IOS 11 incompatible with Honda handsfree bluetooth

Same problem with iPhone 6S+ and 2014 Odyssey. Was able to restore connection by deleting the phone on car, resetting Network Connections on the phone, and then pairing the two again. That worked. We’ll see how it holds.

Have you tried the 11.0.1 update?
I wasn't expecting it to have an impact as it's a security update, but I jumped in my car, blew everything out and tried it and... (drum roll)... IT WORKED! I drove, stopped, and drove again and I didn't lose my connection at all.

Note: I did completely remove the phone from the car and forget the connection on the phone. I did not reset network setting or anything. Another cool addition I noticed: Once everything was connected and working I also gained the ability to control music not just from my iPhone or Head Unit but also from my Apple Watch though it wasn't connected to the car any longer.

I REALY hope this update fixes this for you guys.

The problem is infuriating!

I was having this problem with iOS 11 on iPhone 8 with my 2012 Accord EXL.

Some combination of these things fixed bluetooth calling for me (not sure what, but these were all the variables in between working and not working):

• Update to iOS 11.2.2
• Restarting iPhone at least once
• Restarting car at least once
• Deleting all of HandsFreeLink's existing paired phones
• Re-pairing my iPhone after deleting all existing

I still can't get any other audio besides a phone call to stream over bluetooth; not sure if that's expected to work at all.

Strangely, while in the middle of a phone call that is outputting through the car stereo over HandsFreeLink Bluetooth, I CAN stream other audio; but then that ends as soon as the call ends...

I have a iPhone 7plus that I just recently upgraded to iOS 11.2.6...I had the same problem. When I tried to connect my phone to my 2016 Civic, I continually got the message ‘phone not found’. I cleared the several phones that I had connected and saved and started over. First try and I was able to connect with handsfreelink. It now is working perfectly.

I have also been having these "disconnection" problems with bluetooth connecting my iPhone SE to my 2006 Lexus RX400h since I upgraded to IOS 11.x. Apple contends that the problem is that the Lexus has an older BT spec than the iPhone. They say that the issue can only be resolved by upgrading the car BT firmware. Lexus knows of no upgrade that is available. I have discovered a work around for my issue and possibly a clue for Apple.

My symptom is:

I start the car and shortly after that the car's display console says “Bluetooth Connected.” After a short period of time this connection seems to go to sleep. If I make a phone call, the iPhone initially displays the Audio choices as follows:

Bluetooth Hands free ( My car )

iPhone ( Hands on the phone )

Speaker

These three only display for about two seconds and then the “Bluetooth Hands Free” option goes away. It switches to “iPhone” and “Speaker” only as choices. iPhone will be selected, so of coarse I pick up the phone and it is ringing on the iPhone. About five seconds after the caller answers and the phone call is connected, the iPhone audio goes dead and in about five more seconds the audio is switched over to “Bluetooth Hands Free” in my car. Of coarse I have missed most of what the other person has said in those five seconds or so and they are usually saying “Hello…. Are you there.” Aggravating….

The work around:

This has worked every time so far.

Before I make a phone call I go into the settings and open Bluetooth. It shows the connection to the car ( Bluetooth Hands Free ) as “Connected.” I tap that connection and the little pinwheel spins, then goes back to “Connected.”

I can now make a call and the audio is coming thru my Lexus Bluetooth connection.

This has worked every time for two weeks of doing this routine. I believe that the iPhone's bluetooth connection to my car may be going to sleep to save power or some such thing. Reselecting the connection on the iPhone, in settings, works to eliminate the dropped connection and dead air time in the beginning of the call.

I hope someone from Apple reads this and it helps to solve the problem.

Someone suggested to delete all of the little photos attached to each of your contacts. Remove the bluetooth device from AcuraLink and on the iphone, forget the HandsFreeLink device. Then add it back to your AcuraLink. It seems to be able to import your phone's contacts and keep them in there. I still can't use the voicetags to call, but at least my contacts stay in the system. I'm still using 11.2.1 for now and weary of updating to 11.2.2.

Also, I found an internal article published by Honda stating that as of Dec 2017, they are aware of no phone book showing up on the On Demand Multi-Use Display (ODMD) with iOS11. They state that there is still no fix and to ask users to use SIRI until there is a fix....nice.

Hello I know you Posted Last Year but Today I had a Similar Problem.

I have the iPhone X and a 2007 Honda CR-V I couldn’t Pair the Phone until I did a Complete Clear on the Bluetooth of Stored Numbers and Paired Phones.

Now Works Flawless.

Hope this Helps if you are Still having Trouble.

After little pics removed from contacts, hands free seems to be working fine.

Thanks for the information.

Same / similar issues here with two different Mini Coopers. Had these problems consistently with beta releases as well.

@madra31: We've deleted the connection from both cars and forgot these connections on both phones, reset the network of both phones and reconnected afterword. It works great for a while but it inevitably dies again. I'm pretty sure it's just a software thing but it really needs to be fixed.

Funny note: My 1st gen Apple Watch works perfectly with Watch OS4, so I've transferred my playlists to my watch and connected it to my car to get around the problem until Apple fixes the issue. The watch is slow to cue the first track and may not provide track data or album covers, but it works, so...

Interestingly I have had some positive results (no Bluetooth Connection Loss) with "Turning Off" LTE Voice Option (Data Only) on my iPhone 8 Plus. I do not understand why, but I read it in a Forum somewhere (Honda Forum I think).

I just got iPhone X with IOS 11.2 and found a quick way to get it to pair with my 2015 Honda Accord Hybrid. I just renamed my iPhone and it immediately found it and went through the pairing. It works fine.

Bluetooth calls still worked after updating to iOS 11.2.1 on our 2016 Honda HRV but it stopped listing recent calls which made it easier to call people back later. Fixed this by going to Settings\Bluetooth\My Devices and clicking on the info button for the car stereo. The “Sync Contacts“ option was off which it must default back to when updating. Turning it back on gets it back to where it should be.

My wife has been complaining of this same issue in her 2016 Odyssey since upgrading to iOS 11. After reading several threads in this forum, I tried a work iPhone running ios 11.3 beta 4 with a copy of her contact data. I paired it with the car bluetooth and it sync'd perfectly, all contacts etc. No mucking around with deleting contact photos.

Hopefully 11.3 release is soon and fixes this issue. Beta 5 came out this week, so it can't be too much longer.

Just thought I'd share.

You may find this an interesting read

http://www.autoconnectedcar.com/2017/10/why-bluetooth-is-good-bad-in-ios-11-ipho ne-6-7-8-plus-x-for-car-owners-fixes-for-honda-bmw-ford-chevy-more/

Get help connecting your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with your car stereo - Apple Support