To not waste too much time waiting for Zwift to load, I typically turn on my Windows 11 laptop and start Zwift before I put on my cycling clothing. When Zwift loads, it typically pairs to my Saris H3 trainer and Wahoo Tickr heart rate monitor just fine, then loads the main screen. The problem comes in when I’m finally ready to ride a few minutes after the pairing happened, Zwift loses all Bluetooth connections and I don’t even know it until I start a group ride and notice I’m not moving.
The only solution I’ve found to get pairing to happen again is to literally restart Zwift. I’ve tried turning Bluetooth off / on my laptop and even unplugging and replugging-in my trainer (and moving the cranks) in hopes that Zwift will re-pair, but it doesn’t… Only a complete restart of the Zwift app will result in a repairing of devices. This is rather annoying as restarting takes a long time even on my relatively new laptop and often means I have to late start the ride I wanted to do. This wasn’t always an issue, it’s an issue that seems to have started a few months ago.
Deep in the following old post, it suggest that the Zwift desktop app will only attempt to pair devices one time during the startup of the app. Is this still true?
That’s pretty strange. I have never seen that before on my Windows machine. I can definitely re-pair after starting. When this is happening and you go to the pairing screen, do you see a yellow triangle with an exclamation mark in it next to the Bluetooth icon in the upper right corner? That would be a sign that Zwift sees that it can’t access the Bluetooth transmitter in the PC.
do you see a yellow triangle with an exclamation mark in it next to the Bluetooth icon in the upper right corner?
I do not… at least not by the Bluetooth symbol. The icon does show by the ANT+ icon, but I don’t use ANT+ as I found my trainer is more responsive with Bluetooth.
It would be pretty cheap to try a known good Bluetooth dongle as a replacement for whatever you are using. I use the TP-Link UB400 (Bluetooth 4.x) on a 2m extension cable and it has been rock solid. It has one of the chipsets mentioned in this advice: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5ANG75W24Y
I had really bad Bluetooth problems until I started using the Ant interface to my trainer, and I scolded myself into never using Bluetooth on the computer that I use for Zwift.
This sure seems like a Zwift issue. I did some experimenting this morning and nothing resolves the issue except restarting Zwift. Note that my Saris H3 trainer hasn’t had a firmware update for over a year, so I doubt it’s causing the issue.
To troubleshoot, I started Zwift which connected to my Saris H3 trainer and Wahoo Tickr HR monitor, then I waited a few minutes to see if the Bluetooth connections were lost. The connection to my trainer was lost as expected after less than 5 minutes of waiting.
To try and reconnect…
Turned off / turned on Bluetooth antenna on my Lenovo LOQ laptop (which is only 1 year old). My laptop showed both devices were connected via Bluetooth, yet Zwift did not find either.
Deleted/removed both Bluetooth devices from Windows and re-added the devices. Once again, Windows found and connected to the devices, Zwift did not.
Tried pairing through my Google Pixel 7 phone. Like my laptop, my phone connected to both devices via Bluetooth, yet Zwift did find any devices.
I unplugged my trainer and plugged it back in again, and my laptop and phone found the device, but Zwift did not.
Since this wasn’t always an issue and seems to be a relatively new issue as of the past few months, I can only conclude there was a change in Zwift that caused the issue.
I used to use ANT+ and found riding to be very laggy which radically amplified the rubber-banding effect when riding in groups or racing. Using Bluetooth reduced the lag considerable… but has obviously now introduced a new issue.
I think the problem is resolved based on the following tip from Zwift support:
Make sure that your sensor isn’t already paired directly to your phone, computer, or other device.
Windows 11 on my laptop had a Bluetooth connection to both my trainer and heart rate monitor which I thought had to exist in order for things to work. I removed those connections in Windows 11’s Bluetooth & Devices section, started Zwift, connected to the trainer and then waited several minutes for the Saris H3 trainer to “go to sleep” due to inactivity. Zwift lost the Bluetooth connection as expected, but once I “woke-up” the trainer, Zwift found it and paired to it. I then rechecked to ensure that Windows 11 still had not created Bluetooth connections to the trainer, which it had not. Thus, it’s important to know that Windows 11 should not have Bluetooth connections to one’s various devices and let each app, like Zwift, make the connections directly.
This is true for every type of device that you can run Zwift on, not just Windows. Never pair anything to the built-in Bluetooth settings on the device if you plan to pair it to Zwift.
This is true for every type of device that you can run Zwift on, not just Windows. Never pair anything to the built-in Bluetooth settings on the device if you plan to pair it to Zwift.