Carplay and headunit fully rebooting since iOS17

[craplay]

Hi there, been lurking here for a while so thanks for all the contributions that have so far been very helpful... but now I'm really stuck and would really appreciate any input!

 

I first had carplay reboot my headunit maybe a year ago, but it was such a rare occurrence, I let it slide. However, since the past month or so (basically since iOS 17), carplay has become unusable. If I forget all connections and follow all the available trouble shooting steps, it does seems to work without issue for a little while but inevitably, gets progressively worse to the point that plugging in my phone will just reboot the headunit immediately.

I tried all the apple-related troubleshooting steps, including resetting the settings and network settings, disabling all the new functionality related to carplay, different cables and even a different iOS device. My old phone, stuck running iOS 15.8 does not seem to have any problem in comparison. I spent a long time reporting this to Apple on the phone already and they weren't particularly helpful seeing as I had already done everything I could think of.

On the car side, I also reset the connections/devices and deleted all personal data. I poked around the hidden system menu. I also update the firmware of my 86140-YV010 pioneer headunit from 8.10/8.10/8.14 to 8.12/8.15/8.17 using a firmware I found online (18PPDAEU-EA00_0819_D.avh). There was absolutely no noticeable change between the two firmwares - the problem persists in exactly the same manner.

 

I would be really interested to know:

1. How to fully factory reset the headunit - I've noticed that deleting personal data in the settings actually leaves some modifications untouched on the head-unit - is there a more thorough method for a full factory reset?

2. Has anyone had a similar issue?

3. Is there a later firmware available for this model (I have seen some screenshots of a 8.14/8.34/8.59 firmware but only in conjunction with the 86140-YV020 model so far

 

Any help would be appreciated so much. My car is still under warranty, I really wanted to exhaust all possibilities before getting the toyota dealership involved - they already lied to me/were honestly clueless about the firmware updates when I asked them to take care of it in my yearly checkup.

 

Thanks so much!

 

 

[flash22]

1st step is to get a decent Mfi certified (lightning) cable from the likes of Anker or Belkin

Turn off bluetooth, iPhones have had no end of issues with bluetooth

 

your phone may be trying to pull too much current from the USB, what is limited to 500ma, your phone in a low state of charge will cause it to drop the USB this is also not helped by the poor quality cable Apple uses and make a load of profit from

8.12 is the newest available firmware for download, 8.14 and higher only come on units directly from the factory

YV010 and 20  are the same update they are just configured for systems with/without DAB

[craplay]

Hey thanks a lot for the reply @flash22

 

I already tried with bluetooth disabled, with different cables (original and Anker) as well as when the phone is charged, charged above 80% (trickle charging) and when it is charging at full speed (sub 50%) to no avail. Thanks for crossing the T's and dotting the I's for me though. The hidden system menu shows the voltage and the value doesn't seem to fluctuate barely at all when phones are plugged in either.

 

If that is really the last firmware, and unless anyone has any input then I guess that I have no choice but to go see the dealership.

 

If anyone has some 'all working fine for me here' anecdotes, I guess that might be useful too.

 

thanks

 

[craplay]

2 hours ago, flash22 said:

1st step is to get a decent Mfi certified (lightning) cable from the likes of Anker or Belkin

Turn off Bluetooth, iPhones have had no end of issues with Bluetooth

 

your phone may be trying to pull too much current from the USB, what is limited to 500ma, your phone in a low state of charge will cause it to drop the USB this is also not helped by the poor quality cable apple uses and make a load of profit from

8.12 is the newest available firmware for download, 8.14 and higher only come on units directly from the factory

YV010 and 20  are the same update they are just configured for systems with/without DAB

Oh! sorry... forgot to ask... is there anyway that you know of to fully factory-reset the head-unit? I have scoured for this information online but cannot find the answer. As I said in the OP, there are always some settings retained when selecting to delete personal data which I find very dubious to be quite honest.

