Update: Bluetooth reconnection issues on iPhone 16 Pro Max

I spent a lot of time last year struggling to get my iPhone 16 Pro Max to reconnect the Bluetooth kit for my car stereo.

the problem was I had to set up the connection all the time. After turning the car off, the phone would not reconnect until I forgot my car in the phone's Bluetooth settings and set it up as a new device. After that, everything would work just fine — unless I, y'know, ever turned the car off, in which case I'd have to repeat the whole process.)

I just wanted to log in here that while I never was able to resolve this issue with the iPhone 16 Pro Max, after recently upgrading to an iPhone 17 Pro Max everything works perfectly with the same car stereo. I'm not sure whether that indicates it was likely a hardware problem, or a software problem that was cleaned up during the upgrade process, or what. (For what it's worth, I did try erasing the 16 and restoring it from an iCloud backup during my troubleshooting, tho', and it had no effect on the issue.)

So, maybe that's not great news for anyone still struggling with this problem on a 16 Pro or 16 Pro Max, but I wanted to log in here that the problem was definitely in the phone (not in the car kit, as some had suggested), and unless/until you want to move to a new phone it might be worth your time to try simulating the upgrade process, setting your 16 up as a new device, etc.

[Edited by Moderator]