Tiresome CarPlay bricking

[Patch]

Another back from Le Mans one (I'ts the first time I've done a long stretch in it).

EVERY time I went through a Peage toll, it cleared the navigation on CarPlay (google Maps). It can't be a coincidence and the route was showing going through the toll - so nothing untoward - just seemed too weird - do those gates have something which blocks bluetooth or similar?

I also had it completely brick on me at least three times on the trip - last time, through the Dartford tunnel. When I emerged, the whole screen was frozen - not even the home button would work.

This might get a little annoying if I can't get it sorted.... Also - do Lotus have any kind of OTA on software or is it back to dealer every time?

Anyone else?

 

[JimH]

Another back from Le Mans one (I'ts the first time I've done a long stretch in it).

EVERY time I went through a Peage toll, it cleared the navigation on CarPlay (google Maps). It can't be a coincidence and the route was showing going through the toll - so nothing untoward - just seemed too weird - do those gates have something which blocks bluetooth or similar?

I also had it completely brick on me at least three times on the trip - last time, through the Dartford tunnel. When I emerged, the whole screen was frozen - not even the home button would work.

This might get a little annoying if I can't get it sorted.... Also - do Lotus have any kind of OTA on software or is it back to dealer every time?

Anyone else?

Whilst the Emira has the capability to connect to a Wi-Fi network embedded in it's OS, there's currently no OTA firmware or nav map update functionality available so it's beck to the dealer, at least for now.....

Some have had success by removing the phone from the car setup and the car from the phone setup, connecting with a cable first (USB socket n the armrest) setting up CarPlay, then using wireless again after that, but I guess that wouldn't explain a CarPlay crash on loss of GPS signal - have you got a different phone you can try? It could be that.....

I've recently been to Ypres and back and, whilst there are no tolls on that route, there was no issue with the Dartford Tunnel (iPhone 14 pro)...

 

[Andy H]

That does sound super annoying. I've not had problems to that extent but it point blank refused to start car play yesterday despite being connected to Bluetooth fine. About 100 miles later it connected after I'd stopped at some services briefly. No amount of Carplay reconnects and resets made any difference at the time.

I agree, it is very frustrating if it's going to become unreliable as I do rely heavily on it for navigation and music. I have an oil change due next weekend so I'll ask them to make sure the software is up to date. I guess that's the only car we have to play in situations like this.

I should add that I haven't been through a French toll yet but I do regularly pass across the Dartford tunnel / bridge and I've not had a problem there. Although I've noticed the audio does always momentarily glitch there as if something is interfering with it

 

[TomAce]

Another back from Le Mans one (I'ts the first time I've done a long stretch in it).

EVERY time I went through a Peage toll, it cleared the navigation on CarPlay (google Maps). It can't be a coincidence and the route was showing going through the toll - so nothing untoward - just seemed too weird - do those gates have something which blocks bluetooth or similar?

Anyone else?

These toll gates do have an impact and you lose connection for a short period of time, I also noticed this on my trip to Italy, but it should recover sooner than later.

 

[Speedluvver]

I used the French autoroute last week - no issues if the phone is connected using a cable... car play does freeze sometimes though - but sating that, does in the wife's mini sometimes too

 

[Iplaygoodguitar]

My car play craps out often. Music will start to stutter, then. Off.

 

[Bulls-Vivid-Red]

I haven't had my car long, but I have experienced a handful of times where the screen simply won't respond to any inputs for a few minutes. I have a USB stick with a large library of songs attached and at first attributed it to that being indexed......unfortunately it happened one more time without the stick attached (not to mention the car doesn't index MP3s unless you manually select USB each and every time).

I've also experienced Android Auto simply refusing to connect a few times. I've verified the phone isn't pairing with anything else, restarted bluetooth on the phone, ect...... The only fix the pair of times this occurred was to restart the car from scratch, which allowed it to immediately connect and stayed connected.

 

[Rapture]

Below was the advice that I gave to a FB Group user that was having CarPlay issues. Mine has worked almost all the time after I did this.

I had some problems like this early on. I ended up deleting everything and starting over. There is some selection, can’t remember what it is called to remove CarPlay. Do that, turn the car off, walk away. Then remove CarPlay settings from your phone, delete the Lotus Bluetooth connection, and reboot the phone before trying a reconnect. I also deleted some sales guy's phone that was still in my config. You may know this, but I believe the Bluetooth connection and CarPlay cannot be enable at the same time even though CarPlay uses Bluetooth. It is confusing. Wi-Fi can also not be enabled at the same time.

