Okay, those CarPlay problems are real

[radrat]

This morning, Mr. Cheese completely refused to start CarPlay.

I did everything obvious in increasing levels of doing each of these:

• I deleted my phone from the list of phones
• I deleted my car from Settings > General > CarPlay > Forget car
• I rebooted Sync
• I re-paired BT first and answered yes to all the right things to start wireless CP
• I used a legit white Apple lightning USB-A cable after deleting all the entries

NOTHING WORKED.

The only conclusion -- which appears to be correct -- is that when CarPlay couldn't connect to the Mach-E (and the phone thought CarPlay was started, but the Mach-E's CarPlay stack wasn't functioning properly), CarPlay on the phone got into a strange state where it was unhappy and wouldn't properly initiate again. I couldn't get the phone to reset itself and stop whatever service was still running.

The only thing that worked to restore CarPlay properly was that I:

• Deleted car entry on CarPlay
• Deleted phone entry on the Mach-E
• Rebooted Sync (via steering wheel)

and

• I rebooted the iPhone (hold power + vol down, then slide to turn it off)

This last step (rebooting the iPhone) was THE ONLY thing that seemed to reset the state between the iPhone and Ford Sync. I'm wondering whether any of the other delete entry steps was actually necessary, because it seemed clear the iPhone was in a broken state in terms of CarPlay and was not restoring itself.

Thought I'd post this learning, and I won't be as quick next time to only blame Ford for CarPlay initiation unreliability issues.

I’m sorry to hear that. I had similar issues lately and I seem to have found a fix which I reported here: https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/wireless-carplay-connectivity-issues-fixed.25704/

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[kennethjk]

My car play had problems in map mode right after I received 4.1.3 OTA, seem to work now

after my wife uses the car it goes to her car play when it sometimes goes to my profile(sometimes to guest profile and a reboot is needed of car screen) but I can usually just switch to my car play now. That seems to have improved.

in my wife’s BMW x3 , in 3 years never had a car play issue. Not once. goes To my car play right away and if my wife Is in the car and it goes to her car play, I can easily just switch it to mine if I am driving. No big deal.

ford just can’t get the software right .

 

[Kamuelaflyer]

This last step (rebooting the iPhone) was THE ONLY thing that seemed to reset the state between the iPhone and Ford Sync

In the FWIW department, rebooting the phone is what I do after doing the usual things to connect it, selecting it from the list, rebooting sync and restarting the car (occasionally, and if I’m still in the driveway). Rebooting the phone has always worked for me. Personally, I’m convinced that more than 50% of the CarPlay issues are iPhone/iOS related.

 

[ReelSweet]

I just take it as an opportunity to listen to the shitty radio stations in any area.

 

[mashedpatatas]

My car play drives me nuts now.
I start the car, in my driveway the car plays the radio, that's what it was on last, Good car.
I put in rev, music goes off, Bad Sync
Back out of the the driveway, put in D, Car play screen pops up, no music, Bad Sync
Audio is in limbo, FM is off, Bad Sync
I hit the Fm button audio comes on, Good sync
I get 3 houses down the block it goes back to car play and starts playing music from Spotify, Bad Sync
I click the FM button again Music back on Good sync.

I think it's all just a ploy to get me to listen to the UFO speaker as I drive down the road a little.

I had this same experience and I believe I found that the culprit is my home's wifi.
It seems Carplay starts at that point in time where the phone is still connected to my home's wifi but the signal has gotten so weak that it fails to get on the internet.
After moving past my block, the phone has switched to 5G and Carplay now works.

 

[astrorob]

I had this same experience and I believe I found that the culprit is my home's wifi.
It seems Carplay starts at that point in time where the phone is still connected to my home's wifi but the signal has gotten so weak that it fails to get on the internet.
After moving past my block, the phone has switched to 5G and Carplay now works.

are you using wireless CarPlay or wired?

 

[mashedpatatas]

wireless. wired carplay has never been a problem for me.

 

[Kevinbringard]

My experience is that Wireless CarPlay sometimes won’t connect, but that going into the phone list and telling it to connect usually makes it happen. Wired CarPlay seems to always connect.

