Widex BEYOND Reviews

by Matonquiqui

Deserves zero stars. Listening to iPad or iPhone, the volume suddenly goes down to inaudible levels. I raise the volume on the phone or the pad and it goes back up until the next time it fails - which is very often. Dangerous when you are trying to listen to directions from the gps. Tried for months to connect to the Apple Watch 4 without success. For such an expensive prosthesis you should be on your toes with WidexBEYOND. Can’t wait until its time to change to another HA so that I can go with some other brand.

by Chezedward

I am a musician and sound engineer so my hearing is rather important to me. The Widex are my third pair of hearing aids and the aids themselves are very good. Much better than the previous 2 top of the line brands. However I have been complaining about WidexBEYOND not streaming properly with my iPhone for over a year now. The updates from Widex and from Apple have not solved the issue. The volume is very unstable. It starts out fine for about 1/2 a second them dips way down to where I can barely hear the sound being transmitted from the phone. May it be Driving Directions, the radio, phone calls, music or a film. This happens anytime the streaming starts as well as after any pause. My only solution is to touch the phone’s volume up button, sometimes just once and the sound pops up to where I had previously set it. I have written and called Widex. They say they are aware of this issue and are working on it. But The problem, that in the case of driving directions could be dangerous, has not been solved. Otherwise everything else works great.

by Cons18

I read all these comments and I agree with several customers that WidexBEYOND simply is not working well. I have had the aids for over a year, I am very technical and have talked to tech support at Widex and tried all the different settings in the iPhone per their instructions and that does NOT change the fact the there is no consistency on how the streaming works. I purchased these aids because I am on the phone streaming to my phone and like to stream music too. If you want to use this feature and are on the phone a lot, don get these aids. I have offered to Widex to be part of a working group with their app developers but no response. I want so much for the connection with my iPhone, car, etc to work so I can hear! I have to visit the retailer that sold these to me so he can wipe and reprogram the aids every few months and that seams to help with the streaming stability but not for too long.

by Nanylea

Using WidexBEYOND with the Bluetooth on my iPhone has always been a bad experience. Each time I upgrade a phone, I hope for an improvement. Never happens. Now with the new iPhone update, the problems have increased. I never thought that possible. Each time I want to use the hearing aids with the Bluetooth, I need to complete multiple steps to maybe! get it to work. Between Widex and IPhone, it would seem this should have been resolved, not made worse! Not only is it tricky to get the Bluetooth to work at all, some apps can’t seem to keep the volume at a hearable level, no matter how often the volume button is adjusted.

My guess is IPhone wants a person to buy their wireless earbuds - I’m guessing it’s about the money.

by Don Mulder

I’ve been trying these for two months and am still having problems with WidexBEYOND . It loses the fine adjustments you’ve made every time you shut off the aids for the night or shut off WiFi. This means I’m constantly resetting the adjustments. Opening some game apps also causes the settings to readjust or interferes with the ability to play games on your phone. No matter how many times I readjust, I still can’t get good sound. Also, there’s no noisy room settings, meaning I often have to turn them off in noisy situations. Also annoying is that streaming playback through the aids often cuts in and out or has loud rhythmic clicks that happen at least once a second. I’m abandoning the hearing aids trial as a result.

by RCJH-74

I’ve been using these hearing aids and app for almost two years now. I was initially very pleased with the interface especially the direct phone interface. Would have been a 4 or 5 star review. As I have now moved to an iPhone 11 and iOS 13, my satisfaction level has gone down. In particular listening to any video through the phone is problematic.

As others have noted the hearings frequently reset (“right ready”, “left ready”, beep, volume reset) with any non-wider app change. An ad comes up on a news story — beep goes the hearing aid.

I’ve also just discovered that the hearing aid Bluetooth connection blocks or pauses video play. Watch a video without the HA link, it plays fine. Watch same video with HA linked, it pauses at about 25 secs like a cache problem. Really frustrating.

Saw. Developer response to these reviews from 6 months ago but no apparent software or firmware change.

