iPhone 4, VW Golf Bluetooth issues

This is not an apple issue, this is a VW issue.

The Bluetooth Module provided by VW does not support AVRCP (google it to learn more)

Your same iPhone will do what you are looking to do if you connect to a Toyota Venza's built in Bluetooth Module because it does support AVRCP

The latest 9W7 bluetooth module from VW (7P6 035 730 F) does support AVRCP and does let you control the music through RNS-510 or the steering wheel buttons.

Go over to vwvortex.com and read more about it or simply google this:

7P6 035 730 F AVRCP

The European 2012 VW, SEAT have this one installed now from factory now, not sure about the North American cars though, but you can always swap your existing BT with this one, it should be plug and play

Orionreplay, I have the same issue with BT audio playing automatically as well. I have tried to turn off BT-Autoplay with no luck. I believe this is a VW/Fender issue.

Now, for your silent buzzing/no notifications, there is a work around. Once your iphone connects to the car via BT, open up Music app - more than likely it is already running since BT audio starts automatically. In the bottom right corner, there will be a box with Arrow icon. Tap it and select iPhone. This will direct all sounds to the external iPhone speaker rather than the VW Phone stereo speakers. I simply pause the song that was playing.

Now you can hear all of your notifications sounds on the iPhone and continue to us the VW phone feature via BT. The downside is that if you want to stream music via BT, you have to go back through the directions above and change the audio back to VW Phone (or whatever you may have called it).

You will need to do this every time your iPhone connects to the VW's BT. It isn't simple by any means but it works....

I have with lived with this now going on one year next month. Thank you for the advice and a new option I hadn't considered.

Over the year, I have learned to live with the silent buzzing for new email, texts, or any alerts as I drive. I simply developed a place near my shifter using an very old GPS holder that exists in one of my two cup holders. Now the iPhone can sit facing me. Typically the screen will suddenly come out of sleep to display the event to me as a popup. Emails do not, but I'm okay with that.

The sudden screen brightness catches my peripheral vision and then I see my wife texting me to get ice cream on the way home from work. It used to be I'd miss it and get home and get hollered at. Now at least I see it with my developed placement system.

I keep hoping that one day when I return my TDI to the dealer for routine maintenance, they'll announce a change to the BT system. So far no.

What is anyone doing focusing on e mails or texts while driving?

You will kill someone

So, I am going to throw out some "dirty" words here. So if you may be offended, I apologize in advance. I was a Windows guy. I have had 2 windows phones. Both gave me the option of syncing the phone and music separately. I now use the 4S. I cannot find any reason that Apple would not do something similar and let us decide whether we want to even use our IPhones as a bluetooth streaming device. I have found that the only way to play my music properly in my 2012 VW from my 4S is to disassociate the phone's bluetooth from the car and use the dongle. But, the hard wired dongle does not function properly if you are using Apple's bluetooth feature. My Window's phone does not have the same issues. It is obviously an Apple issue, not VW. This has been happening for over a year. Apple has some of the best software engineers in the world. Why can't they solve this little issue? Just separate the bluetooth audio from the bluetooth phone in the bluetooth options. Not that hard.

I have a 2012 and was having similiar issues. Using the dongle is a pain as getting through the menus is laborious! I just allowed the bluetooth connection and make my selections on my iPhone of what to play (usually podcasts I listen to on the way to and from work). I use another charger if needed. If I do not select on the phone, by default the phone will start playing random songs from my playlist. Keep in mind you must choose media on the VW display after the bluetooth fires up. To keep it from blasting you with large volume changes between radio and playlist, set the volume on phone down a notch or two and make sure you have soundcheck selected in settings. Then use your steering wheel controls to fine tune volume, and rewind, fast forward to dial through selections. What I would like to know is how to get rid of the bluetooth memory of my old phone. It still shows up occasionally. You do not have to disassociate your phone to play it on the dongle, but I rarely do that and yesterday it did not respond to inputs from the radio when I had it on the dongle. I find the dongle to be just an annoyance and cumbersome. I dont have time to mess with all those menus on the radio face to navigate through to what I want to hear. I hope that helps. Having bluetooth and being able to listen with my phone in its holster and use the sterring wheel controls when I get a call is soo cool! I love it!

I just wanted to jump in here quick. I have been having this bluetooth issue since i got my 2012 Golf in April of 2012. I currently have the RCD510 head unit in the vehicle, at the beginning of owning the car i noticed if i had any music on the ipod on my iphone (4S at the time) that it would automatically pick it up via bluetooth, and play through the car. It would NOT switch to BT-Audio though, then if you looked at the iphone, music was playing in the background, causing the battery to die. Its frustrating because if you drive an hour, you arent REALLY supposed to be looking at your phone legally anyway so you wouldnt notice and you'd be down 70-80% battery all of a sudden. I thought this was a phone problem, luckily, i was an apple tech and was able to troubleshoot and get a hardware replacement. It didnt solve it. Since then i have had 3 phones, on the 5 now, and they all do the same thing. My girlfriend drives a 2011 Tiguan, same exact head unit, not the same issues. I spoke to VW 3 times asking about reloading firmware or asking for updates, they never helped. I escalated it to VW Canada and they brought it in again specifically to troubleshoot. I showed the service writer and 2 technicians at VW the issue, very easy to explain and easy for them to see, but after they did an official scan for errors, they got nothing. They ordered a new head unit anyway for me since i know the entire dealership and sort of demanded it. I had it installed yesterday, (another RCD510) and its the same thing. I am putting through more and more complaints with VW to upgrade the unit to an RNS510 and see what comes from it. Even worse, in the last 2 weeks, it connects to the phone anyway, without music on it, and tries to stream anything it can (which is nothing) but still kills the battery. In the last 9 months i have confirmed it is NOT the phone, it is the car itself. I am now at the point after i start my car i have to go into the phone menu on the MDI > Bluetooth > Media Player > Connected Devices > (My Phone) > Disconnect...all manually...EVERY SINGLE TIME I START MY CAR. Anyway, i made a discussion account solely to post in here, i am awaiting a word from VW Canada to upgrade the hardware and see if that helps. I will keep everyone posted!

Jimxxx

Did you find anything more from VW head office?

I am a sales rep on the road and very frustrated with how VW is handling this problem and It is costing me business.

I have had my 2010 tiguan in to the shop twice now and they keep telling me it is the phone and I keep saying no it isn't. They just don't want to deal with me. So at least if I know more I can go in and have some factual information.

Thanks,