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iPhone iOS Bluetooth Woes w\ my Car

Earlier in this thread I mentioned that I wasn't having any issues with my Ford SYNC.

Well, now I am. Sometimes when connected via Bluetooth it will randomly stop playing. When I connect the iPhone via USB, it most of the time won't display track and artist information.

I didn't have these issues on iOS 7.
 
wow, this actually worked... iPad showed an iPhone under BT Devices. I couldn't delete it but when I signed out of iCloud it disappeared. Went to my car and paired the iPhone and it worked. Now when I sign back into iCloud on the iPad, it shows my new paired phone under devices instead of the old phone.

Thanks!
 
FYI fixed in iOS 8.1 beta 2

FYI I was having the car bluetooth issues and they seem to be resolved in 8.1 beta 2.
 
As mentioned earlier, my issue was the Bluetooth signal dropping and going into device search sometimes when there's a gap between audio programs or when I make or receive phone calls while streaming.

I tried unpairing and then pairing the devices over again. Since then, I have not had any dropouts when going from one audio program to another.

However, the Bluetooth still drops the signal and goes into search mode on calls. After experimenting, I now see that the signal does not drop if I use the car's steering wheel and built-in voice controls to dial and pick up calls.

If I use Siri to dial the number, the Bluetooth signal will drop and then search for the device over again. It takes a few seconds, but if the other party picks up quickly, then I miss the beginning of the call.

Also, it seems that pairing the device was not an easy process this time around. My car gave me multiple error messages at various steps during the device pairing process. I tried various steps, including restarting the device and switching off the car and stepping out of Bluetooth range, before the pairing finally worked.
 
I'm glad the iCloud info has worked for some of you. It worked for my friend too. Hopefully the next update will help as well.

:)
 
The iCloud thing didn't fix it for me. I have no old devices so removed my current devices from iCloud then added them back in. Now when I try it in my car, the audio system was silent and it didn't acknowledge the SD card with my music. I powered the unit down and as soon as I did that, a phone call showed up on my dashboard even though nothing was on my iPhone. The number was the last person I called.
Now on my IPhone under Bluetooth devices, I have my MacBook Pro and two upwards. These devices are either on Yosemite or iOS 8 and these devices never showed up on the iPhone under Bluetooth devices before with iOS 7.
I'm guessing this is all related to hand off / continuity which I believe uses Bluetooth. The iPhone connects to the car but thinks it is connected to one of the two ipads or the MacBook Pro. As soon as you try to make or receive a call, it can't be completed on those devices and so falls back to the iPhone.
That may also explain why occasionally as soon as the iPhone connects to the car, the car shows an incoming call that isn't actually on the phone but was the number of the last phone call you made or received. When you connect to the car, iOS thinks it is handing off and tries to reconnect the last call.

Has anyone had issues who don't have any other devices listed under Bluetooth devices?
 
I originally posted all was fine with ford sync. That has changed. My 6+ on 8.0.2 was working fine for a few days and now it still connects but when I make or receive a call the radio doesn't acknowledge it at all. The phone gives me the choice of sync, speaker, and iPhone but it will not go through sync. When I use Siri though it still works through sync for voice input.
 
I just went to www.apple.com/feedback and sent them this. Hopefully it will be helpful to them to be able to fix it.

Hello,

Since upgrading to iOS 8 and 8.0.1 and 8.0.2 on the iPhone 5s, I've been having problems getting it to work properly with the Ford SYNC system in my car. (This is the basic SYNC and not the MyFordTouch system).

When connected via USB, most of the time it will not display the artist and track information and the play/pause, back/forward controls on the car will not respond to alter what the music on the iPhone is doing. I'll have to pick up the iPhone, unlock it and manually change what it's doing from there.

When connected to SYNC via Bluetooth it sometimes will randomly stop playing and I'll have to restart it.
Click to expand...
 
