CarPlay craziness

Has anyone figured out the magic combination of voodoo, witchcraft etc that you have to do to consistently get CarPlay to:

  1. Connect to phone
  2. Play the damn audio

Connecting to the phone rarely fails but does at times.

Playing audio fails about 25% of the time.

I have tried toggling inputs, all kinds of stuff.

Usually 1-2 “restarts” of the infotainment system fixes the audio issues. ( holding down the right and left buttons on the steering wheel )

I know the software mostly sucks in this truck and I am at peace with that now.

I just want the damn audio to work. I am going to get in a damn wreck some day trying to listen to a podcast.

/rant over

I’m regularly experiencing the CarPlay connection where audio isn’t working (iPhone 12 mini, if that makes a difference?).

I have found that I can generally disconnect/reconnect CarPlay to my phone and the audio works again. Here’s where I go to do that: tap car icon-> Phone list → tap my phone in the list → tap the CarPlay (C with a play button) to disconnect. Count to 10 in my head, and then tap the CarPlay icon to reconnect.

@Maris
Big same iPhone 13 Pro. The car play disconnect reconnect trick works for me. I find I’ll have audio issues if I turn the truck off get out and get back in shortly (like running in to pick up an order). Nearly 50% of the time audio won’t work but it’ll keep right on playing like it was.

@Timber
I have a rental Hyundai Kona atm because Mach-E is in the shop. Car play sucks in this car too.

@Maris
I don’t experience it often, but when it does happen I found the easiest/quickest thing to do is toggle my wifi off (phone connected to CarPlay this way), wait a second, toggle it back on, give it a second, then connect it to device from the tablet screen. It’s worked so far on the few times my Audio is being weird.

@Maris

I have found that I can generally disconnect/reconnect CarPlay to my phone and the audio works again. Here’s where I go to do that: tap car icon-> Phone list → tap my phone in the list → tap the CarPlay (C with a play button) to disconnect. Count to 10 in my head, and then tap the CarPlay icon to reconnect.

This is what I do, minus the count to 10. Sometimes it spins for a second, but it almost always connects.

I used to have this problem and it was a huge source of frustration. I turned off wireless car play and just plug in my phone. So much better and I never worry about it now.

I now use a cord.

No, mine works perfectly. My wife has a Pacifica and that stereo is a true piece of shit, fails to connect on wireless CarPlay 50% of the time. Use a cable if you have issues.

Whitney said:
No, mine works perfectly. My wife has a Pacifica and that stereo is a true piece of shit, fails to connect on wireless CarPlay 50% of the time. Use a cable if you have issues.

I wonder is that is my problem at times. Sometimes I think it connects wirelessly then I connect it to a charging cable. I wonder if that messes it up. Who knows.

@Winslow
I would disable the wireless CarPlay and then just use a cable and see how that goes for a bit.

Whitney said:
@Winslow
I would disable the wireless CarPlay and then just use a cable and see how that goes for a bit.

is this done through the iphone or the truck. would much prefer to disconnect the wireless for good

@Jaden
Just delete the connection in settings, general, CarPlay on your phone and set it up again with a cable. Should ask you if you want to do wireless

Whitney said:
No, mine works perfectly. My wife has a Pacifica and that stereo is a true piece of shit, fails to connect on wireless CarPlay 50% of the time. Use a cable if you have issues.

Yea no issues with CarPlay here either. I turn off my phone’s bluetooth once I leave the car though and then re-enable it when I’m walking back out to it.

Maybe the more devices you have stored the more sporadic it becomes?

I’ve never experienced the music drop/skip issue people have mentioned either. That sounds super annoying.

Whitney said:
No, mine works perfectly. My wife has a Pacifica and that stereo is a true piece of shit, fails to connect on wireless CarPlay 50% of the time. Use a cable if you have issues.

Weird. Mine fails to play audio about 1/4-1/3 of the time, but ny wife’s Pacifica has never had an issue.

The quickest way to get audio to connect if the phone is connected is just do anything with Siri. I usually open Google Maps or contacts and hit the Siri prompt.

I have found the quickest fix for audio not coming through is on the phone go to “Settings—>General—>CarPlay—>F150 Lightning” and toggle it off and back on. To save a few clicks you can make an iOS shortcut and put it in your control center to launch straight to the CarPlay settings.

Just FYI this is not Fords crap software. It is the fundamental problem with smartphone app projection and one of the big reasons that CarPlay and Android Auto will soon be dead technologies. Pick any car make/model, go to the for the owners of that car and search CarPlay or Android Auto and you will find these same complaints. I’ve had these issues with both CarPlay and Android Auto in a dozen different vehicles.

@Shea
They better get it working. I prefer phone projection to the OEM solutions and I will be sad to lose the features. I have yet to see an OEM solution that was anything better than mediocre.

Gale said:
@Shea
They better get it working. I prefer phone projection to the OEM solutions and I will be sad to lose the features. I have yet to see an OEM solution that was anything better than mediocre.

Google’s Automotive OS and Apple CarOS will be the norm in a few years. Let’s hope they are an improvement.

@Shea
Easy way is to turn on your phone WiFi and off again which will force a connection reset