CarPlay disconnecting

It appears that in certain BMW cars where Carplay is wireless the connection is poor and carplay disconnects all the time. In some Evo ID5/ID6 units the WiFi antenna is missing. The Wifi antenna connects to the back of the unit which is very easy to take out (requires removal of 6 screws). It should be connected to the WLAN socket (the light blue connection on the right). Since I've connected it life is great and Carplay connection is excellent! WiFi antenna is cheap and can be easily ordered

I wanted to be sure I have a fix before I posted this. I have been following this thread very closely and have had multiple trips to the Audi dealer for my 2018 Q7 experiencing the same problems with my iPhone XS. After months of issues and trying everything posted here, I made some changes two weeks ago and haven't had any issues.

1. Turned off screen time tracking per another post (did not fix issue)
2. Deleted old MMI profiles from previous Audis (this did not fix the issue but I'm putting everything I did)
3. Turned off Activity Tracker for phone and all app under "Health"
4. Made sure Settings - Privacy -Location Services for all apps were either "Never" or "only when using"
5. Turned off Settings - Privacy -Location Services -System services for Location Based Alerts, location based apple adds, location based suggestions, all "product improvement"

I really think it's the activity tracker because if I left Pokemon Go on running in the background I would always have issues and there is a new feature for egg hatching on that app which used Activity tracking. I noticed my phone would have issues if it moved in a certain way or if I was going between service areas. It may have been the combination of 3&4. I haven't had any issues in two weeks where before I disconnected several times per day.

I posed this ...

I think I found the problem with the disconnect in CarPlay.

I have a KIA 2018 Stinger GT2. I have Had this problem for 4 months.

Are you ready .... Apple (iPhone) MAPS has been causing the issue.

I stumbled across it when I turned off the Radio and closed the apps on my iPhone.

Apple Maps popped up on my Radio. (Not the Nav that comes with the Radio) It was running. I didn't open it or use it! it must have been running in the back round using resources. I deleted the App from my iPhone. Thank god (Apple), lol allowed users to uninstall there apps.

Once I did that I rebooted the iPhone connected back using the same Lightning Cable and proceeded to see if every thing was still functioning, it was, then I took a drive. Everything is working perfectly. Even all the information for Waze, SiriusXM and other music providers are working great.

Been working with no issues for about 10 days straight. WOW, what a relief.

Funny thing though, every once and a while a little window comes up and reads "Apple maps needs to be installed. go to the apps store". LOL.

I have the same problem using iPhone X's and BMW 330e. After digging into it it seems that the car's WiFi is the culprit. What seems to to the trick is when reconnecting you should disable and enable Vehicle WiFi (uncheck and check) at the idrive menu at manage mobile devices -> settings. Then quickly to to your iPhone, disable WiFi and turn it on again. You'll see BMWxxxCarplay. Connect to it and then go to idrive in your car choose manage mobile devices check your iPhone and select apple car play. This will last for your journey. The problem with me that I have to repeat this almost every trip. I guess it's either a software defect of the head unit or a faulty WiFi antenna. Theater could be replaced. You can Google it.

ok - spent some time on a chat with apple support before resorting to har reboot. I ahd already done all the steps of software update, different cable, etc and isolated the problem to my phone. Solution was to rename the phone and to forget the car. when i reconnected with the cable to the car, the phone resynced to the car with the new name. drove around for several minutes past the time when the phone would usually disconnect. this time there was no issue and no disconnect. will monitor this. but this may just have done the job. very happy.

Wanted to chime in on this one as another forum member has...

At least for me, iOS 12.2 has appeared to resolve my CarPlay disconnection issues. I updated the day it came out and immediately began testing.. so far have seen zero disconnects.

For those still with disconnection issues, give 12.2 a try, given it's free and all.....

Get a. WiFi antenna (Google at eBay) and follow this guide for installationhttps://youtu.be/ncqGt_HUspo

Solved this for me today!!!!!!

I updated to iOS 12.2 and it appears to have resolved the problem. 4 days of usage with NO disconnects and NO freezes and NO audio interruptions.

