Does Apple read these posts? I'm having the same trouble connecting iphone4s to my 2012 Prius V. Apple said it was a Toyota problem. Apple needs to help us all!!!!!!!

Jeff, thanks for finding this: had this problem on my brand-new (today!) 2012 Prius, and this is the explanation I needed. I'll just connect my iPhone 4 with a USB cable and not worry about Bluetooth.

That must be something new. My husband has a 2011 Prius & both our iPhones connect via bluetooth. We are both with ATT.

It connects to my 2012 plugin Prius with no problems.

Alright then, here's another gem I found at the Prius chat forum (http://priuschat.com/threads/i-demand-entune-updates.108874/).

Your iPhone will connect via bluetooth for phone AND music AND internet automatically on demand provided the phone is set up as an internet hotspot over bluetooth. Now, in AT&T land that typically requires paying an extra $20/mo. or so to AT&T, ostensibly for the convenience of wireless internet connection, i.e. tethering. To me that's an outrage because I should be able to use my data allowance however I choose, whether it's on my phone, car, laptop, whatever. How that's different from tethering via USB I can't understand, so don't get me started...

Anyway, you can enable tethering on your iPhone by a) jailbreaking it and b) installing Tetherme. I've done this on two phones now and they work beautifully in the Prius.

Those who have posted they have no problem doing the same: are the phones already jailbroken, or are you already paying for the tethering plan?

Jeff Bailey wrote:

Alright then, here's another gem I found at the Prius chat forum (http://priuschat.com/threads/i-demand-entune-updates.108874/).

Your iPhone will connect via bluetooth for phone AND music AND internet automatically on demand provided the phone is set up as an internet hotspot over bluetooth. Now, in AT&T land that typically requires paying an extra $20/mo. or so to AT&T, ostensibly for the convenience of wireless internet connection, i.e. tethering. To me that's an outrage because I should be able to use my data allowance however I choose, whether it's on my phone, car, laptop, whatever. How that's different from tethering via USB I can't understand, so don't get me started...

Anyway, you can enable tethering on your iPhone by a) jailbreaking it and b) installing Tetherme. I've done this on two phones now and they work beautifully in the Prius.

Those who have posted they have no problem doing the same: are the phones already jailbroken, or are you already paying for the tethering plan?

Mine is not jailbroken and I am not on a tethering plan, but I still get Internet access for the Entune apps on my car. And keep in mind that jailbreaking your phone voids your warranty and all Apple support, including the right to get help in this forum. By doing what you describe you have also violated your contract with AT&T, who can charge you retroactively for the tethering (they have done this in the past). So doing it makes absolutely no sense, especially as there is a completely legitimate way to get Internet service in any Toyota with Entune.

Simply install the Entune app on your phone, create an Entune account if you don't have one already, then Launch Entune on your phone and plug in the the USB port in the car. You get Internet service through the Entune app, and you don't have to pay a tethering charge to AT&T.

I'm not arguing that AT&T is right in charging for tethering, but it IS in the contract that you agreed to that they can. BTW, the FCC has just ruled that Verizon cannot charge extra for tethering on their 4G LTE network, because they were awarded the spectrum on the condition that all data would be treated equally.

I have an iPhone 4S and Prius V. The Bluetooth for the phone works fine, but not for Entune. I called Toyota and they said that this was Apple's problem, and it WILL work if I tether with a USB cable. I have not tried it so can't confirm. Not super convenient. They said that 'Apple was working on it'. Apple...?

1. Apple doesn't hear you. This is a user to user support forum, and Apple neither reads nor responds to posts.

2. It is no one's problem. It is the way it is designed to work. You need to connect via cable for Entune to work. When connected with an iPhone USB cable it works very well, and has the advantage of charging the phone at the same time. It's an interesting loophole, because Entune essentially provides tethering of the car's systems to the Internet without having to pay the carrier for a tethering plan.