Okay, I believe I have finally got this resolved fully for myself, I've tried everything to replicate the issues after trying this fix and so far it is holding up for me. This fix has a caveat though, you will lose Handoff - at least until Apple can fix this.

The steps are:

  1. Check on your iPhone under Bluetooth devices for any iOS devices running iOS 8 or Macs running Yosemite. These devices will be listed automatically and if you select the ! icon, the option to ' Forget this device' will be greyed out. Take a note of these devices.
  2. Unpair your Bluetooth connection from your car.
  3. Go to each of the devices in turn from the first step and turn off Handoff. iOS - Settings \ General \ Handoff & Suggested Apps \ Handoff. Mac - Settings \ General \ 'Allow Handoff between this Mac and your iCloud devices".
  4. Now select 'Reset All Settings' on your iPhone under Settings \ General \ Reset.
  5. After the iPhone restarts, turn off 'Handoff' on your iPhone - Settings \ General \ Handoff & Suggested Apps \ Handoff
  6. Now, turn Bluetooth back on. The devices from step 1 should no longer be showing.
  7. Pair your iPhone with your car. All should be working fine now.
The above will continue to work provided you leave the 'Handoff' option disabled on all your devices. The 'Reset Networking' option did not work, there must be some setting stored which is only affected by the 'Reset all settings'. This means you will need to do some device configuration again after the reset such as wallpaper, sounds and other personalisations but this should not take long to put back.
 
Last edited:
Donka said:
Okay, I believe I have finally got this resolved fully for myself, I've tried everything to replicate the issues after trying this fix and so far it is holding up for me. This fix has a caveat though, you will lose Handoff - at least until Apple can fix this.

The steps are:

  1. Check on your iPhone under Bluetooth devices for any iOS devices running iOS 8 or Macs running Yosemite. These devices will be listed automatically and if you select the ! icon, the option to ' Forget this device' will be greyed out. Take a note of these devices.
  2. Unpair your Bluetooth connection from your car.
  3. Turn off 'Handoff' on your iPhone - Settings \ General \ Handoff & Suggested Apps \ Handoff
  4. Go to each of the devices in turn from the first step and turn off Handoff. iOS - Settings \ General \ Handoff & Suggested Apps \ Handoff. Mac - Settings \ General \ 'Allow Handoff between this Mac and your iCloud devices".
  5. Now select 'Reset All Settings' on your iPhone under Settings \ General \ Reset.
  6. After the iPhone restarts, turn Bluetooth back on. The devices from step 1 should no longer be showing.
  7. Pair your iPhone with your car. All should be working fine now.

The above will continue to work provided you leave the 'Handoff' option disabled on all your devices. The 'Reset Networking' option did not work, there must be some setting stored which is only affected by the 'Reset all settings'. This means you will need to do some device configuration again after the reset such as wallpaper, sounds and other personalisations but this should not take long to put back.
Click to expand...

I'm glad this works but unfortunately a hard reset of the phone is just not a reasonable action for me to take to solve this. That results in literally 2-3 hours of work to get back to the current state on my phone. I'll just wait for Apple to fix it.
 
Donka said:
Okay, I believe I have finally got this resolved fully for myself, I've tried everything to replicate the issues after trying this fix and so far it is holding up for me. This fix has a caveat though, you will lose Handoff - at least until Apple can fix this.

The steps are:

  1. Check on your iPhone under Bluetooth devices for any iOS devices running iOS 8 or Macs running Yosemite. These devices will be listed automatically and if you select the ! icon, the option to ' Forget this device' will be greyed out. Take a note of these devices.
  2. Unpair your Bluetooth connection from your car.
  3. Turn off 'Handoff' on your iPhone - Settings \ General \ Handoff & Suggested Apps \ Handoff
  4. Go to each of the devices in turn from the first step and turn off Handoff. iOS - Settings \ General \ Handoff & Suggested Apps \ Handoff. Mac - Settings \ General \ 'Allow Handoff between this Mac and your iCloud devices".
  5. Now select 'Reset All Settings' on your iPhone under Settings \ General \ Reset.
  6. After the iPhone restarts, turn Bluetooth back on. The devices from step 1 should no longer be showing.
  7. Pair your iPhone with your car. All should be working fine now.

