My Iphone6 still will not pair with Subaru bluetooth

That's good info Rick, and I hope it helps someone here. Thanks for posting it.

For the record, my wife has a 5C running 8.1.3, and it now pairs without a hitch to her 2012 Forester. I agree that the manual is useless and i spent hours trying to get it paired the first time. We went back to the dealer and he did it quickly, only using the steering wheel controls and voice commands.

It's a subaru problem!

I have a 2013 Outback, and just got an iphone6. DOesn't work.

Called Subaru and they said that the phone won't work with any model before 2014. Nothing they can do about it!

We need to rally Subaru to help!

Yes, it is a Subaru problem, and it's incredibly stupid; but the problem is one of methodology and documentation, not capability. What you have to do is to clear the radio of any old phone profiles USING THE STEERING WHEEL CONTROLS, then pair the new phone, and it will work perfectly. See my post of March 10.

Thanks for the response. I've done just what you suggested. It allows me to pair the car with the phone, but it only works as "multi-media". It will play as an ipod.. when connected through a USB. There is no bluetooth connection, and although music will play through the speakers, the phone itself will not -- no hands-free capability.

Yeah, there's no Bluetooth connectivity there. It really sounds like what I'm talking about - an old profile blocking the pairing, but the radios are different in different models, versions and years, so I can't be sure. What version Outback do you have?

Have you seen this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vawFa-pVD0 He's using an earlier iPhone though, and I don't know when they upgraded the Bluetooth version; but I would think later versions would be backward compatible. I took a look on the NASIOC website audio forum, and the most promising thing I found reinforces what I was going to say, which is: Are you sure you deleted any and all old phone profiles - not just the pairings - from the radio using the steering wheel controls BEFORE you tried to pair the 6? (BTW, when I had my Bluetooth nightmare with my Subie, it was with an HTC One. When I switched to iPhone 6 Plus, knowing the routine, I got it paired in a snap, and it's been rock solid.) Also, have you actually gone to a Subaru dealer and asked them to pair the phone for you? If so, try another dealer or three. Some are better than others (understatement of the year!).

Hey - I just found this on SubaruOutback.org. In your case apparently you don't even get a partial or temporary pairing, so the problem may be different (my money's still on the necessity to delete all previous profiles from the car AND the phone). But this would sure seem to prove that it is NOT impossible the way you were told:

Folks who are having BT problems with iOS 8 and Subaru head units - the following fix was posted on the apple support site and it worked for me....

I found a solution which worked for me with this issue.

I have a 2013 Subaru Outbackand I was having bluetooth pairing issues with my iPhone 6Plus. I could pair but the next time I started the car, it would not repair automatically. The iOS 8.1 update did not fix the problem. I had performed the pairing using the Menu buttonon my audio console. Here's the solution I found.

1. I used the Menu buttonto delete the old pairing. I turned off the car.

2. I deleted the paired connection on my iPhone. I switched off Bluetooth and restarted both the car and the iPhone.

3. I turned on Bluetooth on the iPhone.

4. This time I used voice control on the Subaru instead of the Menu button. My voice commands were Bluetooth Setup-->Phone Setup-->Pair Phone.

5. I completed the pairing on the iPhone, entering the passkey. The pairing was successful.

6. I turned off the car. A few minutes later, I turned it on and - voila - the connection was reestablished. Over the last two days, the connection has been successfully reestablished maybe nine times.

I called my Subaru service rep just to give him this info in case anyone else was having the same problem. He said that generally speaking, it's a better idea on a Subaru to use voice commands to pair. Don't ask me why. Anyway, it works.

I hope this helps others with the same problem!

I disagree. This is matter of standards, and conforming to standards. Apple adopted Bluetooth Version 4.0 for iPhone 4s, advertising the power consumption benefits. My iPhone 4S worked fine in my Outback with factory-fitted Eclipse AVN827GA. My iPad with iOS 8.3 works fine with the system. However, my new iPhone 6 with iOS 8.3 can't pair with the same car system. Apple tell me that the iPhone 6 also uses Bluetooth Version 4.0, but there are obviously changes preventing even basic pairing, let alone various functions (they can't be tested without pairing!). Here's part of what the supervisor said:-

I can confirm that the iPhone 6 Bluetooth is an upgraded chipset which can definitely behave differently than the previous iPhone models, while it’s often backwards compatible there are some bluetooth enabled products that don’t have the ability to connect to the upgraded bluetooth protocols. End quote.

The Eclipse website has a table of phone bluetooth compatibility, and while all previous models of iPhone are listed, the iPhone 6 doesn't get a mention at all. I have sent them an email asking about this.

In essence, Bluetooth in iPhone 6 is not entirely backward compatible with that in previous models. Does this mean every other device manager should change their products? Apple claim backward compatibility, but they should fix it when it fails. There is no guarantee that this is fixable by a firmware update, but until one or both parties solves the problem, DON'T BUY AN iPHONE 6!

Unfortunately, if you are on this stream it is too late!