CarPlay disconnecting

I am having the exact same issue, which only started when I upgrade to the iPhone Xs (OS is on iOS 12.0.1). My previous phone, the iPhone 6s did not have this issue. I also tried the troubleshooting steps above and enabled USB Accessories when locked under the Face ID & Passcode settings as I understand that enabling this setting can cause CarPlay to fail after the phone is locked for 1 hour. None of these steps resolved the issue and the phone constantly connects and disconnects making CarPlay unusable. Is Apple going to address this problem or just continue to ignore it?

I spent a couple hours this past weekend with a senior tech from Apple who obtained data from my phone while it was repeatedly disconnecting from CapPlay. He just called me back this evening and informed me that the Apple engineers have determined the issue (the good news). The bad news is that the issue will likely not be immediately resolved for 1-2 additional software updates. Apparently the problem is within 12.0. With patience, this too shall pass......

Hi Toby, think you probably can switch off Bluetooth on your vehicle via in-car infomation screen settings. That may prevent it asking to use it. Also have you switched off Bluetooth on your phone also?

Finally on your phone in settings “Carplay”, there is an option to “allow CarPlay while screen locked”. Switching this on may prevent disconnection when the screen locks.

Just a couple of ideas!

Hi All --

I wanted to provide an update to my situation. I recently bought a 2018 F-150 Raptor with Ford Sync 3. I also have the 2019 Mini Countryman S Hybrid in my previous post. Both have Carplay. The Carplay in my Mini is wireless only, in the Raptor its wired only.

I also purchased an iphone X in addition to the 6s that I have. My testing on this is not exhaustive, but is fairly extensive at this point.

Anyway -- previously I had noticed that when the cellular (LTE/4G) signal gets very weak is when the wireless carplay signal dropped in the Mini. I know some places I drive on a regular basis where I can replicate this and it does indeed replicate. I tried to replicate this with the Raptor. It also replicated. So, I think there is an issue with the cellular signal strength and carplay disconnecting -- at least in my opinion.

With the update to iOS update to 12.01, this issue is less common, but I am not convinced it is totally fixed. I have been in Japan for a couple of weeks and am just now back to continue my testing -- I will report more as I get more data points.

Additionally, I would like to point out a new issue I am having in BOTH the Mini and the Raptor that seems to have shown up with the 12.01 update -- more than half the time, music playing on the phone (amazon music, google play music, pandora, XM radio app, and others) will come through both the Raptor and the Mini's sound system as a voice call, rather than music. This is even more annoying than the dropping of the signal! Both cars (wired and wireless) route the voice to only the center console speaker, so now I have these fancy (and expensive) sound systems but play audio from a single speaker more than half of the time. The other part of this that is annoying is that when the music is streaming over the phone audio subsystem to the car rather than the stereo audio (A2DP?) the Mini changes its dash interface to let me know I have "external dialogue" going on and inhibits me from seeing all the car computer information.

This stuff is just killing me. Carplay is nothing more than inconsistent junk. It is so buggy at this point that I really don't know where to begin to troubleshoot. I will keep rebooting the phone and try other ideas for now, but I am not sure this product is ready for prime-time yet...

Many people’s experiences seem to be different which makes diagnoses difficult. As for signal drop-out, I have posted before that as I drive home, the cell signal fails at the front of my house and when pulling in to my garage, therefore any audio streaming drops out. However connection between my phone and my CarPlay unit remains solid and I can continue to play my Apple music downloaded to my phone. So in my experience, signal drop out has nothing to do with disconnection between phone and CarPlay.

I have a 2018 Ridgeline that was recently started having the same trouble. Brand new Apple cable, current software on my iPhone X. Seems I can’t listen for more than 20 minutes without it disconnecting.