The above will continue to work provided you leave the 'Handoff' option disabled on all your devices. The 'Reset Networking' option did not work, there must be some setting stored which is only affected by the 'Reset all settings'. This means you will need to do some device configuration again after the reset such as wallpaper, sounds and other personalisations but this should not take long to put back.
Click to expand...

It might be worthwhile to send this to Apple as well. Maybe it could help them troubleshoot the issue and develop a solution.
 
bmwhd said:
I'm glad this works but unfortunately a hard reset of the phone is just not a reasonable action for me to take to solve this. That results in literally 2-3 hours of work to get back to the current state on my phone. I'll just wait for Apple to fix it.
Click to expand...

Reset All Settings is not a hard reset. All your content, media and app settings remain. It is just some system level personalization that needs redone. Took me all of five minutes to get it back to how it was.
 
SandboxGeneral said:
It might be worthwhile to send this to Apple as well. Maybe it could help them troubleshoot the issue and develop a solution.
Click to expand...

Yes I have done but I suspect they already know this but won't publicise it since Hand off is one of their head line features and will want people to adopt it. I hope they can find a resolution.
 
Donka said:
Yes I have done but I suspect they already know this but won't publicise it since Hand off is one of their head line features and will want people to adopt it. I hope they can find a resolution.
Click to expand...

Yah, I wouldn't expect them to publish this for the very reason you describe. I was just thinking that maybe it would help them find a solution and implement a fix for their next update. That's all. :)
 
SandboxGeneral said:
Yah, I wouldn't expect them to publish this for the very reason you describe. I was just thinking that maybe it would help them find a solution and implement a fix for their next update. That's all. :)
Click to expand...

Yup, hopefully they will get it resolved soon. It's definitely related to Handoff. If you enable it again and another Handoff device shows up under Bluetooth devices, the problems return. In car hands free is more important to me than Handoff but of course both should work without issue.
 
Enough

I just went through the delete the iCloud backup, reset the iPhone and car options and re-pair. Nothing zip nada, same problem my iPhone 6 plus will not work with my Lexus RX 350 2015 SUV. Short of having a seance with each. I am done trying these magical fixes. Since I just purchased both, which do I return ?? Apple's brand for reliability is taking hits, when a viable alternative exists. Apple get this fixed really soon or can you say Samsung ?
:(
 
Rory009 said:
I just went through the delete the iCloud backup, reset the iPhone and car options and re-pair. Nothing zip nada, same problem my iPhone 6 plus will not work with my Lexus RX 350 2015 SUV. Short of having a seance with each. I am done trying these magical fixes. Since I just purchased both, which do I return ?? Apple's brand for reliability is taking hits, when a viable alternative exists. Apple get this fixed really soon or can you say Samsung ?
:(
Click to expand...

I'd wait at least until iOS 8.1 is released in the coming weeks before thinking of returning something. Hopefully, and I do hope, that this issue is resolved with the next update.
 
Rory009 said:
I just went through the delete the iCloud backup, reset the iPhone and car options and re-pair. Nothing zip nada, same problem my iPhone 6 plus will not work with my Lexus RX 350 2015 SUV. Short of having a seance with each. I am done trying these magical fixes. Since I just purchased both, which do I return ?? Apple's brand for reliability is taking hits, when a viable alternative exists. Apple get this fixed really soon or can you say Samsung ?
:(
Click to expand...

Did you follow my instructions? It fixes the issue.
 
Right now I have been switching my SIM card between my 5s and my 6 plus both running 8.02
The 5S works no problem the 6 plus no. The 5s has all the handoff devices on. So could using your solution be unique to the 6 plus ?
 
