Soundcore Flare driver update to support Windows 10 breaks bluetooth for iPhone & Android

#1

Product: Soundcore Flare (SCF) model A3161
Issue: Bluetooth connectivity with iPhone & Android
Description: after updating driver to support Windows 10, the SCF now connects beautifully with Windows 10 (Lenovo Yoga 710-14ikb) however, the SCF is no longer visible to iPhone or Android phone.

deleted all previous bluetooth connections with SCF
turned off laptop bluetooth
turn on SCF, bluetooth indicator is fast0double-flashing but not visible to iphone/android.
turn on laptop, SCF is visible and able to connect to laptop (Windows 10).
Anker Support went thru all basic stuff, power on/off (both Flare and phone); delete all previous connections; reset Flare by turning upside down and hold play/pause button.

Bottom line, SCFlare was working with any phone, then updated driver to also work with Windows 10, now SCFlare works ONLY with Windows 10.

Anyone have any suggestions?

#2

As far I see you updated the WIN bt driver.
That’ right?

I would delete the speaker first from all bt lists (phones and WiN)
then do a reconnection to the phones first.
Then add it to the Win bt list.
You should play around with this vice and versa.

1 Like
#3

This speaker does not support multiconnect, i.e. it is not meant to connect to two things at once, but Windows 10 when you updated drivers, so Windows 10 then worked, meant the speaker keeps connecting to Windows 10 and so it cannot connect to phone. Make sense?

To fix this, alter the sequence.

Turn the bluetooth off on laptop and phone.
Turn the speaker off.
Turn the phone bluetooth on - nothing else, not laptop on
Turn the speaker on.

It should connect to the phone now.

What may be happening since you updated is you have incorrectly assumed you can connect to both the laptop and the phone at the same time, or when you connect to laptop it locks the speaker a bluetooth version your phone cannot handle, and to unlock the version have to power off/on speaker.

Windows 10 keeps trying to reconnect to anything paired with it, so once you got your laptop working better, it’s now fighting the speaker connecting to anything else. So don’t pair a speaker with laptop and phone, if you want to pair to both you must turn the laptop bluetooth off to make it work with phone.

Note even speakers which are not meant to connect to 2 at once, sometimes work, but rarely if radically different devices, particularly Windows and anything else are the least successful, but some will connect to two Android devices if you’re lucky.

#4

Response: Turn laptop OFF so not ability to connect to speaker… deleted speaker from all bt lists (iPhone, android, Win); then tried reconnect with iPhone and android - but the speaker is not visible; then tried reconnect with Win, speaker visible, reconnect successful, speaker and laptop Win 10 work as expected.
At this point, Goal is to connect to phone with Bluetooth, Win 10 not necessary (can use aux plug for laptop connection to speaker).

Additional background: I updated the Soundcore Flare FIRMWARE (from site: https://www.soundcore.com/update-firmware ~ using these pdf instructions: https://d2211byn0pk9fi.cloudfront.net/spree/upload_files/75461/A3161_Soundcore_Flare_Firmware_Update_Instructions_V1.0.pdf?1545701246).

Problem/Issue: Update completed per the instructions >>> delete existing Soundcore Flare Bluetooth connections; Soundcore Flare is not visible to iPhone/android Bluetooth scans for reconnect; works IS visible to Win 10 Bluetooth scan, reconnect successful, works as expected.

Summary: Speaker worked with iPhone/android phones; updated speaker firmware to also work with Win 10 per Anker instructions; speaker works with Win 10, does not work with iPone/android.

#5

One thing!!!

Is the phone OFF when connecting to win10.
No double connection possible,

#6

also turn speaker off then on. Speaker once connected to a newer bluetooth version often won’t connect to older version until it has been power cycled.

The issue is arising because of all the different diverse set of devices being used.