3. The BlueTooth connection works fine for music and phone integration.

I suspect that if it worked over BlueTooth the carriers would get wise to it pretty quickly.

1) It seems that way.

2) I guess I disagree, and by the way, so does Toyota. They indicate that this is a bug in the iPhone 4S SW. You can connect via Bluetooth but not tether. I don't follow your logic on tethering. Whether you do it by cable or Bluetooth, you still pay the tethering charge. There is no third party carrier for Bluetooth, it is simply a form of local connection like wifi. And also you pay Entune the service fee (eventually) for connecting via their servers.

3) Yes indeed.

While I agree that keeping the iPhone on charge is a side benefit, connecting via a USB cable is a pain.

Let me thorw out a question to the forum. Has anyone on any Toyota vehicle connected their Entune system to an iPhone via Bluetooth?

alan.cable wrote:

2) I guess I disagree, and by the way, so does Toyota. They indicate that this is a bug in the iPhone 4S SW. You can connect via Bluetooth but not tether. I don't follow your logic on tethering. Whether you do it by cable or Bluetooth, you still pay the tethering charge.

No. That's where you misunderstand how it works. You run an app on the phone and connect it to your system. It manages to pull the data it wants via the app... it does not actually tether the system to your Internet connection. No tethering plan required.

Indeed you may be correct. I may have played fast and lose with the term 'tethering'. I agree that the app could be running on the iPhone and communicating with the car console (just like playing music or phoning). In any case, the connection is made to the internet via the phone, and there is (may be) a charge for this depending on your plan. The fact that you connect to the car with USB or Bluetooth is irrelevant to any possible charge. You don't get charged for using your Bluetooth headset do you?

Would you not agree?

And again, Toyota instructions for using Entune clearly indicate thet Bluetooth connection is used.

No. You don't understand how the technology works. The data could not be passed over bluetooth with the iPhone from the app.

If Toyota says you can use bluetooth with the iPhone (which I don't believe they do) then go talk to them about why it's not working.

The fact is, if you want to do this, you use a cable. That's the way Toyota built it.

alan.cable wrote:

And again, Toyota instructions for using Entune clearly indicate thet Bluetooth connection is used.

For Android and Blackberry phones. For whatever reason, iPhone require the cabled connection.

http://www.toyota.com/entune/what-is-entune/phones.html

Matt

I can state with certainty that I do not pay a tethering charge when using Entune with my plug-in Prius. I do not have a tethering plan on my phone. I DO pay for the data used (or rather, I don't pay extra; I pay the standard monthly data charge).

The car is simply the user interface for the Entune application that is running on the iPhone.

As to why it doesn't work over BlueTooth my guess is that the control features that are needed have not been implemented in the iPhone's supported BlueTooth profiles. Whether it's a conscious decision on Apple's part or an oversight I'm not qualified to say.

And I don't find it a "pain" to plug in a cable when I get in the car. The cable is already plugged in to the car, and the other end lies in one of the cup holders. It just takes a second or two. Then the complications start, as I have to go through a bunch of prompts on the car's screen to state that I will drive responsibly, that it's OK for the car to use data from my data plan, that I want (or don't want) music over the connection, etc. I wouldn't like it to have to go through that every time I get in the car with BT on my phone enabled, so I guess I prefer having to plug it in and control this situation.

See, this is the root of my gripe with AT&T over what qualifies as tethering. Without a tethering payment to AT&T anyone with an iPhone is able to use Entune to stream data through their phone to their Prius.

Does this somehow not meet the definition of tethering?

I wouldn't be surprised if they are challenged in court some day and lose because they have in fact been allowing some to tether without paying (through Entune) while charging others $20/mo. to tether by other means.

A distinction based on USB=not tethering and BT=tethering wouldn't hold water with me if I was on the jury.

Jeff Bailey wrote:

A distinction based on USB=not tethering and BT=tethering wouldn't hold water with me if I was on the jury.

Which is why you would never be on the jury.