iPhone Won't Automatically Connect to Vehicle's Hotspot

It's NOT the car, it's the phone.

After having been given the run around, I finally made an appointment with an Apple Genius at an Apple store. He ran diagnostic checks and the phone didn't have any issues.

Then he said that he could uninstall the software in the phone and then install the latest software. He added, that would cause me to lose all my paid for Apps but they could be restored from the App Store since they keep a record of all your previous purchase.

I said okay and the process took about 10 minutes.

I took the phone home and I had to manually pair it to my truck since the memory was wiped clean in the process.

Since then, my phone has been automatically connecting to my truck.

Reloading the Apps was not difficult at all.

What was very time consuming was having to log into each App with passwords. After that it took awhile to re-organize my screens.

All in all my phone acts just like a new phone.

Having upgraded to an iPhone 15 in October, I was still having the problem of the phone not automatically connecting to the car's hotspot. However, there finally seems to be some good news (for me at least, but I hope for all the other poor souls beset by this problem). I noticed this morning that iOS 17.4 was available, so updated my phone. I was surprised that on starting my car soon after, CarPlay started up as usual, but to my great delight, the phone also connected automatically to the car's hotspot. I've used my car 5 times today, and it's connected seamlessly every time. Please don't screw it up again Apple, now that you seem to have fixed it at long last!

After updating to 16.4, my phone now automatically connects to my vehicle’s Wi-Fi again.

I didn’t have to change any settings either.

I updated to 16.4 and my phone now connects automatically to the car’s wifi.

Very strange……. my iPhone is now automatically connecting every time. I did have to forget the car’s wifi and reconnect manually the first tine, but after that it’s not failed to autoconnect.

I finally found a way of fixing this by downgrading to iOS 15.6. My phone now connects automatically to my car's wifi hotspot every time without fail. I intend on leaving my phone on iOS 15.6 until I'm sure that Apple have fixed what they broke with iOS 16. For anyone interested in trying this, follow this link:-

Downgrade iOS 16.1 To 15.7.1 Is Possible! [How To Guide] (iphonetricks.org)

It's slightly misleading in that it implies that once you've downgraded to 15.6, you can then upgrade to 15.7.1, but only 16.3.1 is available over air at the time of writing, but for me, 15.6 is perfectly acceptable because it solves my very annoying problem. Now pull your finger out Apple and fix iOS 16.

Double check the following Wi-Fi Setting on your iPhone.

Start the the hotspot on your car. Connect your iPhone to the car’s hotspot. Then open Settings ➡️ Wi-Fi ➡️ Tap on the (i) next to the name of your car’s hotspot: Here, ensure that Auto Join is set to ON.

Axel F.

Same exact thing with me. Exactly the same. I also notice that on the Home Screen of the infotainment system—where you can see the all the menus available—that when you force the phone to connect to the on board wifi (rather than it automatically connecting) the CarPlay option goes grayed out on the Home Screen for a few seconds and then comes back. To me this suggests that something about car play is interfering with the phone automatically connecting to the on-star wifi connection. But I could be wrong. Super annoying nonetheless.

Also, an Apple agent suggested to me to reset network settings on the phone. I did that and that seemed to solve the problem for a day. Now, a day later, the old issue persists. So something about the the iPhones network settings interfering with the connection, since resetting those network settings temporarily fixes the issue.

I got mine to work but not ideally. I have to be plugged into the USB to get wifi to automatically connect AND have CarPlay available.

I basically I deleted the Bluetooth CarPlay after initially setting it up and marked the trucks wifi to connect automatically.

I’ll try the update at some point but going to enjoy the ease of connecting to both seamlessly for now.

iphone 14 Pro

Version 16.3.1

I have a GMC2500

I got mine to work but not ideally. I have to be plugged into the USB to get wifi to automatically connect AND have CarPlay available.

basically I deleted the Bluetooth CarPlay after initially setting it up and marked the trucks wifi to connect automatically.

I’ll try the update at some point but going to enjoy the ease of connecting to both seamlessly for now.

iphone 14 Pro

Version 16.3.1

Success! Don’t know if it will work for everyone.

disconnected my Bluetooth and connected CarPlay because of a suspected issue with my vehicles USB port. Once I reconnected it, it worked great, every time.

I have a similar problem...

I have an iPhone (SE 2020) that I just upgraded to iOS 16.2. Before the upgrade my iPhone always connected to the the WiFi built into my car (2021 Porsche Macan S on AT&T). Now my iPhone does not automatically connect to my car's WiFi. If I open Settings Wi-Fi on my iPhone and click on my car's WiFi, it connects. But, it is a real pain to have to go to Setting Wi-Fi every time I get in my car to connect to the car's WiFi. My wife's iPhone on an older version of iOS works fine.

If I turn off wireless CarPlay in my iPhone (Settings...General...CarPlay...PORSCHE), my iPhone automatically connects to the car's WiFi when I get into the car. Of course, wireless CarPlay doesn't work. I’d like my iPhone to automatically connect to the vehicle’s WiFi when CarPlay is On (and used to).

I've tried the obvious - auto-join is on, power off my iPhone, disconnect from the car's WiFi and reconnect, power off the PCM, etc. Any ideas?

I don't know enough to say who's wrong. What I can say is that my iPhone (SE 2020) connected automatically using iOS 15.7 and doesn't connect automatically to the WiFi in my car now using iOS 16.2 when CarPlay is ON. My wife has the same phone, iPhone SE 2020 but is still on iOS 15.7 and her phone connects automatically to my car's WiFi just fine when her phone's CarPlay is ON. Seems like Apple changed something in iOS 16.x and broke the car manufacturers (Porsche, GM, Ford...) implementation of CarPlay.

I'm in the UK and have been experiencing the same problem. It definitely only started happening after upgrading to iOS16. Before that, my iPhone 12 would connect to Carplay and the car's hotspot without any problem. I tested with my wife's phone which at the time was still running iOS 15 and that worked absolutely fine every time. in my opinion, it's definitely iOS 16 which has broken it and it seems to affect phones regardless of the vehicle manufacture. Apple must be aware of this so why don't they fix it? it's a real ball-ache!

I've tried again this morning. I removed my iPhone 12 from the list of "connected devices" in my car, then I connected my spare iPhone SE (which is on 16.4) to CarPlay and the vehicle's hotspot. I've since been back to the car a few times at approximately 30 minute intervals, but the phone fails to connect to the vehicle hotspot. It looks therefore as if iOS 16.4 has not fixed this issue, so I've reconnected my iPhone 12 and will leave that on iOS 15.6 until I'm completely sure that Apple have fixed what they have broken (if they ever do).