New iPhones; New Car Connection Glitches

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iPhone-Xs

Car Audio dealers may want to take note of a glitch with the new iPhone Xs and Xs Max affecting some users’ ability to connect to their car radios.

A small number of users find that Bluetooth pairing with their new iPhones is compromised, preventing them from connecting to infotainment systems on vehicles including Mercedes, Kia, Subaru and Audi, according to AppleInsider citing reports on Apple forums.

iPhone X, iPhone 8 and other iPhones running the new iOS 12 operating system are not experiencing the same issues with car connections.

But with the newer phones, even unpairing them from the car radio and then re-pairing them only works temporarily and then the phones fail to connect once again.

Apple is reportedly contacting some users to help diagnose the problem, according to MacRumors.

Both Kenwood and Sony said they have not received any complaints from users.

An Apple forum user  Jet Pilot  posted the following:

Bluetooth Issue: iOS 12, iPhone XS Max

I’ve been having an issue with my iPhone XS Max running iOS 12.0 (not the beta, the regular public release) that is reminiscent of an issue I had on the iPhone 7 Plus right after it was released two years ago. This problem did not occur in the same car on my iPhone X running iOS 12 (same issue as last time…iPhone 6S running the new iOS was fine, but as soon as I set up the 7 Plus the problem began).

The problem began last Friday when I set up the iPhone XS Max.

I set up the pairing with my phone and my car stereo and it works as it should. Inevitably I will get the dreaded “pairing failed” from the car audio as the Bluetooth pairing fails. I then have to delete the pairing from the car stereo and from my iPhone and re-pair the devices, after which they work normally…sometimes for a day, sometimes for an hour. It will eventually always fail.

Just like last time, I‘ve reported the problem to Apple Support. They told me to check to make sure I had the latest car stereo firmware update. Just like last time I checked and there is no update available. I tried changing the name of the phone. I‘ve tried resetting the phone. I’ve restored the phone. I’ve reset network settings. I’ve signed out of iCloud and back in. I’ve even pulled the battery from the car so the stereo wipes it’s memory.

Nothing fixes the problem. Last time it was a problem with the iOS and it didn’t fix until Apple later released one of the follow-on updates around November. I’m frustrated that Apple Support seems to want to do everything but report this issue to their engineering when that, based on my experience last time, appears to be the only thing that will eventually fix this issue.

Is anyone else experiencing this issue or does anyone have any suggestions that I haven’t yet tried (that doesn’t involve setting my phone up as a new device and leaving it in that state since I use it daily as a tool for work and can’t be without it for long)?

More than a hundred users said they had the same problem or posted similar complaints in Apple discussion groups.

Source: AppleInsider

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