There are two different way CarPlay connects to your the infotainment system in your car: Wired (typically through USB port) and Wireless (uses Bluetooth to initiate connection and transfers data through WiFi). For folks with wired connection, I recommend making sure the Lightning connection port on your phone is free of lint or debris. It is common problem for it to fill up with lint over time, eventually causing connectivity issues for the lightning cable.

BMW only offers wireless CarPlay (at least in both of my 2018 BMW models). Wireless disconnections are different, and I haven't found a way to reliably address the issues I am having. I've tried the suggest remedy of switching into airplane mode via settings, and the switching back, rebooting phone, restarting car. It did work for a while but problem returned during a long drive. Still trying to debug this. Apple recommend returning phone to factory settings, and setting up as new phone. Then add apps as needed and note if adding/using particular app is associated with issue starting.

Steps for returning to factory settings and setting up as new phone:

back up your phone: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203977

restore to factory settings: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201252

If you're having issues connecting with CarPlay, remove the Bluetooth connection between your iPhone and vehicle. Restart your iPhone and try to use CarPlay again. ... Go to Settings > General > CarPlay to see if you have any other CarPlay connections with another vehicle. Try deleting these to see if it fixes the problem.

[Link Edited by Moderator]

You're not removing the profile in the head unit if you're doing it while driving. You can't, or maybe shouldn't be able to do a navigation reset while the car is in motion.

Sounds like your just removing the profiles in your phone.

There's the BT profile in your phone, one in the Navigation/Head Unit. If either of these is corrupt it will cause issues. They both need to be completely removed. That's why when some people rename the phone the issue goes away, some head units pair profiles with phone names. So, if you rename your phone the head unit will create a new profile. The head unit BT controller thinks this is a new device and assigns a fresh, spankin-new profile to the "New" phone.

If you load a new, or get desperate enough to make the mistake of loading a beta OS on your phone, you might think the iOS update fixed it and this probably isn't the case. The BT profile on the phone changed enough to trigger a new BT profile within the car because the new update. Then guess what? Same exact problem and you spin 'round and 'round again when you could have started by resetting the Navigation/Head Unit and reset your phone and you'd be back on the road in 20 minutes.

This is very common in BMW's due to the lack of redundancy checks in the system.

Sorry but the update to ios 12.2 does not fix the problem. The only success I have had with this is remembering to have the iphone forget the vehicle every time I disconnect. PIA but seems to work

There are no official answers from Apple but after reading all replys here and in other posts and even other sites I can see it comes from two things (which BTW makes sense if you know a bit about system development):

1. It looks like there could be a glitch between the iPhone network module and the car connection (memory overload, internal crash, etc)
2. It looks like there's a glitch between the iPhone power management and the car interface which makes the connection signal unstable and looses it.

I come to this after reading that is confirmed that Wireless Carplay fails as well as USB Carplay. Others are having this issue when (confirmed) a VPN is configured or the cell signal is low, in this cases the disconnection will come, and lastly that looks for some people that changing the phone name or resetting the network settings has helped. Also because a lot of people say to have found the connection si stable if the battery is 100% full.

There is something that is triggering or crashing the car connection and the only things I can think of is due to a memory overload or an unstable signal.

One IMPORTANT point: I have this issue since I bought an iPhone 8+ in December first in a BMW X3 2016 WITHOUT Carplay, then in a Tiguan 2018. The BMW Connected via USB will just star connecting and disconnecting randomly. In the Tiguan (with Carplay) it started happening just last week.

So my conclusion is that its not about Carplay itself. I think it's about the communication between the iPhone and the car which crashes and it has to be restablished.

Problem solved!!!!!!

I had the same issue with BMW 330e. The solution is very easy. Since BMW uisbusing a WiFi connection in some models a WiFi antenna is all you need. It costs around 15$. Installation is very easy https://youtu.be/ncqGt_HUspo

After three months is suffering carplay won't disconnect and sound quality improved. This may look frightening to remove the dashboard cover but it is very easy and requires only a screwdriver. I suggest also a double sided tape and to put the antenna near the vent openings for optimal reception

Happened to me on very rare occasions. Rectified by either restarting CarPlay unit in dashboard (holding main volume button down until unit reboots) or checking phone and I see i need to enter my passcode enter code for unlocking phone and unit then connects.