How to Fix a Bluetooth Device That Connects Then Drops

The device pairs and connects, then drops seconds or minutes later, and reconnecting starts the cycle again. Work through these in order; most drops come from the first three.

Remove the device and pair it again

Go to Settings, Bluetooth & devices, find the device, click its three-dot menu, and choose Remove device. Put the device in pairing mode (usually hold its power or pairing button until the light flashes), then click Add device, Bluetooth, and pick it from the list.

Update the Bluetooth driver

Press Windows + X, choose Device Manager, expand Bluetooth, right-click the adapter (the entry naming Intel, Realtek, Qualcomm, or MediaTek), and choose Update driver, Search automatically for drivers. If Windows finds nothing, download the Bluetooth driver from the laptop or motherboard maker's support site, which is often newer than what Windows Update offers.

Stop Windows from powering off the adapter

In Device Manager, double-click the same Bluetooth adapter, open the Power Management tab, and untick Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power. Click OK. This is the most common cause of a connection that dies a few minutes after you stop using the device.

Move away from interference

Bluetooth shares the 2.4 GHz band with Wi-Fi, and USB 3.0 ports and hubs radiate noise in the same range. Move USB 3.0 drives and hubs away from the Bluetooth adapter, put a USB Bluetooth dongle on a port on the other side of the PC or on a short extension cable, and connect Wi-Fi on 5 GHz or change the router's 2.4 GHz channel to 1, 6, or 11.

Check the device itself

Charge it fully; a low battery is a frequent cause of drops. Install any firmware update through the maker's app, and test the device with a phone. If it drops there too, the fault is in the device, not the PC.

If the same thing happens on a Mac or phone. On a Mac, go to System Settings, Bluetooth, click the (i) next to the device, choose Forget This Device, and pair again. On a phone, open Bluetooth settings and tap Forget on the device, then re-pair.

If the headphones are paired to two devices. Multipoint headphones jump between paired sources and sound like they are dropping. Turn Bluetooth off on the phone or other laptop, or disable multipoint in the headphone app.