The thing that mine does which is crazy is that it will randomly decide that my location is miles (sometimes upward of 100 miles) from where I am. Just yesterday I was driving from Colorado Springs to North Denver. Puttering along I25 with it tracking me and my route just fine and then suddenly the map went crazy and it thought I was down in Pueblo (a good 80 miles from where I was) on some random side street. It kept “re-routing” and freaking out because it thought I wasn’t taking the turns it was giving me to get off the side street and back on route.

Thanks to BlueCruise I was able to power cycle my phone and get it reconnected at which point it happily found where I was and I was able to restart the directions and was fine the rest of the trip. But it does this pretty regularly, maybe every day or two. Happens with my wife’s phone as well and it happens when we’re both using wired or wireless. Never had this problem with any other car in either wired or wireless. Super weird and super disconcerting.

EDIT: this is with iPhone 14 pros on the latest iOS. Vehicle is a ‘23 Premium on whatever software version it came with (I *think* it’s 4.1.2? We have the new UI but not the camera button on the main page by the home button)

 

[Larry Paul]

Since the 4.1.x series of updates CarPlay has been spectacular.

Any issues I have had since then have been Apple issues not Ford issues.

Agreed...I had massive problems on 3.6.x, for many months (super flakey connections) but since my car updated to 4.1.x about a month ago, I have had no issues at all...meaning 100% success with connecting and operating wireless CarPlay.

 

[scoopman]

Things have been happy since the one melt-down that caused me to start this thread, and I generally agree that CarPlay seems more reliable and quicker to start up since the new UI came around.

 

[Valkyrja]

iPhone 13 Pro Max with the most current updates and it is 50/50 on whether it will function or not when I get in the car.

I think CP in general is very finicky. I have occasional issues on my motorcycle when CP will suddenly stop working and I have to pull over and go through the entire connection list again.

 

[P. T. Magoo]

I will certainly try the volume up, volume down, hold power button sequence as a "real" fix. Much appreciated!

What's been working for me as a temporary fix that I don't see mentioned here is opening Settings, General, CarPlay, choosing my MachE, turning CarPlay off and then on again. Works every time and I'm getting good at it but it's a PITA, somewhat unsafe, and also somewhat illegal if the car's moving while I'm thumbing through all those menus.

 

[Larry Paul]

in the last 18 months I have gone through periods where CarPlay connects perfectly and other times where it does not.

It am sure this has been related to both iOS issues and firmware issues with the car at various times, but my latest working theory it has to do with the “hot spot” feature of the phone. When I have kept my hot spot off, my connection seems to be more reliable…or it is just one of those times where neither system has bugs.

I am on 6.4.0 and iOS 17.1 on a iPhone 14 Pro.

my 2¢

Larry

 

[bvelderman]

This morning, Mr. Cheese completely refused to start CarPlay.

I did everything obvious in increasing levels of doing each of these:

• I deleted my phone from the list of phones
• I deleted my car from Settings > General > CarPlay > Forget car
• I rebooted Sync
• I re-paired BT first and answered yes to all the right things to start wireless CP
• I used a legit white Apple lightning USB-A cable after deleting all the entries

NOTHING WORKED.

The only conclusion -- which appears to be correct -- is that when CarPlay couldn't connect to the Mach-E (and the phone thought CarPlay was started, but the Mach-E's CarPlay stack wasn't functioning properly), CarPlay on the phone got into a strange state where it was unhappy and wouldn't properly initiate again. I couldn't get the phone to reset itself and stop whatever service was still running.

The only thing that worked to restore CarPlay properly was that I:

• Deleted car entry on CarPlay
• Deleted phone entry on the Mach-E
• Rebooted Sync (via steering wheel)

and

• I rebooted the iPhone (hold power + vol down, then slide to turn it off)

This last step (rebooting the iPhone) was THE ONLY thing that seemed to reset the state between the iPhone and Ford Sync. I'm wondering whether any of the other delete entry steps was actually necessary, because it seemed clear the iPhone was in a broken state in terms of CarPlay and was not restoring itself.

Thought I'd post this learning, and I won't be as quick next time to only blame Ford for CarPlay initiation unreliability issues.

 

[bvelderman]

I have similar issues with car play. Oddity is Apple Music a phone with but car play does not.

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