Rory009 said:
Right now I have been switching my SIM card between my 5s and my 6 plus both running 8.02
The 5S works no problem the 6 plus no. The 5s has all the handoff devices on. So could using your solution be unique to the 6 plus ?
Click to expand...

Have you compared the 5s and 6 with regards to Bluetooth devices? Do both show the exact same list? Do you have iCloud enabled on both iphones?
 
Donka said:
Okay, I believe I have finally got this resolved fully for myself, I've tried everything to replicate the issues after trying this fix and so far it is holding up for me. This fix has a caveat though, you will lose Handoff - at least until Apple can fix this.

The steps are:

  1. Check on your iPhone under Bluetooth devices for any iOS devices running iOS 8 or Macs running Yosemite. These devices will be listed automatically and if you select the ! icon, the option to ' Forget this device' will be greyed out. Take a note of these devices.
Click to expand...


  1. If no devices are showing up like this, is it necessary to reset all settings? Or just turn off Handoff?
 
Donka said:
Okay, I believe I have finally got this resolved fully for myself, I've tried everything to replicate the issues after trying this fix and so far it is holding up for me. This fix has a caveat though, you will lose Handoff - at least until Apple can fix this.

The steps are:

  1. Check on your iPhone under Bluetooth devices for any iOS devices running iOS 8 or Macs running Yosemite. These devices will be listed automatically and if you select the ! icon, the option to ' Forget this device' will be greyed out. Take a note of these devices.
  2. Unpair your Bluetooth connection from your car.
  3. Go to each of the devices in turn from the first step and turn off Handoff. iOS - Settings \ General \ Handoff & Suggested Apps \ Handoff. Mac - Settings \ General \ 'Allow Handoff between this Mac and your iCloud devices".
  4. Now select 'Reset All Settings' on your iPhone under Settings \ General \ Reset.
  5. After the iPhone restarts, turn off 'Handoff' on your iPhone - Settings \ General \ Handoff & Suggested Apps \ Handoff
  6. Now, turn Bluetooth back on. The devices from step 1 should no longer be showing.
  7. Pair your iPhone with your car. All should be working fine now.
The above will continue to work provided you leave the 'Handoff' option disabled on all your devices. The 'Reset Networking' option did not work, there must be some setting stored which is only affected by the 'Reset all settings'. This means you will need to do some device configuration again after the reset such as wallpaper, sounds and other personalisations but this should not take long to put back.
Click to expand...

Thanks for sharing this. The iCloud thing did work for me, but I have two iPad's that are both logged out of iCloud and I'm reluctant to log them in and risk breaking the fix. I'll try shutting down handoff across the board and resetting my settings, and will see if I can then get my iPad's logged back into iCloud.
 
Add Cadillac to that list of vehicles affected by "BluetoothGate"

shenan1982 said:
So before I had iOS 7.1.2... when I paired it with my car, it seamlessly placed and received calls via my car's audio system (Hyundai). When I upgraded my iPhone 5S to iOS 8, that stopped, so I just figured it was because I had to re-pair it with the car.

Then I got my 6+ and it's the same way. Now when I am connected via bluetooth, I place a call, and it says it's going over bluetooth, but it doesn't interrupt my car's music, and the audio doesn't play over the speakers. The only way I can talk to the person is if I press the Audio button on the phone and select speakerphone or iPhone as if it wasn't connected to the car.

This seems like a huge step backward in technology, and I'm not happy. Anyone else experiencing this? Is there any work around? I really can't deal with going back 5 years in time.

Thanks!


EDIT: Based on comments in this thread, 8.0 and 8.0.2 broke bluetooth connectivity for almost all users. The following car brand owners have reported the issue...

- Hyundai
- Chevrolet
- Aston Martin
- BMW
- Mercedes
- Lexus
- Toyota
- Acura
- Infiniti
- Ford
- Mazda
- Mitsubishi
- Cadillac
Click to expand...

Add Cadillac to that list
 
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