I have a 2017 Audi A4, this problem was somewhat annoying with iOS 11 in my iPhone 6s Plus (it would disconnect somewhat frequently) but it’s way over the top annoying with iOS 12 and my new iPhone XS. While I am a big fan of the Waze and Google Maps integration in CarPlay with iOS12, I have a dreaded feeling these severe connectivity issues being experienced with iOS 12 and car play in this new arrangement are at the route of these disconnecting problems. Or at least compounded them. If anyone at Apple or elsewhere has a solution I’m all ears as the dealership has nothing to offer. If anyone at Apple or elsewhere has a solution I’m all ears is the dealership has nothing to offer.

Have tried all those things too. 2017 Yukon, BMW 6 series, Just got a 2019 Kia Niro last week... same problems!!!! My phone (7), my wife’s phone (6 plus) OE Apple cables, too many to list aftermarket cables.... all with the same result!!!! Might work for an hour, maybe 2, maybe 10 minutes... sometimes you can unplug and replug, sometimes not. Reboot phone, turn off car.... there’s NO rhyme or reason to when it will or will not work. Car dealers blame Apple.... third car, now I’m tending to agree.

It’s getting really old though. I’ve been an iphone user since its inception.... I’ve put up with the lame iTunes way of adding music to my phone.... but what’s the point if I can’t use it in CarPlay? Is it time to start thinking about an android or something? SOMEBODY has to have a solution!!!!

It probably has to do with Apple’s software, since it’s not working with a variety of iPhone-types and since different car brands are having the same issues. Also Audi is experiencing the same issues.

Downloaded 12.1 yesterday and CarPlay did not disconnect during my commute today I also noticed that there’s no rose compass displaying on the virtual cockpit of my A4. I believe that may have been causing the issue

All sorts have solutions have been suggested which have proved unsuccessful, including resetting network, switching off Bluetooth etc. I can only restate what worked for me. After months of disconnects and trying different cables, I ordered a Syncwire cable and not had a disconnect since. I must emphasise I am NOT endorsing this product nor suggesting it will work for others, but what I do think is that it suggests that this may be a cable/USB connector issue. No real solution in my posting I accept.

I would like to reiterate here that many of us can not actually use carplay with a wire. The newer cars use wireless carplay and do not offer a wired solution. I am in a situation where I have two cars with different interfaces (one wired and one wireless).

On an interesting note -- I personally (on both cars) have not experienced disconnects recently. After updating to iOS 12.1, the problem of disconnects has largely gone away (for me using iphone X).

On the 2018 Ford Raptor side -- all works pretty well at this point. On the other hand, In my 2019 Mini Countryman -- I continue to have the issues where the wireless connection gets made, but all the streaming music comes through as a voice call. This is SUPER annoying because it totally takes over the computer screen of the car and I can not see anything regarding the function of the car. I have a feeling this is not just an Apple issue, but a BMW AND Apple issue on this front -- are any other manufacturers using wireless carplay yet?

I had no idea “car play” was available wireless. Have 2 BMW’s that always disconnect. 2017 Yukon is the WORST!!!! Just got a 2019 Kia Niro (love the mileage) works pretty well but still not wireless “car play”.

Having the same problem with a Subaru Outback 2018. Tried different length cables, all Apple manufactured. Same story. CarPlay stops working after about 10-15 minutes. It's startling if you're in the middle of a phone call and suddenly it disconnects and you get blasted by the radio which now automatically turns back on. Suddenly you've got to fidget with the volume and reach for the phone so you can tell the person your CarPlay disconnected again. All the while in traffic. DANGEROUS! Please fix this Apple.

Well, after previous confident replies that this was all down to the type of cable I may have been proved wrong! Had no disconnects for months since changing to a new cable and was confident this had sourced the cause of the problem. However this morning plugged my iPhone in and kept getting iPhone not connected messages despite unplugging at the car’s USB port and on my phone. Finally I pressed the main button on the dashboard CarPlay unit and rebooted it. After it came back on, my phone connected.

So, perhaps this problem may be something to do with the in-car CarPlay units themselves.

As yet though who knows?