CarPlay Issues (Resolved)

[sodakar]

I have a strange issue where my iPhone and CarPlay will occasionally not work, and will go on an endless "USB detected," "USB disconnected" loop if I have my iPhone connected to my car prior to powering up the car.

I've tested a handful of brand-new phones with factory cables, so I'm pretty sure it's not an Apple hardware issue.

This happens in about 1 out of every 20 cold starts in the morning, but interestingly, happens at a significantly higher rate (1 in 3) on restarts after making a quick stop to drop off passengers or to make a quick pit stop.

It is only resolved by powering down the car, and waiting 5+ minutes until the Infotainment center fully powers down, and to power it all up again.

After much trial and error, I have found some resolutions.
1) Do not power down the car during drop-offs (not practical)
2) During drop-offs, ensure I don't power on the car again for 5+ minutes (not practical)
or
3) Do not connect the iPhone to the car until the Infotainment center has fully booted (~15 seconds), and says "Connect Device." (requires me to disconnect my phone every power-down, though)

It seems like the car is unhappy with the state combination of "iPhone already connected" + "Infotainment not fully powered down."

Unless I'm searching for the wrong terms, I didn't see anyone else with this problem, so I'll assume it's unique to my vehicle? I suppose a factory reset or firmware reinstall of the Infotainment center might fix it, but I'm pretty happy with my #3 workaround.

It's unfortunate that it took 1+ years to find... but I guess it wasn't -that- important, since I only had 5-8 minutes of driving after making my last drop-off/pit stop.

Did anyone else have this problem? Just curious...

 

[MLS]

I have a strange issue where my iPhone and CarPlay will occasionally not work, and will go on an endless "USB detected," "USB disconnected" loop if I have my iPhone connected to my car prior to powering up the car.

I've tested a handful of brand-new phones with factory cables, so I'm pretty sure it's not an Apple hardware issue.

This happens in about 1 out of every 20 cold starts in the morning, but interestingly, happens at a significantly higher rate (1 in 3) on restarts after making a quick stop to drop off passengers or to make a quick pit stop.

It is only resolved by powering down the car, and waiting 5+ minutes until the Infotainment center fully powers down, and to power it all up again.

After much trial and error, I have found some resolutions.
1) Do not power down the car during drop-offs (not practical)
2) During drop-offs, ensure I don't power on the car again for 5+ minutes (not practical)
or
3) Do not connect the iPhone to the car until the Infotainment center has fully booted (~15 seconds), and says "Connect Device." (requires me to disconnect my phone every power-down, though)

It seems like the car is unhappy with the state combination of "iPhone already connected" + "Infotainment not fully powered down."

Unless I'm searching for the wrong terms, I didn't see anyone else with this problem, so I'll assume it's unique to my vehicle? I suppose a factory reset or firmware reinstall of the Infotainment center might fix it, but I'm pretty happy with my #3 workaround.

It's unfortunate that it took 1+ years to find... but I guess it wasn't -that- important, since I only had 5-8 minutes of driving after making my last drop-off/pit stop.

Did anyone else have this problem? Just curious...

I have the same problem. I cannot figure out how to reproduce the conditions that cause it. It seems to happen randomly. It is quite annoying, because as you said, you need to wait 5 minutes of having the car totally powered down to try it again. So if you're heading out the door to work and want to listen to music or use any other CarPlay features, you might be out of luck if you don't have 5 minutes to spare. It doesn't seem to matter if I plug the phone in before, after, or during the startup process as far as I can tell... It should work better than it does, or at least have a menu feature that allows you to reset the app-connect system without turning off the car.

 

[whyeGolf]

This Forum sub topic sounds like CarPlay Issues (not Resolved fully)
So here is mine CarPlay issue.
2016 SEL Premium, 3 fairly new Apple brand Lighting cords, two iPhones (6 and 6 plus).
The iPhone 6 seems to work fine, but not so for the iPhone 6 plus -- it has not successfully connected to CarPlay.

Problem: Title bar on display indicates USB detected when iPhone connected but never appears in the Device List.
iPhone is unlocked.

Question: Are there specific settings on the iPhone that prevent one iPhone from working compared to another iPhone ?

 

[whyeGolf]

I found the answer with my iPhone not connecting to CarPlay. It was in the iPhone > Settings > General > Restrictions - was set to on. I turned off restrictions and the iPhone immediately connected. How the restrictions got put there - I don't know....

 

[syd]

I I know this thread is dead but I’m having the same issue with a 2016 SE and an iPhone X. Completely maddening and seemingly no way to reproduce it. Has anyone had any luck? Is there a software update that fixes this?

The “restrictions” setting mentioned seems to be MIA in iOS 12.

 

[manybees]

I know this thread is dead but I’m having the same issue with a 2016 SE and an iPhone X. Completely maddening and seemingly no way to reproduce it. Has anyone had any luck? Is there a software update that fixes this?

The “restrictions” setting mentioned seems to be MIA in iOS 12.

I'm seeing the same behavior on an iPhone X and a 2018 SEL Premium. One way I've worked around this with some success is to unlock the phone before plugging it in. Doesn't always seem to work, though.

I'm just speculating here, but maybe it has something to do with the USB connection limitations implemented by Apple to limit the ability of certain parties (hackers, law enforcement, etc.) to hook your phone up to certain USB devices that can brute force or otherwise hack into your iPhone. After a certain amount of time has passed, USB devices are no longer allowed to connect. You can enable or disable this feature in iOS 12 in Settings > Face ID and Passcode > USB Accessories (in the Allow Access When Locked section). The USB Accessories option is OFF by default (i.e. it will auto lock out USB accessories after a period of time), but I will turn it ON (so that USB accessories are not locked out) and see if that makes a difference.

 

[manybees]

You can enable or disable this feature in iOS 12 in Settings > Face ID and Passcode > USB Accessories (in the Allow Access When Locked section). The USB Accessories option is OFF by default (i.e. it will auto lock out USB accessories after a period of time), but I will turn it ON (so that USB accessories are not locked out) and see if that makes a difference.

OK. I had a chance to try this today, and all of my connection issues went away. Connects to CarPlay every time, even after making brief stops and disconnections.

Before, I was often having to unlock the phone before it would connect to CarPlay, and even then it wasn't guaranteed that it would connect. Now, after I toggle the USB Accessories ON, then the connection problems disappear. When I toggle it back off, the CarPlay connection goes all wonky again.