Iphone8 won't play phone calls in car

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Iphone8 won't play phone calls in car

My iPhone 8 will not play phone calls in my car. I can connect fine via Bluetooth and play music, but phone calls will not broadcast over the speaker in the car.

I had an iPhone 5s in the past that would play both music and phone calls over the car speaker via Bluetooth, so I know the system works.

My current iOS is up to date, I have deleted the device many times and re-established as per Apple recommendation. The only options when I receive a call in the car is either the microphone on the iPhone 8 itself or speaker phone on the iPhone 8.

I spoke with Apple support and they said it's an unfortunate issue that older vehicles may not be compatible with newer phones to play phone calls hands free. This is a significant safety issue that Apple has missed.

The vehicle is a 2012 Toyota Venza XLE with a JBL sound system.

Has anyone else experienced this or have solutions?

iPhone 8, iOS 11.2.6

Posted on Feb 22, 2018 12:32 PM

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Answer 1

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gail from maine

Level 9

52,715 points

Feb 22, 2018 1:42 PM in response to FootieFool

I had this same issue with my iPhone. I discovered that when I was receiving or making a call, the "speaker button" on my iPhone changed to Audio, and if I tapped on it, I now had three options:

Speaker

iPhone

BMW Bluetooth

Speaker was selected, and I had to tap on the BMW one to make it come through my speakers. Knowing that this could not be the way it was supposed to be working, I started searching through my settings and found this:

Settings>General>Accessibility>Call Audio Routing

This was set to default to "Speaker". I changed it to Automatic. Haven't had a chance to test it in my car, but I think changing this to Automatic should resolve the issue.

Go figure....

GB

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Answer 2

FootieFool Author

Level 1

6 points

Mar 6, 2018 1:13 PM in response to FootieFool

I have talked to Apple and Toyota about the safety issue of my iPhone8 not playing phone calls in my 2012 Venza.

Toyota's website and the agent I spoke to said that Apple's software is not supported on a 2012 Venza, but the 2013 and above is.

There is a phone compatibility list on Toyota's website that tells you if your new phone works with your old car.

It's a shame Apple doesn't feel the need to write code that allows a 2012 car to communicate properly with a 2018 phone. Maybe it's Toyota? Either way, an unfortunate issue, especially in regard to safety.

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Answer 3

FootieFool Author

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6 points

Feb 22, 2018 1:37 PM in response to FootieFool

I did, indeed, change the setting to automatic and for giggles tried speaker and Bluetooth as well.

Each time I deleted the device on my car, changed the settings, turned the phone off and on again, then re-established the device on my car. Still no good.

When I make a phone call, the music will pause, so the vehicle and phone recognize that a call is being made, but it just won't broadcast over the car audio system. This, to me, seems like a software issue since the vehicle and phone are communicating with each other.

One would think that a phone call being made hands free is paramount to music being played over the system, at least as far as safety is concerned. I hope Apple gets this right soon.

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Answer 4

FootieFool Author

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6 points

Feb 22, 2018 1:07 PM in response to FootieFool

That is right on target, but I tried that as well, to no avail.

The standard menu options of speaker - iPhone - car audio are not available when I click on the speaker icon.

Many thanks for the response.

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Answer 5

Feb 22, 2018 1:23 PM in response to FootieFool

FootieFool wrote:

That is right on target, but I tried that as well, to no avail.

The standard menu options of speaker - iPhone - car audio are not available when I click on the speaker icon.

Many thanks for the response.

So, you mean you changed the Settings to Automatic?

Also, I think that those options only showed when I had an incoming call, but not really sure. I'm also not using an iPhone 8, I have a 7 Plus, so not sure if that would make any difference.

Cheers,

GB

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Answer 6

Feb 22, 2018 1:57 PM in response to FootieFool

Yeah, I wasn't sure if it was my iOS, or if BMW needed to update their software. I'm fairly certain that my system has not been updated since I got the car, so if it continues to be a problem, I'm going to ask them about an update. I'm pretty sure my iPhone 5s still works. I'll have to get my husband to call me on each phone while I try it to see if the hardware makes a difference.

And the worst part was that even when I got it to go to the car speaker, if the phone I was calling went to voicemail, the radio started playing again and I had no idea when the greeting was done so I could leave a message...(eyeroll).

If I'm able to get this tested with both devices, I'll post back with my findings. It would be nice to find out if it is hardware or software.

Cheers,

GB

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Answer 7

FootieFool Author

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6 points

Feb 22, 2018 2:45 PM in response to gail from maine

Thank you.

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Iphone8 won't play phone calls in car

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