Like most modern smartphones, the Samsung Galaxy S6 includes Bluetooth, which provides a convenient way to connect your phone to accessories such as headsets, speakers, and even your car’s entertainment center. Bluetooth is fantastic when it works, but it can be frustrating when the system goes awry, and your phone fails to connect to other devices. Here are some tips to help you troubleshoot your Bluetooth connection.
Toggle Bluetooth on/off
The first step in troubleshooting Bluetooth on your Samsung phone is the most simple one — just try turning the service on and then off. Open the Settings and then Connections. Select Bluetooth and use the toggle to turn it off. Wait 10 seconds and then turn it back on.
Remove and reconfigure the Bluetooth profile
If one device is giving you difficulty, your best option to restore the Bluetooth connection is to remove the device from your phone and then restore it. Open Setting > Bluetooth and find your device in the list of paired devices. Select the device and then tap “Forget.” to remove the device’s Bluetooth profile from your phone.
Once removed, you must pair the device with your Galaxy S6 before you can use it. Open Settings > Bluetooth and confirm that Bluetooth is turned on. Then put the Bluetooth in pairing mode by following the manufacturer’s instructions. When the Bluetooth device is discoverable, your Galaxy S6 should locate it and prompt you to pair with the accessory. Authorize this pairing and follow the prompts to configure the connection. When you are done, the device should appear in the list of paired devices.
This removal and reconfiguration process often fixes whatever was broken in the original connection.
Wipe the Bluetooth cache
Wiping the Bluetooth cache will remove the temporary files created by the system to manage your Bluetooth connections. Just go to Settings > Application Manager and display all the tabs by swiping left or right on the screen. Find the Bluetooth tab and select the option to force quit the service. Then choose to clear the Bluetooth cache and confirm that you want to clear the Bluetooth data. Select OK to finish the process and then reboot your phone.
Boot into Safe Mode
Safe mode is a useful tool as it disables all third-party apps, allowing you to determine if your problem is being caused by any of the apps you’ve installed on your phone. Booting into safe mode is easy — simply power off your Galaxy S6 and then power it back on while simultaneously holding don the power button and the Volume Down button. Keep holding the Volume down button during the startup process. You can release it when the Home screen appears. If you’ve done it correctly, it should say “Safe Mode” in the lower left. To exit out of safe mode, just power off the Galaxy S6 and turn it back on using only the power button.
Once in safe mode, you can test the Bluetooth connection to see if it works. If Bluetooth works, then the issue lies with one of the third-party apps on your phone. If the device still fails to connect, then you know the problem is with the accessory or the Android operating system.
