CarPlay Drama - It's Complicated

[TBSolms]

Here are the recurring issues I'm having with CarPlay:

1. Failure to Connect: This is roughly 50-60% of the time. CarPlay does not connect until I open SETTINGS on my phone, turn off Bluetooth, turn is back on again, and reconnect to the Infotainment. Interestingly, the Wi-Fi always connects but no CarPlay unless I have Bluetooth
2. No Data to Phone: If/when I do get CarPlay to connect, 90% of the time, it shuts down data to my phone which means that WAZE and other apps are running in offline mode and cannot update or provide live info. If I turn off the Wi-Fi connection, I lose CarPlay altogether. I'll eventually see a message on my phone asking me if I want to 'continue to try to connect to Wi-Fi data or to switch to cellular'. Once I switch to cellular data on my phone, I'll get most CarPlay functionality back but not always.
3. Sometime the Wi-Fi signal on the infotainment screen shows up and sometimes it doesn't. Not consistent. Even when it doesn't show up, I may not have a data signal to my phone.

My guess is that there are probably setting on my phone that are causing these issues - don't know. What I do know is that it's taking me a lot of effort to get it sorted and typically that means eyes in the car and not on the road.

Thanks,
Tim Solms
Michigan/Virginia

 

[AWo]

What I do know is that it's taking me a lot of effort to get it sorted and typically that means eyes in the car and not on the road.

Wrong priority.

AWo

 

[HereinDaRockies]

My CarPlay connection used to be rock solid.. then my vehicle was at the dealership for an extended service.

Ever since, I have been experiencing CarPlay connectivity issue at roughly 10 to 20% rate.

I am not aware of a software update during my service visit.

Perhaps my infotainment needs a hard reset?

Have you tried holding down the mute button to force hard reset?

 

[emax]

The same applies to Android Auto. It's a matter of chance: sometimes it appears on the screen (and disappears a few seconds later), sometimes nothing is visible at all. With a Google Pixel 7...

The Grenadier implementation seems abysmal to me and only works with a very limited number of hardware, software, and phone configuration combinations.

 

[Jiman01]

Here are the recurring issues I'm having with CarPlay:

1. Failure to Connect: This is roughly 50-60% of the time. CarPlay does not connect until I open SETTINGS on my phone, turn off Bluetooth, turn is back on again, and reconnect to the Infotainment. Interestingly, the Wi-Fi always connects but no CarPlay unless I have Bluetooth
2. No Data to Phone: If/when I do get CarPlay to connect, 90% of the time, it shuts down data to my phone which means that WAZE and other apps are running in offline mode and cannot update or provide live info. If I turn off the Wi-Fi connection, I lose CarPlay altogether. I'll eventually see a message on my phone asking me if I want to 'continue to try to connect to Wi-Fi data or to switch to cellular'. Once I switch to cellular data on my phone, I'll get most CarPlay functionality back but not always.
3. Sometime the Wi-Fi signal on the infotainment screen shows up and sometimes it doesn't. Not consistent. Even when it doesn't show up, I may not have a data signal to my phone.

My guess is that there are probably setting on my phone that are causing these issues - don't know. What I do know is that it's taking me a lot of effort to get it sorted and typically that means eyes in the car and not on the road.

Thanks,
Tim Solms
Michigan/Virginia

I’d try first deleting the Bluetooth pairing on both the iPhone and truck, and re-pair the connection. Is the SOC of your batteries OK?…above 90%?

Every once in a while my iphone won’t pair automatically, and i’ll have to go into the settings and select the carplay icon display on the infotainment system, but I've never had issues with data/offline functionality.

I don’t remember any special setting I had to select to make everything work or else I'd pass them along.

 

[Dokatd]

I’d try first deleting the Bluetooth pairing on both the iPhone and truck, and re-pair the connection. Is the SOC of your batteries OK?…above 90%?

Every once in a while my iphone won’t pair automatically, and i’ll have to go into the settings and select the carplay icon display on the infotainment system, but I've never had issues with data/offline functionality.

I don’t remember any special setting I had to select to make everything work or else I'd pass them along.

I find if you hit the FAV button too early after starting it will kill CarPlay. I wait until I get out of my driveway before trying to turn off the speed clicks or do anything else with the head unit.

 

[Ovrland Bill]

CarPlay works every time (so far) on my “24.1” Grenadier. (I should add that I am connecting with an iPhone 14, iOS Version 18.5)

 

[Shopkeep]

CarPlay works every time (so far) on my “24.1” Grenadier.

Same here, works every time.

 

[HereinDaRockies]

I find if you hit the FAV button too early after starting it will kill CarPlay. I wait until I get out of my driveway before trying to turn off the speed clicks or do anything else with the head unit.

I find the same pattern..

Strange, prior to my long term service visit, I never had this symptom.. perhaps dealer did a software update while vehicle was there and now it CarPlay has regressed in this fashion.

 

[landmannnn]

Here are the recurring issues I'm having with CarPlay:

1. Failure to Connect: This is roughly 50-60% of the time. CarPlay does not connect until I open SETTINGS on my phone, turn off Bluetooth, turn is back on again, and reconnect to the Infotainment. Interestingly, the Wi-Fi always connects but no CarPlay unless I have Bluetooth
2. No Data to Phone: If/when I do get CarPlay to connect, 90% of the time, it shuts down data to my phone which means that WAZE and other apps are running in offline mode and cannot update or provide live info. If I turn off the Wi-Fi connection, I lose CarPlay altogether. I'll eventually see a message on my phone asking me if I want to 'continue to try to connect to Wi-Fi data or to switch to cellular'. Once I switch to cellular data on my phone, I'll get most CarPlay functionality back but not always.
3. Sometime the Wi-Fi signal on the infotainment screen shows up and sometimes it doesn't. Not consistent. Even when it doesn't show up, I may not have a data signal to my phone.

My guess is that there are probably setting on my phone that are causing these issues - don't know. What I do know is that it's taking me a lot of effort to get it sorted and typically that means eyes in the car and not on the road.

Thanks,
Tim Solms
Michigan/Virginia

It sounds like the phone is trying to connect to the head unit via WiFi. Carplay does use WiFi, but only in the background.

Suggest you go into WiFi settings and forget the Grenadier network. It would also be worth forgetting the bluetooth on both the phone and car, then pairing again.

 

[Jiman01]

I find if you hit the FAV button too early after starting it will kill CarPlay. I wait until I get out of my driveway before trying to turn off the speed clicks or do anything else with the head unit.

My “pre-flight”: I turn the ignition on, tap the auto/start button with my knuckle as I put the parking brake down and hit the FAV button.

Sometimes I beat Carplay by turning ADAS off first, sometimes Carplay loads first, and kicks me out of the ADAS setting. Its a little game between me and my truck at every startup

For processing speeds, our truck is back to Commadore 64 speeds

 

[Rok_Dr]

I’ve also started having the same problem with CarPlay and having to turn Bluetooth on and off again.

Interestingly, it only seems to happen after the car has been shut off overnight at home. Maybe the phone isn’t connecting to the car Wi-Fi as it’s still connected to the home Wi-Fi.

I also had the same problem with my other portableCarPlay unit so maybe the fault is on Apple’s side with the recent software update.

Cheers
Steve