CarPlay disconnecting

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If CarPlay doesn't work like you expect, here’s what you can check. After each step, try using CarPlay again.

1. Make sure that Siri is turned on.
2. Restart your iPhone and your car. Depending on your car, you might see the CarPlay Home screen when you turn it on. If you don't, look for the CarPlay logo on your car’s display.
3. If possible, connect your iPhone to a different USB port in your car.
4. Try a different Lightning to USB cable. Make sure that the cable is certified.
5. Update to the latest version of iOS.
6. Check your car’s manual for help. You might need to install firmware updates for your stereo.

Learn more about CarPlay and driving and navigating safely.

I have a 2018 Nissan kicks and an iPhone X. When I first got the car I didn’t have any issues with the Apple car play but the next day is when it kept disconnecting from my phone and wanting to use my Bluetooth instead. I tried switching the cords and everything but it’s not working. When it does want to work it’s only for a few minutes until my phone screen locks then it disconnects.. so idk what’s going on but it’s getting a bit annoying..

I have tried all of the above troubleshooting and am still having the issue. Same car model. This was not happening until after one of the iOS 11.2 upgrades. Seems like something changed that is causing the problem

Hi, I have just purchased a 2018 Holden Commodore (Opel Insignia). I’m having the same problem. I’m using a genuine Apple cable. When I connect, Apple CarPlay works fine for about 90 seconds to 2 minutes then disconnects. I’m using a iphone x. I don’t know if it is an Apple issue or a Holden issue.

Any ideas please?

Also having this issue. Recently upgraded from an iPhone 6s to iPhone 8 and now experiencing constant disconnections to CarPlay whereas it was relatively stable before with the same car (Audi S3) and same lightning cable. Only way to get it connected is by physically disconnecting and reconnecting the cable multiple times only until it drops out again. Very frustrating and from speaking to many others, seems like a widespread issue. Apple really needs to address this bug rather than giving basic instructions on switching phones on and off and trying other USB ports as clearly it is not as simple as that..

I have the exact same problem - iPhone 6sPlus - brand new BMW X3 2018 (not even a week old) and carplay does not work. It keeps disconnecting and many times dont even reconnect. Once connected and I want to make a phone call using carplay, the call diconnects to my phone and back to the car and back to the phone ..... and just infuriates me to say the least. THIS IS A HUGE RISK WHEN IT HAPPENS BECAUSE MY EYES ARE OFF THE ROAD TRYING TO FIGURE OUT *** IS WRONG WITH CARPLAY INSTEAD OF KEEPING MY EYES ON THE ROAD. I am deeply disappointed paying $300 for this carplay service ..... that does not even work #disapointed. Sounds to me like a major software issue that everyone seems to complain about...

Wanted to add this image to show the annoyance this causes in addition to the single speaker mono output. This area that says "External dialogue" is normally where I check things like mpg, temperature, battery performance, etc. When carplay connects to the car as a voice call, this is all I see. In the Raptor its not this bad, but when I adjust the volume up and down the screen shows "Voice Volume" on the overlay instead of the "Entertainment Volume".

Carbuncle99 wrote:

https://discussions.apple.com/content/attachment/62891aac-a5ba-4b21-b61c-b0ff4775b84d

Here’s the thing, after flicking through 419 pages in software this was the closest I could find to a serial number on page 1, if this isn’t what you need maybe you could suggest or send a screen shot of what you need

cheers

I need to email a friend in the AU. I'm getting a lot information on the Opel Insignia, which is what your car is based on. It seems that, in unusual fashion, the infotainment systems are different between the two. One runs a modified version of WindowsCE/Embedded the other runs something else.

This is not unusual for low production run cars.

Does your main screen look like this?

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

Carbuncle99 wrote:

Mine is a base model so maybe top of line look different but here are 2 shots, one that has “projection” is without USB connected, one with CarPlay is with USB connected, but it only stays connected for no more than a minute or so then converts back to Bluetooth connection only which is fine but doesn’t give you all the vehicles screen capability with maps etc

https://discussions.apple.com/content/attachment/49852e79-af47-4ec0-a229-a6711aad9773

https://discussions.apple.com/content/attachment/af1dbef3-eec8-4882-b6da-1d36e6ad7cb1

Excellent. This will make it easier.

