I recently switched from my 12 year old Windows laptop, on which Zwift never had issues with the bluetooth connection, to my Samsung S24 Ultra. I run Zwift on this Samsung.
Setup:
Samsung S24 Ultra (Running latest update June 2024, Android 14). Connected to Philips screen, using USB-C. In this PC, a extension cord (3m) and an ANT+ antenna (Coospoo) are connected. ANT+ antenna is behind my front wheel.
Trainer: Tacx Neo 2
Other equipment: Wahoo Headwind
Environment: Quite crowded with Wifi signals from neighbors, including channel 10 (signal of 70ms at most on a Wifi Analyzer).
Bluetooth issues:
I can cycle for about 20-30 minutes, before disconnecting, resulting in ‘Connection failure’ and ‘No signal’. Zwift can still find the connection, however, it is not possible to reconnect.
ANT+ issues:
I can cycle for about 5-20 minutes, depending on whether I’m lucky, after which I have to switch from FEC to PWR, and back and forward.
I tried about everything, including all common recommendations. Is there anyone with similar issues who has solved it?
In that nasty signal environment (assuming that’s the problem) I’m not sure if ANT+ will ever be reliable unless you can get your neighbors off channel 10, but have you tried putting a Bluetooth dongle on your USB extension lead as well? If your current Bluetooth antenna is built in to the PC or does not have line of sight to the trainer then you could probably improve its reliability. If you need to buy a Bluetooth dongle consider the advice in this video. If your current Bluetooth adapter has a removable antenna you could also get an extension lead for the antenna instead, but it might be worth getting a dongle just to try a different adapter.
You could also try pairing via the Companion app to see if that works any better, since that would mean using the Bluetooth adapter in a phone or tablet and bridge the connection to the PC via WiFi.
Thank you for your recommendation! The only issue is that I’m not running Zwift from PC, but from an Android device. I have tried to work with an external bluetooth adapter, but the phone does not seem to provide an option to prefer the external bluetooth adapter.
Oops sorry I misread that, I must have mixed it up with the other recent similar post. Do you have a second device that you can test Companion pairing on? Maybe a family member’s iPhone?
Hi @M_Zwifter, Welcome to the forums!
I’m Fernanda, from Zwift.
This situation you are facing caught my attention and couldn’t miss the chance to help you. As @Paul_Southworth shared with you, ANT+ could be affected by too much interference surrounding you, however, I was checking your account information and noticed that you started using an Apple TV to run the Zwift game, in that case, I will reinforce in the used of the Zwift Companion as a bridge, you can run the Companion app on the SamsungS24 Ultra.
This can improve the bluethoot signal from your Tacx Neo to the Apple TV and avoid all the interference surrounding you.
I have indeed bought an Apple TV in the hope to solve my bluetooth dropouts with Zwift on the Samsung and Zwift android app. I have only cycled for about 45 minutes with it, but it seems to be working thus far. Will post an update once I have done more rides on Apple TV.
I do not use my phone as a bridge on the Apple TV by the way.
TLDR:ANT+ isn’t going to work on your Samsung. You’ll have to use Bluetooth with the Samsung.
Backstory: Android smartphone / tablet manufacturers stopped supporting ANT around ~2018 because the protocol never took off as a must-have on smartphones. This is the authoritative list of Samsung devices that support ANT if you’re curious
In your case - if you’ve been troubleshooting on both your PC and your Samsung - be aware that logging in to Zwift on more than one device at a time will also cause weird pairing behavior. Always save-and-exit (or trash-and-exit) your Zwift session. On the mobile device: take the additional step of force-closing Zwift. Swiping an app into the background is not the same as force-closing.
Would you try those things and let us know if things work better?