Fitness tracker interfering with hands-free Bluetooth

[Android Central Question]

(Also submitted to Nokia tech support, but guessing y'all know better!)

Issue is with my Withings (now Nokia) Steel HR connected to my Sony Xperia X Compact (Android 7.1.1). Everything about the watch works fine. It stays synced and gets notifications immediately. Super duper.

Except... while paired it's also interfering with Bluetooth audio connections to other devices. When I connect to hands-free things (Bluetooth headset, two different in-car audio systems) the first time the phone tries to use the external device to have a conversation the other device, whatever it is, gets disconnected. Then eventually reconnects again and is fine. This is especially frustrating in the car(s) as I can't exactly pick the phone up and talk but instead just yell, "Hold on a second!" and wait for it to reconnect to the car phone.

If I disconnect the watch from my phone then the other devices work as expected. They connect and stay connected as usual.

Any suggestions on how to adjust settings? I like to have the watch always connected. But the way it is now my first (and usually only) conversation on the phone through other gadgets is always getting interrupted. :-/

 

[ananimus]

Whoops, forgot to sign in. Subscribed and TIA for any ideas!

 

[Rukbat]

That's a problem with the phone or one of the devices )since it happens with the headset and the car audio, I'd suspect the problem was with the phone) - it can't maintain different Bluetooth profiles with different devices. That's common. It's something Nokia would have to fix, but I don't think they will - no one else has, and Bluetooth has been doing that for years.