So, your interface tells me that you have a relatively new firmware running the infotainment system.

The important information is the version, the second-to-last update released for Holden and Opel vehicles specifically call out the flaky Android Auto and CarPlay in some vehicles.

This is important, do you have a "Valet Code" programmed into the system? If so, remove it.

Do you have the owners manual? See page 232 for how to find your software version.

Also, see page 172 for updating the software.

Carbuncle99 wrote:

I know nothing of a valet code and there’s no mention of one in the manual, also, the manual says update software at dealership, this was checked at last service About November 2019 and was up to date I was told, next service due in a month or 2 so will get it checked again then (problem has existed prior to last check) I looked for the version and I took 3 pics page 1,2,3 then it goes into pysco babble for the next 400 pages so I took 4 pics of pages 416,417,418,419.....I appreciate your help on this and the time your taking to help

https://discussions.apple.com/content/attachment/23eafdaf-1d92-4eae-a34a-7e7b20d69067

https://discussions.apple.com/content/attachment/40dedd49-cae8-4b0e-98e1-4a65a9b0921e

https://discussions.apple.com/content/attachment/b4b2379e-084f-435b-bde3-5834cfb1a620

https://discussions.apple.com/content/attachment/3d13783c-526a-4221-b6a5-df5318dbb8eb

https://discussions.apple.com/content/attachment/12105dd0-23ab-4a89-b7df-dc7d1cc10640

https://discussions.apple.com/content/attachment/f70525d6-ef11-4a17-a4b9-dd137f7a6ec1

https://discussions.apple.com/content/attachment/f25986c2-2a72-4a64-b5f5-943c0cc400dc

Let me wait to hear back from my friend in the AU. This might take a couple days as it's the weekend.

I don't want to recommend anything until I've gained more familiarity with that specific unit.

***My Final Update***

Ok since my last update I have had zero problems since disconnecting from my VPN

• 2018 Kia Soul with Apple Carplay
• iPhone 6 Plus with iOS 11.4 (15F79)
• Nord VPN (turned off while connected to CarPlay)

All works fine. So, my issue was with the VPN.

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.

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.

Funny you mentioned it getting worse. Yesterday, CarPlay just dropped and I tried disconnecting-reconnecting ~10 times with no luck. Then I ran an errand for 30 mins, returned to the car, plugged it in and, voila, it worked. All previous instances of CarPlay dropping were resolved within a minute or so, though the number of disconnect-reconnect attempts varied between one to five.

I also experienced CarPlay dropping in the middle of a call. For ~10 seconds I could barely hear the caller on my phone (regular sound, not iPhone speaker mode) and the caller could hear me (unclear if via iPhone mic or receiver's external mic). Then my receiver magically switched to using Bluetooth and the call resumed to broadcasting on the car speakers and using the receiver's external mic.

All of my equipment (hardware) is new: receiver 2 wks, Apple cable 2 wks, iPhone X 1 month. This matters, IMO, because it likely eliminates poor physical connections as the root cause of the problem, by which I'm referring to worn USB port on receiver, worn Lightning-USB cable endpoints or dirty/worn Lightning cable port on iPhone.

Further isolating the problem to (possibly) iOS is that my receiver is a new model, but it uses the same "guts" as older models that have been around for several years. The primary difference between models is the built-in internal amp wattage. The receiver is running the latest firmware version.

To recap:

• CarPlay randomly drops
• "Fixing" it requires disconnecting-reconnecting Lightning cable, and even that sometimes doesn't work
• New iPhone X running iOS 13.1.3 (Lightning cable port isn't dirty or worn)
• New Apple Lightning-USB cable (endpoints aren't worn)
• New receiver (USB ports aren't worn, firmware up-to-date, system "guts" based on well-tested platform)
• The large number of complaints, coming from a wide variety of CarPlay-supported receivers, and frequent reports that CarPlay issues increased after iOS updates, strongly suggests the root cause is iOS stability/reliability.