CarPlay Disconnecting - iPhone XS Max

I solved the problem - at least for me. I have a 2018 A5 which was working just fine with my iPhone X but disconnects regularly with my xS Max.

Until - just the other day - I tried a genuine Apple lightning cable. And voila, problem is solved. I am suddenly having no issues at all, can run as many apps as I want. I even tried running Waze and Apple Maps at the same time and it was rock solid.

I have generally used high quality third-party cables (usually Anker) and have rarely had issues elsewhere. But all I can say is try the genuine Apple cable and see if it helps. It worked for me.

I had this exact issue on my 2018 Audi Q7 and iPhone XS Max, the way I was able to fix it was that I restored Audi Mmi back to factory settings. I no longer have problems with Apple CarPlay and hasn’t disconnected once since the restore. Hope this helps!

Installed 12.1.3 on iPhone XS Max today connected to 2018 Audi Q7 and had 0 disconnects for an hourlong ride. Ran Apple Maps, Apple Music, and made phone calls at the same time, no issues. Pushed Siri requests, texts with Podcast and Maps apps running and no issues. Very promising update.

I may have found a cause of the disconnect issue. My 2017 A4 is doing the exact same thing as described by most here (XS Max etc.). So I started to see if I could determine a pattern of the disconnects. Sure enough it turns out alerts that show up on the lock screen were causing my disconnect. Most of the alerts were from Apple Maps on my phone telling me it would take X minutes to get home.

Basically if an alert showed up on my lock screen it would disconnect for up 20-30 seconds then reconnect. It seems if I had the phone in do not disturb while driving all other alerts were silenced but apple maps would still alert and cause the disconnect. Interestingly even if I had the phone unlocked and an alert from say Homekit came through it would disconnect. I see there is an OS update to 12.1.3 so I am going to try that out and see if it fixes the issue.

Mine (2018 A5, iPhone XS Max) now seems to be nice and solid after the latest IOS update. I had mostly fixed the problem by using an original Apple cord but now my "other" cords all seem to work fine as well.

Drove around with both Apple Maps and Waze running today and it was rock solid.

Hi All, The issue I've discovered on Bentley is this. Bluetooth when its on is what the car looks for so if you have a wired phone to USB and unless you have ticked the box which says don't ask again, the car will always be looking for a bluetooth connection. The answer is to try ticking the dont ask again box which tells the car to stop looking for a bluetooth connection. If that fails to resolve the issue, try disconnecting the car in the iphone under bluetooth and it should now only work if wired in. Doing a reset can also resolve the issue but not always. So I connect with a cable, disconnect all available bluetooth options and tick dont ask again.

Check your lightning jack with a wooden toothpick and make sure there isn’t lint stuck in there.

If you read through this entire thread most of the Audi users had their problem solved with a firmware update from Audi combined with the release of 12.1.4. Check with your Audi dealer.

Yes, deleting the VPN also cleared my issues.

Nothing is going to fix this (with exception of some people having success with USB meters), until Apple releases a software fix. iOS 12 introduced a power management issue it needs to solve. Our best bet for anyone with this issue, is to report it to Apple support if you haven't already done so.

Spoke to Apple support, here are all of the troubleshooting suggestions I have been provided:

(1) Forget vehicle in CarPlay and then reconnect the phone

(2) Go to Settings/Screen Time/Content & Privacy Settings:

• • Enable Content and Privacy Settings if disabled
  • Go to Allowed Apps
  • Ensure that CarPlay is Enabled

(3) Renaming the phone

• • Forget the Car stereo from Settings/General/CarPlay
  • Forget the iPhone from the Car Stereo
  • Rename the iPhone in phone settings
  • Reconnect the iPhone to the car stereo

(4) Test with a shorter apple lightning cable.

Results:

I tried (1) this morning and CarPlay worked for a few mins then disconencted 3 times within 20 mins while listening to music that was playing from so it made no change.

(2) Just done this and need to take a drive to test it out. Will report later on after I do so. This suggestion came from the Apple tech that called me from the scheduled call.

(3) Not tried yet. This suggestion came from the Apple online chat technician. I want to try (2) for a while to help narrow down which solution solves the issue.

(4) I already use a certified 6" lightning cable (works fine with CarPlay on my other iPhone)

My setup:

2018 Jeep grand Cherokee Summit

iPhone XS MAX IOS 12.1.2

iPhone 7 Plus IOS 12.1.2

This is what I posted if it helps:

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

I have a loaded 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 ! it must have been running in the back round using resorces. 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.

Wow you should really get your MMI updated. I had some iPhone X CarPlay disconnects problems when I was on 1117, which are now gone on 1329. 1329 is smoother overall and CarPlay opens faster when you start the car.

I'm happy to say my iPhone XS Max disconnects are also resolved with the new IOS firmware

Don't give up yet. Please try your iPhone X on iOS 12.1.3 in your Audi regardless of the MMI version.

I've had nothing but success--no dropped connections at all--with iPhone XS and X since the update. The last time I may have had an update to my MMI was August 2018 when I had my vehicle in for an inspection. I never regarded MMI as the culprit.

Finally, after about two days in my Audi workshop the problem with CarPlay constant disconnecting in my A4 Allroad is solved, hopefully...At least it worked constantly all the drive home flawlessly👍.

According to workshop, it was a bad connection between the MMI actuator and stereo module causing the USB ports to switch on and off. It was not related to iOS, iPhone, or type of cables.

Thans for all your support with my troubleshooting!