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Giving up on Phonak app

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Phonak Lumity 90 rechargeable
Before Phonak upgraded their app (Jun 2023 or so) to always connected, it was a pain to reconnect the hearing aids to the app, but at least my hearing aids connected.
Once Phonak upgraded to the ‘always connected’ feature, things worked well for about 2 months. But now it seems only one side connects, sometimes the left, sometimes the right. Sometimes neither side connects. On rare occasions, I can get both sides to connect to the app, but then my hearing aids don’t connect to my phone. To try and troubleshoot, I’ve used a different android phone with the same results.
About the only thing I need the phone app for is to allow me to mute when listening to podcasts. I live near a large airport and aircraft noise pretty much drowns out the podcast. I know of no other way to mute my hearing aids when listening to podcasts.
I’ve exchanged a fair number of emails with the phonak app representatives, to no avail.
I’m guessing the problem is with the upgraded app. Is anyone else having a similar problem?
Finally, does anyone know of a way to mute phonak hearing aids without the use of the app? My old Oticons allowed me to long-down-press my left side that muted the hearing aids (but allowed me to listen to apps

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@johnsoles said:

Is anyone else having a similar problem?

General advice for connectivity issues with the app:
Make sure your phone is up to date software wise
Uninstall the app, remove your Bluetooth pairings
Reboot the phone
Repair in the Bluetooth
Install the app and pair in the app

Oticon Companion app not connecting to hearing aid
General advice for connectivity issues with the app: Make sure your phone is up to date software wise Uninstall the app, remove your Bluetooth/MFI pairings Reboot the phone Repair in the Bluetooth/MFI Install the app and pair in the app With Oticon the receiver wires house the antenna so if you consistently have one aid with connectivity issues it could be that the receiver wire needs replacing

In reply to @Zebras

@Zebras said:

Hold down the bottom button of HA but pretty sure it has to be activated within the Target Software.

Yes, it must have been activated in Target.
If not, the volume of the microphones can also be reduced by pressing one of the buttons “up” several times.
(Balance between microphones and streaming source).

Your audiologist can enable a “tap to pause streaming content” feature. If you mean "pause"when you say “mute” above. I chose not to, as I figured my eyeglasses would be erroneously activating it.

In reply to @Zebras

@Zebras said:

Hold down the bottom button of HA but pretty sure it has to be activated within the Target Software.

Yep! That’s how my own “mute” option was configured! I use it when taking naps, or in SUPER DUPER loud places.

Well… once in a while, I mute things if hubs is in a cranky mood, but that’s between ME and my AIDS. :wink:

I’m NO techie here, and don’t even have MyPhonak app installed, but make sure your phone (iPhone? Android?) has the latest OS installed.

It does seem odd that you are now experiencing probs with just one aid or the other. I have been having some streaming issues that impact just my RIGHT aid, but it sounds very different from what you are experiencing since updating to the “always connected” option.

I don’t know if you set up an account/profile with the app?? I did and had endless issues like yours, but both aids not connecting. Eventually I decided to delete my account, uninstalled/ reinstalled (again) the app and haven’t had any problem since. I can still use the app to control volume, mute and check battery status.

I’ve long thought the problem was more with the app than my phone or hearing aids. Uninstalling/reinstalling the app did no good. Here’s what finally seemed to clear the cobwebs:
Open settings
Scroll down and select APPs
Tap the See all options at the bottom
Tap the app name whose app cache you want to clear (Phonak)
Tape Storage and cache (2 images)
Select Clear cache
Tap Clear storage to clear data and cache.

Everything has been working as advertised now for 5 days.

Thanks for all the advice.

YE GODS is all I can say reading the posts above. If MyPhonak app is this flaky, I’d rather face two Presa Canarios than deal with the endless issues of uninstalling, re-installing, deleting account, getting a new one up (oh, and they’d probably have my laptop’s address and deny it). Yada, yada.

Not to mention one’s aids technically being monitored and controlled by Phonak. Some fine day, they’ll literally charge us for use by the minute, and if one doesn’t pay … your account will be frozen, and you’ll be left deaf as a stick out there. :neutral_face:

@1Bluejay

You don’t need an account to use the App. I’ve also never head to uninstall or reinstall the App, ever.

I wouldn’t say it was common at all. The App is very stable for me. Very stable.

I’ve been using the myPhonak app for a year and it’s been incredibly stable for the last 6 months. Most issues are actually people leaving too many Bluetooth devices on at the same time. When your app doesn’t connect on your phone it’s because the hearing aids are connected to another device nearby.

Jordan

In reply to @1Bluejay

I very rarely have issues, and they always stem from trying to connect to my personal phone via regular bluetooth for streaming while remaining connected to the app on my work phone via LE bluetooth. I set it up that way because I can’t always take my personal phone everywhere, but I prefer to use my personal phone for things like music, youtube videos, and personal calls. I tried having the app on both and switching between them, but found that to be more trouble than it was worth (though it did work). I never set up an account, and as far as I can tell, that never caused any problems. If I only had one phone, none of that would be an issue.

It is possible that the hearing aid has an older firmware, and the application requires a newer firmware to work better. If this is the case, then you need to see an audiologist to update your firmware.

I’ve just been give two Phonak Nathos Nova NHS hearing aids. Just for information, I am a retired professional electronics engineer with plenty of experience of using bluetooth etc so I am reasonably tech savvie.
My experience is that the app is extremely flakey and virtually useless. The fact that the reset process offered is such a rigamarole and that other problems are mentioned here confirms this. I have been trying to get the app to work, on and off, for about a week. When I first installed it, my hearing aids registered OK, I was able to tweak the settings using the app, but no audio from the phone and nothing with phone calls. Then the bluetooth packed up completely and I tried all the nonsense to re-register the hearing aids and it still failed.
Most bluetooth systems I have pair and work seamlessly. The Phonak app fails miserably.

In reply to @Banjoman

@Banjoman
Just checking. You are aware that there should be 3 bluetooth connections, and that the Phone/Audio connection is not connected to the app, or its Bluetooth LE connections?

I very rarely use the app, but that’s because I got an Audiologist to programme my hearing aids better (not the NHS aids, I add), which were badly programmed for my loss/needs

Peter

In reply to @PeterH

I have seen nowhere that there should be 3 bluetooth connections and there are only two showing on my phone. The User Guide tells me that I should be able to answer the phone when connected via the app, as well as receive other audio. On my Samsung Android phone, at least, the app appears incompetent.
At the moment, though, the app refuses to connect to my hearing aids even though I have followed the convoluted rigamarole for resetting the thing. Other bluetooth devices simply work with none of this nonsense. Would it not be reasonable to expect the Phonak device to be equally plug-and-play?

@Banjoman
Ok.
The app, when installed, will create the Left and Right LE connections. Once done, reboot the hearing aids, then go into Bluetooth and it should search and find (usually) the RHS hearing aid. Pair it. Your Bluetooth list should now look something like this:

Screenshot_20240108_182133_Settings

Yours may say R-NHS Hearing Aid.

Calls and Bluetooth use Bluetooth Classic, whereas the App uses Low Energy Bluetooth.

Once done, I’d suggest going into the App, select the devices page, select “Bluetooth Phonecall” and check Adaptive Bandwidth. This should improve call quality.

Screenshot_20240108_182615_myPhonak

You only connect 1 hearing aid. The stereo signal is split to the other side from a chip in the hearing aid.

Peter

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