My connection works most of the time now but as others have said it will disappear sometimes and not return until a restart. I’ve also had it happen where the center console display freezes yet CarPlay maps navigation is still working and will call out directions through the audio.

I’ve also seen where the dashboard center display shows the radio station, and the steering wheel switches will change radio stations even though I am using Spotify via CarPlay. I can change songs, etc. in the center screen but not the steering wheel.

Some of these bugs could be CarPlay related and obviously some the Lotus (or whoever’s software they are running) software.

Oh, and I installed the MagSafe wireless charger that was offered on the forum, so no more plugging it in.

 

[DVGregori]

Below was the advice that I gave to a FB Group user that was having CarPlay issues. Mine has worked almost all the time after I did this.

I had some problems like this early on. I ended up deleting everything and starting over. There is some selection, can’t remember what it is called to remove CarPlay. Do that, turn the car off, walk away. Then remove CarPlay settings from your phone, delete the Lotus Bluetooth connection, and reboot the phone before trying a reconnect. I also deleted some sales guy's phone that was still in my config. You may know this, but I believe the Bluetooth connection and CarPlay cannot be enable at the same time even though CarPlay uses Bluetooth. It is confusing. Wi-Fi can also not be enabled at the same time.

My connection works most of the time now but as others have said it will disappear sometimes and not return until a restart. I’ve also had it happen where the center console display freezes yet CarPlay maps navigation is still working and will call out directions through the audio.

I’ve also seen where the dashboard center display shows the radio station, and the steering wheel switches will change radio stations even though I am using Spotify via CarPlay. I can change songs, etc. in the center screen but not the steering wheel.

Some of these bugs could be CarPlay related and obviously some the Lotus (or whoever’s software they are running) software.

Oh, and I installed the MagSafe wireless charger that was offered on the forum, so no more plugging it in.

Not directly related but somewhat and didn't want to start a new thread. I know you can change volume on the steering wheel, but can you change tracks when using a music app on your phone through CarPlay?

 

[Bulls-Vivid-Red]

Not directly related but somewhat and didn't want to start a new thread. I know you can change volume on the steering wheel, but can you change tracks when using a music app on your phone through CarPlay?

I can confirm that changing tracks via the steering wheel buttons while playing songs on an Android Auto app works great. I believe it's safe to assume that it would work the same for CarPlay too.

 

[DVGregori]

I can confirm that changing tracks via the steering wheel buttons while playing songs on an Android Auto app works great. I believe it's safe to assume that it would work the same for CarPlay too.

How? I must be stupid because I thought I tried every button and none worked.

 

[VegasEmira]

How? I must be stupid because I thought I tried every button and none worked.

For Android Auto: On the right hand steering wheel keypad you can press up and down to change what the focus is for the right side of your speedometer/driver display area. If you press up/down enough you will see what music is currently playing via Android Auto. Once the screen is displaying music, you can press left or right on that same keypad and it'll change the track.

 

[DVGregori]

For Android Auto: On the right hand steering wheel keypad you can press up and down to change what the focus is for the right side of your speedometer/driver display area. If you press up/down enough you will see what music is currently playing via Android Auto. Once the screen is displaying music, you can press left or right on that same keypad and it'll change the track.

Thanks.

 

[Steve24]

I always have Bluetooth and wifi turned on on my phone (iPhone 14 Pro) and CarPlay connects and works fine.

Nearly 5000km in the car and have had no issues with CarPlay except an occasional drop out which always re-connects within a minute or so.

 

[Blackthought_]

One thing that helped me is I unpaired my phone and then re paired with a wire connection (with a genuine Apple cable) and then select the wireless option and disconnect the cable. I got this tip from another thread. Something about the car being able to learn the phone. Ever since doing that it works 95% of the time.

 

[KJD]

One thing that helped me is I unpaired my phone and then re paired with a wire connection (with a genuine Apple cable) and then select the wireless option and disconnect the cable. I got this tip from another thread. Something about the car being able to learn the phone. Ever since doing that it works 95% of the time.

On the CarPlay section of Apple’s website it specifically says to connect by cable first to setup the wireless connection properly. Don’t try to setup a Bluetooth connection first, it’s not necessary.

Then accept the prompts on the phone to connect wirelessly from then on. CarPlay sorts out the bluetooth/wifi stuff automatically.

It’s far from perfect even after setting it up by that method.

Mine regularly doesn’t automatically connect, but selecting my phone in the car’s connect menu always works.

Re the French Autoroute tollbooth issue, mine was bad before a software update last summer.
It’s been 99% good since then. Just done a 2000 mile trip through France/Italy/Switzerland with just one dropout.