Now I am down to a 1-star rating. Frustrated!

by Carlchomko

I understand that BEYOND is not their current model, but for how expensive these are, they could at least support them a bit more (last update was 2 years ago and can’t remember the last firmware update). The beyond app on Apple Watch constantly shows “not connected”. There are some aspects of using these MFi hearing aids that seem like there’s a disadvantage to using them with an iPhone when they can’t even connect to an Apple Watch .

by LVLinda

I’ve had the Widex Beyond hearing aides for 1-1/2 years now and have used WidexBEYOND to connect to my iPhone six since the beginning. I’ve been back many times complaining of crackling and switching on and off of the reception and in short, very poor blue tooth reception even when the phone is in front of my face. I’ve since done all the iPhone and Widex app updates, followed instructions to switch off WiFi and use the music setting on WidexBEYOND , and as a last resort sent the hearing aides back to the company to be checked. I’m told they changed all the electronics in them but nothing has changed with the reception. All other Bluetooth devices work perfectly with my phone. The hearing aid sales office says lots of people with iPhones have the same problem. But the hearing aides are marketed to be compatible with iPhone, so I find that advertising to be very misleading. I keep hoping updates will correct the problem, but none have so far, and I am very disappointed.

by Jake1011

I switched to Widex hearing aids to get rid of the silly dongle I was wearing around my neck all the time. So far I am pleased with the hearing aids, but WidexBEYOND and the Bluetooth configuration need a lot of work.

I have my phone paired to my car. I set the call audio routing to "automatic." When I get an incoming call, the car and hearing aids can't make up their minds which one to use, and the call switches back and forth between them, sometimes taking many seconds to decide. The caller gets frustrated and hangs up. If I initiate the call from the car, the audio stays connected to the car - the mess only happens with incoming calls.

Widex needs to offer a call audio routing preference and let the user decide the device order for connecting, i.e., first the car, then if not available, try hearing aids.

I even tried using the "never hearing aids" setting. Doesn't work. Calls received in the car still end up being bounced back and forth between the car and the hearing aids.

Another issue: accessing the audio routing selections takes a dozen taps through settings, accessibility, hearing aids, etc. Why not put an icon on WidexBEYOND home screen to directly access these settings? In fact, put more of the functions of WidexBEYOND on the home screen of WidexBEYOND - too many taps to get anywhere.

In summary, the hearing aids get 4 stars, but WidexBEYOND only 2. I hope to see significant improvements soon!

by TulsaFAPilot

I have the Beyond Z hearing aids which are incredible. WidexBEYOND definitely has its pros and cons. I use the iPhone 6s.. My first iPhone... Purchased specially for these hearing aids. Live listen is completely pointless. The only thing WidexBEYOND is good for is manipulating bass, mid and treble for a custom program. The problem is every time you hit pause when listening to music, Switch to car Bluetooth (entirely another issue) or just go to another program on the phone then go back to music the program defaults back to "universal". So I find myself opening up WidexBEYOND 20-30 times a day to switch it back to music or my custom program... My thoughts is WidexBEYOND should only be used for music and volume and let wearers manipulate the other hearing aid features with the hearing aid buttons.

by Walkerpro

I’ve had these HA’s almost a year and absolutely loved them. I did encounter conflict issues with my cars Bluetooth but I just shrugged that off. Now... for the last month I have severe crackle and static in both ears while streaming! when I go to the gym I like to listen to music and that is impossible now. So, I either can’t wear my HA’s and use earbuds or use my HA’s and not be able to hear music. I have read through all the reviews, have tried the various fixes, and still crackling. I can no longer talk on the phone using Bluetooth because of this. So very very disappointed. These weren’t cheap and it looks like this is a problem the manufacturer is not interested in resolving.

by Hokey66

Have had tremendous issues pairing with my phone to the point I can’t even use my gearing aids. After paying 6k got the Damb things they should at least have a propped app to support them. Made a lot of changes to get them but have ridiculous support and workability. Have sent hearing aids back but still have issues... also costs $100+ for an office visit to tell me they have issues..... not sure which is worse WidexBEYOND , the Hearing Aids or the Audiologist......