[flash22]

Off the top of my head, I don't know - it should be in the general settings

IIRC there is another hidden menu in the service menu but not sure if it's there on the triple play units

Press A, B, C, then A again - you may have to repeat this cycle 3 times

another method is press B then C, repeat 3 times

There is an outside chance that the USB port has splayed apart through use, and it's not holding proper tension

another way is to use one of the many wireless car play adapters and charge your phone via the 12v AUX socket when needed

[craplay]

Hey thanks once again Flash!

 

So I just spent an hour or so messing around with the headunit trying to see what I could get out of it.

 

Following your instructions, I was unfortunately not able to find a second hidden menu despite trying every combination of button presses imaginable. The first hidden menu has no factory reset option either but i double-checked anyway.

 

What I did discover, which was really unexpected for me, is that when you disable carplay on the headunit itself, the iPhone can still play music just fine over USB - no need to unlock it or anything - just plug it in and if bluetooth happens to be also connected, then the bluetooth audio profile is disabled.

 

So apart from carplay working fine with my old phone, and usb audio working fine on my current phone, I don't see how the USB port could've splayed apart - I'm very careful with it and barely touch it as the cable is always connected since I had the car and I don't change or remove it either.

 

It really looks to me like Apple has done something weird to carplay in these latest versions. I think I will leave it a month or two to see if there are any updates from Apple and if not, I will take the car in to the dealership to try to have them change the headunit anyway.

 

At least USB audio is working, which is 40% of the appeal of carplay to me since the audio quality is leaps and bounds better than bluetooth. I will probably just get a phone mount for the time being if I need use my phone for navigating a long trip and well, I just hope that I will be able to use the carplay interface one day again.

 

If anyone has noticed any change or in fact no change whatsover with carplay functionality since iOS17 I'd be keen to hear about it though!

 

Thanks again

[Chris Boddum]

I updated from my iPhone X (not on iOS 17) to a 15 Pro Max on iOS 17 and yeah, I've had some difficulties, albeit in no way as bad as yours. 

I've had a few times of instant black screen on mine. I also had an instant green screen once. I can't quite figure out why it may be, but it happens once every few weeks, so I don't mind too much.

What is most annoying is that it sometimes doesn't register my audio / equalizer settings, meaning I sometimes get a very tinny sound until I restart my phone (not the headunit!). The buttons on my steering wheel don't work either until I restart.

I never had issues with my X on pre iOS 17, so you are definitely onto something.

[flash22]

it seem Apple have broken a lot recently, it looks like its video codec related as Youtube and the like are having issues with the iOS app on some devices

[craplay]

Just a heads up to anyone suffering from this now at the end of 2024... To finish the story, I spent half a day in touch with an actual Apple engineer on this issue last year (well, it took most of the time to actually get to speak to an engineer so only about an hour on the phone). They are very crafty in not assuming any responsibility, but since I had done everything possible my end (firmware update, reset phone completely etc (and lied about having the dealership replace my infotainment system recently) they couldn't really do anything but concede and log my report. The following iOS update magically fixed everything and so I disappeared back into the ether.

Anyway... Another year, another iOS update. Personally 18.0 and 18.0.1 was fine - didn't notice anything drastic but 18.1 has completely broken carplay again. I can't even disable carplay on the head unit and play music over usb now without the system rebooting constantly. The whole thing reboots within a couple of seconds of simply plugging in the cord no matter what I disable. Can't even charge my phone - even if the phone is locked and not allowed to use carplay. Pretty wild stuff!

So the only thing to do is file a bug report with Apple. You can use their 'support' app to reach support staff really easily, but they will suggest a bunch of trouble shooting steps which are just a waste of time. This will include resetting the headunit, updating the headunit firmware, updating iOS, resetting network settings, resetting privacy & location settings, resetting the whole phone. I suggest that you just lie about having done most of these measures beforehand. Be specific about your headunit model. Tell them that your friend who is still on iOS17 has no problem using carplay on your headunit. Be specific about the problem arriving immediately after the last update. Don't waste your time following their trouble shooting steps. Do link this thread that corroborates many people having carplay problems with iOS 18: https://old.reddit.com/r/iphone/comments/1fk5rcn/carplay_issues_with_ios_18/

Cheers