmware and he/she should show you how to pair them with the new MyPhonak app as part of you initial setup with him/her. The old Phonak Remote app functionality is now built into the MyPhonak app so you won’t need it either.

Hi, Is there a sound delay when connected to a laptop?

O.K. I got the firmware update to my Marvels today and am happy to report that the Bluetooth streaming did seem much better … although not perfect. I would guess that on a 15 minute walk I only had two brief cutouts that were a fraction of a second each … and I can live with that.

Just played a movie on my 2019 iMac 5K and had NO audio delay streaming to my Marvels. And streaming music audio from my iMac to my Marvels is a noticeable improvement over listening to music using my Bose stereo speakers mounted just above my desk. Very cool.

And one other thing I just noticed on the MyPhonak app for iPhone … the ability to adjust the balance between streaming and mic volumes (see screenshot below). So, while you are streaming music you can totally mute the mics by moving the slider all the way to the right … or if you want to listen to music but have the mics active to hear others in the room, just move the slider to the left. Also very cool.

Sounds like an extreme improvement! For me (i haven’t updated yet I will on thursday) when i go out for just a few mins it’s non-stop cuttouts.

@bentsn1 said:

the severity of cutouts varies as I walk to differing locations

What kind of “cutouts” do you get? Do both HA’s cut out or only one?

Also, where is your phone located when this happens?

It’s more likely due to signal strength from the phone or multipath nulls from reflection off objects near you than it is interference with WiFi. I’ve never heard of BT failing in the presence of even dense WiFi.

Not saying it can’t happen, but it’s just not something I’ve ever seen in my years of professional engineering experience with WiFi, BT, and other forms of 2.4GHz streaming.

We have dense WiFi in my neighborhood. I haven’t gone walking while BT streaming yet, but when I did with my Bose headphones, I would get occasional dropouts when my phone was in my left front pocket. They would go away if I carried my phone in either hand, not pressed against the body.

I get cutouts of both kinds … both aids, sometimes just left aid, and sometimes just right aid. Cutouts decrease when iPhone is closer to my left primary aid, so now iPhone is now carried in my left shirt pocket. My experience is limited to my daily walks around the block, but cutouts seem most severe when crossing the street in front of my house … by my thinking when I am in unobstructed range of the most WiFi signals. Yesterday I ordered an iPod Nano Gen 7 which I plan to clip to my cap for Bluetooth audio streaming, while only being an inch or so from the aids. We shall see how that works!! BTW, I get same cutouts when streaming from an iPad, an Apple Watch, or a MacBook!

Have had the M90s since February, 13Ts. They are great!

Yesterday I went to the audiologist and got the firmware upgrade. Even did a remote access test in the office, no problem.

The old Remote app from Phonak still works fine, but I’m having an issue with the new myPhonak app. It comes up in “remote control mode”, but it never connects. I see “Left connecting…” and “Right connecting…” with spinning green circles by each of them. At the bottom of the screen, it says “Connecting, this may take some time…” No kidding! After numerous tries, I’ve even waited as long as 6 minutes before finally giving up.

The thing is, the app does see the hearing aids. If I open the battery doors, I immediately get the red retry buttons, it immediately knows. So it’s seeing them but can’t connect to them? The other sections of the app seem to work just fine. It’s just that the remote control section won’t connect, and that’s really the most important part of the app!

My audiologist gave up, I told him I would play with it after getting home. I did, a number of times, but I’m still stuck.

Any ideas?

@bentsn1 said:

I get cutouts of both kinds … both aids, sometimes just left aid, and sometimes just right aid. Cutouts decrease when iPhone is closer to my left primary aid, so now iPhone is now carried in my left shirt pocket.

So (to recap for myself) since Phonak doesn’t support MFi, you’re running BT to your L HA, and Phonak is shuttling it to the R with BT. It’s possibly about that reflection dependence to get from L to R, depending on your immediate surroundings. The only thing that doesn’t make sense is when only your L aid cuts out, if that’s the dominant one. Because Phonak Marvel doesn’t support MFi or ASHA, it always has to go through the BT “dominant” side, in your case, the L.

I like your iPod Nano idea! As to the rest, I’m beginning to think that there are some mysteries that Man is not meant to understand.

@jelks.cabaniss said:

The old Remote app from Phonak still works fine, but I’m having an issue with the new myPhonak app. It comes up in “remote control mode”, but it never connects.

Uninstall the old app. If you connect with your old app, and it’s still running in the background, or it doesn’t release the BLE device instance, your new app will never connect.

With my current (old) firmware and app, if I connect once, and then have any kind of issue and try to connect again, I can never again get a connection until I reboot the HAs. But I only have one instance of an app running.

Uninstall the old app, reboot your phone, power cycle the HA’s, and then run only the new app. I think it will connect.

Uninstalled the Remote app. Rebooted the phone twice and power cycled the HA’s twice. The myPhonak app still doesn’t “connect” in remote control mode…

Gary, I have a Samsung Note 9.

This is what I did, Remove the old app, go into bluetooth , forget both hearing aids, then reconnect hearing aids then open new app it should connect.