Companion firmware v1.8.1 keeps crashing on a Heltec T114

[hotwolf]

I've installed Companion Firmware v1.8.1 on my HeltecT114, but it is not usable, because it freezes up and terminates the Bluetooth connection every 1 or 2 minutes. The same T114 hardware runs fine with companion firmware v1.7.4.
I have no problems running Companion Firmware v1.8.1 on my Heltec V3.

Please let me know is there is any information I can provide to help find the cause of this issue.

[recrof]

Hello, do you use iOS phone to connect? can you tell us what version of iOS and model of the phone?

[hotwolf]

Hello, I'm using Android phones (version 15 and 12) for the Bluetooth connection.
However the crashes also occur without any Bluetooth connection. After a short while, the T114 freezes (display stays off when pushing the button and it does not receive direct messages anymore) even when no phone is connected.

[recrof]

this seems like flash corruption, could you please export(backup) your config in app settings menu and then perform factory reset & config import?

[hotwolf]

That worked for a minute, now the firmware crashes before it leaves the boot screen. This is what I did:

1. Exported my configuration on companion-firmware v1.7.4
2. Did a factory reset
3. Put the T114 in DFU mode
4. Erased the Flash
5. Flashed companion-firmware v1.8.1
6. Connected the T114 to my phone
7. Did another factory reset
8. Imported the configuration
9. Tried the Bluetooth connection with another phone -> successfull
10. Set a fixed Bluetooth pin (because I'm too slow to type in the random pin before it disappears)
11. Tried the Bluetooth connection with two phones -> successfull
12. Let the T114 run for a while until it stopped working
13. Now it freezes right after the reboot and no Bluetooth connection is possible

[hotwolf]

The problem appears to be Bluetooth related. If there are no phones around trying to connect, the T114 does not crash. But it does, at the first connection attempt.

[oltaco]

I've been trying to replicate this for a couple of hours but I haven't had any problems yet, but I am in a fairly quiet mesh area right now.

@hotwolf out of interest do you have any other peripherals attached to your T114? Sensors? GPS? I notice there was a pretty big "power savings" commit for the T114 between 1.7.4 and 1.8.1.

[recrof]

it might be related to how we connect nrf52 boards to ios devices and how there is higher chance of getting freezes. I'm not sure what causes this however - it seems like SoftDevice/adafruit ble library bug.

[baumannch]

I can report similar freezes with Companion Firmware v1.8.1 on a Xiao nRF52 with WIO board. It happens every few hours for me. Connection via the latest iOS app with an iPhone 16 (iOS 18.6.2). It also seems to be related to the resumption of the interrupted Bluetooth connection.
I have already reflashed. No peripherals are connected.

[hotwolf]

@hotwolf out of interest do you have any other peripherals attached to your T114? Sensors? GPS? I notice there was a pretty big "power savings" commit for the T114 between 1.7.4 and 1.8.1.

No, I don't have any peripherals connected to this device.

[mattsains]

This is happening to me too with a T1000e on 1.8.1 and iOS 26 beta. I’ll be connected and then it’ll disconnect from the app (which seems to get confused when this happens) and then won’t return until I reset the T1000e. It doesn’t seem to lock up unless I am connected to the device (ie., it functions fine if it’s left alone)

[recrof]

This is happening to me too with a T1000e on 1.8.1 and iOS 26 beta. I’ll be connected and then it’ll disconnect from the app (which seems to get confused when this happens) and then won’t return until I reset the T1000e. It doesn’t seem to lock up unless I am connected to the device (ie., it functions fine if it’s left alone)

try to off/on the bluetooth on iphone when that happens.

[mattsains]

That doesn’t help. I’ve tried all of the following:

• force closing the app
• toggle bluetooth
• press/press and hold button on the device

[hotwolf]

I've made another observation in my case:
I have room server (with repeat option) on my balcony through which my T114 sees up to 24 active repeaters. The connection to all of them seems to be unidirectional. I can receive public messages, but pings to the closest repeaters always fail. When I turn off this room server I don't see any network activity inside my house, but the T114 still crashes as soon as any of my Android phones attempts a Bluetooth connection.

[r3wald]

Same problem here. I have a room server and a heltec t114 companion. Whenever I start an advert on the room server (via serial), the t114 crashes. Every single time.
Is there something I could try?

[oltaco]

I've compiled 1.8.1 without the power savings changes that were added after 1.7.4.

You'll need to extract the firmware UF2 file that you want to test from the zip file attached and copy it to your device in UF2 mode.

Please let us know if this fixes the problem.

Heltec_t114_NOPOWERSAVE_firmwares.zip