How does my iPhone 13 know which of my bluetooth devices is my car?

If you do not have CarPlay and you are just connecting via Bluetooth it actually recognizes your vehicle via the BT ID number on your head unit.

Miguel_Muñoz Said:

"How does my iPhone 13 know which of my bluetooth devices is my car?: In my iPhone's focus feature, I set 'Turn on Automatically' to 'While Driving.,' and I set Activate to 'When Connected to Car Bluetooth.' But it doesn't turn on while I'm driving.[...]"

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Pair While in Park:

Connect via Park. View the driver's manuall. See what it has to says in there. For our car, we need to have it in park in order for it to connect.

As for the Name:

Most likely, the name of the card would include the manufacturer. So, if near other cars (i.e. in a large parking lot, then park somewhere else (a safe place), seeing if you car's name pops up.

Miguel_Muñoz Said:

"But I don't have any trouble connecting to the car's bluetooth. That works fine. It's just the whether or not my phone realizes that it's a car that it's connected to, so it can turn the proper focus mode on. [...]It's connecting to my car's bluetooth correctly, but it's not activating the focus mode."

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Thank you for the followup.

Troubleshooting Bluetooth and Focus:

Start Here: Use Do Not Disturb on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch - Apple Support

Is Do Not Disturb enabled? If so, disable it.

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Here are some links that may help:

• Use Focus on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch - Apple Support

Learn About the Features of Focus

• Access Control Center on your iPhone and iPod touch - Apple Support

Learn how to Enable Focus and how to Enable it

• Edit Control Center on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch - Apple Support

Learn how to Mange Control Center and it Role in Focus

• Apps, Settings, and Features that you can Use from Control Center - Apple Support

Learn About Managing Focus and what Roles it Plays

• Use the Driving Focus on your iPhone to Concentrate on the Road - Apple Support

Learn about Using Focus

Miguel_Muñoz Said:

"The name of my car's bluetooth device is HANDS FREE. That's what it's set to, and that's what it says in the manual. This is why I want to know how my phone is supposed to know that this is a car."

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About the Name:

"HANDS FREE" is the name chosen by the car manufacturer. That is what they have called it. All is fine.

How it Knows It:

It wouldn't know this it is the car. All it sees it is the broadcast signal, and shows its name. Bluetooth works at its own frequency.