by Hudsonoutlook

Disclaimers: my Widex Beyond HA’s are my first and I have had them only one month. But the difficulties I discuss are confirmed by a second set obtained after returning the first. Also, it provides no satisfaction to issue a negative review. However, the central problem is remarkably inconsistent Bluetooth performance between my HA’s and my iPhone SE. The lack of dependability means that neither phone nor music streaming is reliable. The effect is that either both HAs or one will drop signal and that even when each of the HAs register in the iPhone Settings MFi, one of the HAs will show as not connected in the Widex Beyond app. I have followed the pairing steps recommended separately by Widex and Apple to no avail. I am told that the issue is with Apple’s IOS 11.4 update, rather than with the HAs. But have not seen this confirmed. To the best of my knowledge, Neither Widex nor Apple has released a statement indicating either the problem or solution. I would be delighted to be proven wrong. Suffice it to say that the top of the line model from Widex and possibly other major HA manufacturers cannot continue this inferior level of service.

by Gsynyc

I’ve been wearing hearing aids for over 17 years. I’ve had a few Phonak and Widex models and the Beyond hearing aids and iPhone integration are by far the best experience I’ve had so far. The Beyond App i basic but is a good start. I loved having the functionality on my Apple Watch but that stopped working after the first iOS 11 update. I typically wait a few weeks but it didn’t work this time. Widex app support isn’t the most helpful either. If they just put a little more effort into the user experience they would have a much better product.

by Kp_83

I have use couple of other aids with their respective apps but the apps were extremely poor with various issues. With Beyond 330 and WidexBEYOND , it works way better than the others. However, WidexBEYOND need to be improved in terms of sound quality and loudness. It seems that the call volume is reducing with no reason. Hope WidexBEYOND gets updated capturing this issue.

by Application Launcher

It's worth noting here that I'm a Voiceover user, so anything mentioned here will pertain to how it must be done using the screen reader. When I first got this hardware and software set a couple months before the last update addressing the iOS 11 issues, this iOS controller for my pair of Beyond 420s wasn't pleasant to use at all with issues such as text sticking around from previous screens and elements not being usable for example. There were indeed issues with iOS and the devices themselves maintaining the bluetooth connection as well. After the update became available, and I waited the few minutes for the hardware to be updated accordingly, I found the experience so much better. It in fact seems like the batteries last a little longer after the Beyond devices were updated and bluetooth is being used with iPhone. Also, there was evidently some work done to support the Voiceover screen reader as the back button issue is no longer an issue, just so long as you do the "Z Gesture". Aside from one small issue involving the equalizer presets button not being usable, this truely is like dawn after dark in a manor of speaking.

by Malcolm In Virginia

I have had my Widex hearing aids, an Apple SE iPhone and an Apple Watch for three months. I got them all at the same time. For the first two months I had no problem but after the 11.4 software update the Bluetooth connectivity between the Hearing aids and the iPhone were no longer working. I called Apple support today and they had me unpair my hearing aids and the watch from the iPhone. Afterwards they had me pair first the hearing aids and then the Apple Watch. Since then The Bluetooth connectivity has been working fine.

by Rbt-self

As I set a specific custom program, that program holds until I get an incoming phone call, message, or text, Immediately the selected program is released and the Universal program is set.

The combination of aids and application should hold the selected program until the aids are powered down or the program is changed.

IPHONE v 11

by AniBlueRoseVamp

When I got my Wide X 440 beyond I had some connectivity issues, and when I discussed it with my audiologists she confirmed an issue with blue tooth connectivity. Being a Beta tester for Apple iOS, I knew there had been some issues that pledged Apples air pods so I suspected the problem might also exist with the new made for iPhone hearing aids. So I filed a bug report, and it seamed to be fixed by iOS 12. Now here I am 3 years later and am now on iOS 13.2 and still running fairly strong. But I’ve found that with every new iOS update from Apple, it’s best to repair the hearing aids, as well as to toggle blue tooth off every couple of days just so things continue to work. Minor inconvenience? Sure. Worth it? That’s a question you have to answer yourself. But as a iOS Beta tester yeah it’s worth the work, just to enjoy my phone and hearing aids.

by Dr. Leach

The streaming that takes place from your iPhone to your hearing aids or from your iPhone to your Bluetooth in the car, has nothing to do with WidexBEYOND. That is controlled by the iPhone under the settings icon. There is a very easy way to turn off the streaming to your hearing aids if you prefer to have the phone call streamed to your cars Bluetooth. My patients are very happy with WidexBEYOND.