iPhone Won't Automatically Connect to Vehicle's Hotspot

Good to know others have this problem. Finally found this thread after dealing with this problem for six or more months. Several calls to Apple, resetting network settings, resetting everything possible, even tried one totally useless call to OnStar support...

Good to know that others have tried wiping the phone and restoring from backup and it didn't help. That was going to be my next step. And some have said that even wiping the phone and NOT restoring from backup didn't work. Very helpful. ( I had to do that a couple of years ago--- Not recommended. It took me a couple of weeks almost full time to get my phone working the way I was accustomed to).

I got the idea from this thread that if I stopped trying to use Wireless Carplay and just use USB that would help. But nope... That helps with Carplay but doesn't fix the problem of Wifi not autojoining. So I have to resign myself to remembering to manually connect each time I get in the car. Well at least I know.

[Edited by Moderator] 

This is happening to me with an iPhone 13 and a Ford F-150. Since you have a completely different setup I conclude that is definitely the iPhone and not the car. For me it worked fine then recently it stopped. I did all the basic things and then a “network settings” reset and it did nothing. Out of about 10 Wi-Fi’s that I use (home, office, airport, coffeshop, friends houses, etc) , my vehicle Wi-Fi is the only Wi-Fi my phone will not auto-connect to. Very frustrating.

I concur with your findings. My phone connects automatically if I have CarPlay OFF and it doesn't if I have it ON. My 2022 1-/2 Chevy Silverado has a Google based Operating System so, technically, I don't need CarPlay but I definitely like Apple Maps better.

I really can't tell if the problem is with the truck or the iPhone's Operating System. Ugh!

I tried upgrading to iOS 16.3 to see if that fixed the problem. No such luck, the problem still exists in 16.3 so don't waste your time upgrading unless you want the security fixes and hope that nothing else that you care about brakes.

I've been scouring the internet to find a solution to this as well. The moment I upgraded from an iPhone 11 Pro to a 14 Pro, I lost the ability to auto connect to my vehicle's Wi-Fi. All other home/work Wi-Fi networks, my phone will automatically connect with. My wife has the same problem with her 14. All our old phones will still connect automatically. It's any phone that's on iOS16 or later appears to have the issue.

I've tried complete resets and nothing works.

I really wish Apple would address this issue. Super frustrating!

Out of frustration, I began a live chat with Apple about this problem. That was unable to resolve anything, but led on to a phone call from an Apple technician. After explaining that I'd tried everything he'd suggested, he asked if I had a VPN. I do, but it's off most of the time and certainly when I get into my car (plus the fact that it was there when I was on iOS 15 and my phone connected automatically to both CarPlay and the car's hotspot without problem), but nevertheless, he suggested uninstalling the VPN app, restarting my phone and trying again. He then ended the call and told me I would receive an email with a Case Number if I needed to make contact again. Needless to say, his suggestion didn't work, and I won't bother making contact with Apple again because their technicians seem incapable of offering anything that you can't find in their "help" documentation. They only seem able to offer "generic" solutions, which aren't really solutions at all. It's a great pity that Apple don't look at forums such as this to see the frustrations consumers are experiencing the real world as a result of their breaking a feature which worked perfectly well. I would happily roll back to iOS 15.7 if I could. Any "improvements" offered by iOS 16 are eclipsed by the inconvenience of this glitch.

Following the release of iOS 16.5, I tried again with my spare iPhone SE (which I'd updated to iOS 16.5), connecting it to my car. I wasn't surprised to find that, with several attempts, it would successfully connect to CarPlay but would stubbornly refuse to connect to the car's wifi, so the problem of Apple's own creation persists. My iPhone 12 will remain on 15.6 until I'm completely convinced that any future iOS release has fixed what Apple broke with the release of iOS 16. It's a total disgrace that they have paid no heed to the comments posted here, and on many other forums!

My iPhone 13 stopped connecting to 2021 GMC Denali months ago after an update. Completely wiped the phone and reconnected to CarPlay and WiFi, still did not automatically connect.

Upgraded to iPhone 15 pro last week, still doesn’t auto connect to WiFi if connected to CarPlay in this vehicle. However, it does auto connect in my Chevy Blazer.

other devices automatically connect in the 2021 GMC including my iPad and laptop. Just not an iPhone. This is true for both Verizon and AT&T iPhones. They show connect on the vehicle WiFi display, but not on the iPhone until manually selected. Very frustrating!!!!

I agree completely. My wife's iPhone on 15.7 continues to work correctly. My iPhone on 16.4 does not work correctly. Annoying!

You are one of the lucky ones. I disconnected my iPhone from the car's hotspot and reconnected it. If CarPlay is on it pretty much does not connect to the car's hotspot.

I've just tried again with my spare phone on iOS 16.5.1, and still no fix. I suspect there will be no fix on iOS 16 and we'll have to hope it gets fixed in iOS 17.

I’ve been having the same problem. I have an iphoneX. I’m not sure there is a solution. I’ve been to the dealership countless times trying to fix this. My daughters’ Amazon Fires connect automatically just fine. The dealership has this issues

run up to GM engineering and so far there has been no solution. I drive a Cadillac xt6. It’s very frustrating!!